LETTITIA ELIZABETH (Mrs Maclean), well known for the pleasing, and at one time highly popular poetry, which she wrote under her initials, L. E. L., was born in 1802, at Chelsea, near London. Till her fourteenth year her time was spent almost equally between town and country, but in 1815 she settled, with her father's family, at Brompton. A near neighbour in that suburb was Mr Jordan, the editor of the Literary Gazette. Some small pieces which she submitted to him were inserted in that journal. These were followed by others of a higher strain, and in a short time it became the fashion to admire the verses of L. E. L. Just as she was emerging into popularity, her father died, in very straitened circumstances. The duty of supporting his family fell upon her, and literature, with which she had at first only coquetted, now became the business of her life. Besides occasional pieces in verse, she contributed largely and regularly in prose to the Literary Gazette, chiefly critical notices of novels, and books of poetry and travels. Her intimate connection with that journal and its editor seemed to countenance a false and cruel scandal, which gave the most exquisite pain to its victim. In 1821 Miss Landon published her first considerable work, under the title of The Fate of Adelaide, a Swiss Romantic Tale, and other Poems. She speedily followed it up with the Improvisatrice, the Troubadour, the Golden Violet, the Venetian Bracelet, and a good many other efforts equally long. At the same time, there was hardly a journal of any note in which she did not scatter some of the wafers and strays of her fancy. In 1831, and the six following years, she edited Fisher's Scrap-Book, an annual which, under her care, reached a rare standard of excellence as well as popularity. She also found time to write three novels, Ethel Churchill, Francesca Carrara, and Romance and Reality. In 1838 Miss Landon was married to Mr Maclean, governor of Cape Coast Castle. Except in so far as her health was delicate, her married life was a happy and peaceful one. She had long suffered severely from a complication of nervous diseases, and was in the habit of relieving her pain with small doses of prussic acid. One day, October 15, 1839, she was found dead in her room, holding in her hand a phial of her usual medicine. She had accidentally taken an overdose, and death had been instantaneous. The circumstances of the case gave rise to vague and cruel suspicions, now known to have been utterly groundless.

L. E. L.'s poetical works show her to have possessed a rich fancy, a fine vein of sentimental melancholy, and excellent power of expressing romantic emotion. She delighted to choose her subjects from the old romance, and to treat them romantically. This, in probably a greater degree than their poetical quality, was the secret of their success. Had she been in circumstances to concentrate her powers, she might have earned for herself a niche in the English temple of fame; but, like Mrs Hemans, she wasted her strength in a rapid succession of small efforts, which served their time, and then were forgotten. Had Landberg she lived she might perhaps have fulfilled the promise of high genius held out by her youthful effusions.

In 1841 Mr Lamant Blanchard published the Life and Literary Remains of L. E. L. From this work it is evident that her life was in the main a painful one; yet it is also asserted that the melancholy of her verses is in complete contrast to the vivacity and playfulness of her manners in private life.