Chapter Lays of Ancient Rome to Leander of L by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Leander (3 syl, a young man of Abydos, who swam nightly across the Hellespont to visit his lady-love, Hero a priestess of Sestos. One night he was drowned in his attempt, and Hero leaped into the Hellespont and died also.

(The story is told by Musæus in his poem called Hero and Leander. Schiller has made it the subject of a ballad.)

(1) Lord Byron and lieutenant Ekenhead repeated the feat of Leander, and accomplished it in I hr. 10 min.; the distance (allowing for drifting) would be about four miles.

(2) A young native of St. Croix, in 1817, swam across the Sound in 2 hr. 40 min., the distance being six miles.

(3) Captain Webb, August 24, 1875, swam from Dover to Calais in 22 hr. 40 min., the distance being thirty miles, including drifting.

Leander, a young Spanish scholar, smitten with Leonora, a maiden under the charge of don Diego, and whom the don wished to make his wife. The young scholar disguised himself as a minstrel to amuse Mungo the slave, and with a little flattery and a few gold pieces lulled the vigilance of Ursula the duenna, and gained admittance to the lady. As the lovers were about to elope, don Diego unexpectedly returned; but being a man of 60, and, what is more, a man of sense, he at once perceived that Leander was a more suitable husband for Leonora than himself, and accordingly sanctioned their union and gave the bride a handsome dowry.—Bickerstaff: The Padlock (1768).