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L. E. L.—Letitia Elizabeth Landon.205

—With feelings of sorrow, we record in our obituary this month the death of Mrs. George Maclean—known to the world of literature by the signature "L. E. L." (Letitia Elizabeth Landon) which she modestly attached to her numerous works in prose and poetry. Her genius for composition developed itself in childhood, and the productions of her tender years possess considerable feeling and beauty. Some of her earliest published poems appeared in the "Literary Gazette." The "Improvisatrice" was her first large work, and this laid the foundation of a character, which she not only sustained, but continued to improve to her latest moments: her last poems are decidedly her best. In the year 1838 Miss Landon, having married Mr. George Maclean, governor of Cape Coast Castle, sailed for that pestilential climate in the month of July, and reached her destination some time in October. During the interval of the voyage, and for the few weeks she survived her arrival, she appears to have been engaged in composition; the MS. of a work prepared on her passage having already reached the shores of England. In the preface to her last poetic effusion, the "Scrap Book," before her departure for Africa, she says, "I shall hope with all the freshness of new senses and thoughts to write for England when far away from its shores," and adds in a spirit of prophecy, alas! too truly fulfilled, "but that hope is an uncertainty." To this melancholy foreboding is also attributable "The Farewell" addressed to Thomas Moore on her departure, which is amongst the happiest efforts of her genius, and of which Mr. Moore has spoken in terms of the highest admiration. A few days before her decease, Mrs. Maclean addressed several communications to private friends, and to persons connected with literature in England, briefly descriptive of her new position, and touching on her future plans for the acquisition of fame. Of these, the last she was ever permitted to sign, and which was actually conveyed by the very same vessel that brought the melancholy intelligence of her sudden death, is full of hope, feeling and ambition. The sympathy of a large portion of the public, as well as of her immediate friends, has been awakened by the melancholy circumstances of the death of this gifted and estimable lady.