English poet and composer, a Gentleman Pensioner of Elizabeth I and James I who published two volumes of poetry and contributed to Alison's psalter of 1599, but is best known for The Teares and Lamentations of a Sorrowful Soule (1614), a collection of 54 psalms and hymns for four or five voices, some with lute, which he compiled while in prison for debt. Eight of the pieces are by Leighton himself; the remaining nineteen composers include John Bull, William Byrd, John Dowland, Alfonso Ferrabosco II, John Cooper (Coperario), Thomas Ford, Orlando Gibbons, Milton, Ward, Weelkes, Wilbye, Pilkington, Nathaniel Giles and others.