Charles Leland
| Charles Godfrey Leland | |
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| Born |
15 August 1824 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Died | 20 March 1903 (aged 78) Florence, Italy |
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Charles Godfrey Leland (August 15, 1824 – March 20, 1903) was an American humorist, writer, and folklorist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Princeton University and in Europe.
Leland worked in journalism, travelled extensively, and became interested in folklore and folk linguistics, publishing books and articles on American and European languages and folk traditions. He worked in a wide variety of trades, achieved recognition as the author of the comic Hans Breitmann’s Ballads, fought in two conflicts, and wrote what was to become a primary source text for Neopaganism half a century later, Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches.
Leland was born to Charles Leland, a commission merchant, and Charlotte Godfrey, on 15 August 1824 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother was a protegee of Hannah Adams, the first American woman to write professionally. Leland believed himself to be descended from John Leland (antiquary) and other illustrious antiquaries.
Leland claimed to have been influenced as a baby by the presence of Lafayette, Nicolas Gouïn Dufief, and a Swedish count who inspired Fredrika Bremer's best seller The Neighbours. Leland told a story that shortly after his birth his nurse took him to the family attic and performed a ritual involving a Bible, a key, a knife, lighted candles, money and salt to ensure a long life as a "scholar and a wizard", a fact which his biographers have commented upon as foreshadowing his interest in folk traditions and magic. A lifelong friend was George Henry Boker, a neighbour in childhood. A schoolmate was George B. McClellan.
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