He was a fellow of Corpus, and the story is that
the Balliol men, unable to agree in electing one of their own number to
the Mastership, chose him, partly under the idea that he was in weak
health and likely soon to cause another vacancy. It was afterwards said
that his long incumbency had been a judgment on the Society for having
elected an _Out-College Man_. {5} I imagine that the front of Balliol
towards Broad Street which has recently been pulled down must have been
built, or at least restored, while he was Master, for the Leigh arms were
placed under the cornice at the corner nearest to Trinity gates. The
beautiful building lately erected has destroyed this record, and thus
'monuments themselves memorials need.'
His fame for witty and agreeable conversation extended beyond the bounds
of the University. Mrs. Thrale, in a letter to Dr. Johnson, writes thus:
'Are you acquainted with Dr. Leigh, {6} the Master of Balliol College,
and are you not delighted with his gaiety of manners and youthful
vivacity, now that he is eighty-six years of age? I never heard a more
perfect or excellent pun than his, when some one told him how, in a late
dispute among the Privy Councillors, the Lord Chancellor struck the table
with such violence that he split it.
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