# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Lee, Mary Elizabeth

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LEE, MARY ELIZABETH,
A writer of prose and verse, was born at Charleston, South Carolina, on the 23rd. of March, 1813. She belonged to an old family which had always maintained a highly respectable rank in society. Mary at a very early period evinced the possession of a delicate and sensitive organization with large promise of talent. She was fortunate in early literary associations, which, in a considerable degree, were made to supply the want of a close and methodical education. She soon exhibited an eager appetite for books. For these she abandoned the usual amusements of childhood. Indeed, she never entertained them. The toy and the doll, so essential to juvenile happiness, contributed at no period to hers. Her pleasures were derived wholly from reading, and the conversation of those whose attachment to letters was decided. In this way she added daily to her intellectual resources, and stimulated, even to excess, the sole desire of her mind. Her memory was one of remarkable capacity, and she retained without an effort whatever commended itself to her imagination. She thus laid in rare stores for thought, which, as she advanced to maturity, were never left unemployed. Her faculty for the acquisition of languages, with or without a tutor, was singularly large; and, with a memory so retentive as that which she possessed, it was never exercised in vain. Until the age of ten, her education was entirely carried on at home. When, at this period, it was deemed advisable to enlarge her studies in accordance with the increasing developments of her mind, and she was sent to school, its exercises and excitements were found to prey upon her delicate constitution. The very emulation which such an institution almost necessarily provokes in an ardent and eager nature, was injurious to hers. Her health became impaired, and it was found necessary when she was but twelve years of age, to withdraw her once more to the placid sphere of domestic study. Here, then, and almost at this early period, she began the education of herself—that most valuable of all kinds of education, and the only one which makes school education of value. In the securities of home she pursued her voluntary tasks with equal industry and pleasure. Her application was sleepless, her acquisitions surprising. She succeeded in obtaining a considerable mastery over the French, Italian, and German languages, while perfecting herself, by constant attention, in all the graces of her own. In these exercises she naturally became a contributor to the periodical literature of the country. Her vein was at once direct and delicate; simple, unaffected and truthful, yet full of grace, sweetness, and beauty'. Her tone was grave mostly, almost to solemnity, yet relieved and warmed by a fancy that, if never frolicsome, was at least usually cheerful.
Miss Lee's practice in verse, as is commonly the case, preceded her exercises in prose. At a later day she became as diligent in the latter as in the former province. Essays, sketches, tales, all proceeded rapidly from her pen, and were eagerly read in the annuals and magazines into which they found their way. ​sometimes she ventured upon a critical paper for the reviews, and, through this medium, she has given us some just and thoughtful criticisms upon foreign writers. One volume, designed by her for the young, entitled "Social Evenings, or Historical Tales," was published by the Massachusetts School Library Association, and is stated to be one of the most popular of the collection. Its characteristics are simplicity, good sense, accuracy of statement, and compactness of detail, all carefully chosen and grouped in accordance with the leading purpose of the publication.
At a later period in life, her labours were continued amidst great suffering, and with a constant apprehension of a fatal termination. Her constitution, always delicate, was gradually yielding to her complaint, which was assisted in its progress by the intense activity of her mind. But this very activity, which helped her foe, was her principal solace. Of the tenacity with which she held to her employments, we may form some notion from a single fact. Her right hand having become paralyzed, she transferred the pen to the left, and acquired a new style of penmanship, which, entirely different from that which she wrote before, is yet singularly uniform, and even spirited and graceful. She bore her afflictions with a wonderful fortitude, a sweet, becoming cheerfulness, and a still unwearied exercise of her mental faculties, all concurring to illustrate the pure and noble Christian spirit, the cultivation of which had been carefully blended with that of her intellectual and moral nature.
After years of suffering, she expired peacefully and hopefully in the arms of her family, on the 23rd. of September, 1849, at the early age of thirty-six. A selection from her poetical writings has recently been made, and published in Charleston by Messrs. Walker and Richards, in a beautiful duodecimo of two hundred and twenty-four pages.