The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-01-08 00:00:00

DEATH OF MRS. MACLEAN (L.E.L.)

(From the Courier.)
With a feeling of sorrow which thousands will in some mea-
sure share, though few can perfectly estimate its depth or sa-
credness, we this day announce the death of Mrs. Maclean,
the wife of George Maclean Esq., Governor of Cape Coas
Castle. She died suddenly on the 15th of October last,
soon after her arrival on that fatal shore, which is the
grave of so many valuable lives, but of none more va -
luable than her's. The qualities which gave to "L.E.L. '
so proud and permanent a claim upon public admira -
tion, were not those which constituted the chief charm o f
her character in the estimation of her more intimate and

deeply attached friends. Brilliant as her genius was, her heart
was, after all, the noblest and truest gift that nature i❑ its la-
vishness had bestowed upon her—upon her, who paid back
the debt which she owed for these glorious endowments of
heart and mind, by an indefatigable exercise of her powers
for the delight of the public, and by sympathies the most ge-
nerous and sincere with human virtue and human suffering.
More perfect kindness and exquisite susceptibility than her's
was, never supplied a graceful and fitting accompaniment to
genius, or elevated the character of woman. We cannot,
however, write her eulogy now—we can only lament her loss,
and treasure the recollection which a long and faithful friend-
ship renders sacred.
The feeling with which we record this mournful intelligence
at the commencement of a new year, will be respected, when
we state that only yesterday morning we received from Mrs.
Maclean a most interesting and affecting letter, which sets
forth at once with the animating assertion, '• I am very well,
and very happy." " The only regret," she proceeds to say,
" the only regret (the emerald ring that I fling into the dark
sea of life to propitiate fate) is the constant sorrow I feel when-
ever I think of those whose kindness is so deeply treasured."
She says that her residence at the Castle of Cape Coast is
"like living in the Arabian Nights—looking out upon palm
and cocoanut trees." And she then enters into a light-
hearted and pleasant review of her housekeeping troubles,
touching yams and plaintains—and a not less interesting ac-
count of her literary labours and prospects—intimating that
the ship which brought the letter we quote, brought also the
first volume of a novel, and the manuscript of another work
to he published periodically. To the last her friendly gossip
is full of life, cheerfulness, and hope. The next ship that
sailed—how very soon afterwards—brought to us the tidings
of the sudden sacrifice of that life, the memory of which
should be dear to all who can appreciate poetry, and wit, and
generosity; the refinements of taste and the kindly impulses
of the heart, that make human nature—and woman's nature
especially—most worthy to be regarded with admiration and
affection.

(From the Watchman.)

We have been furnished with the following, extract from a
letter of the Rev. 'Thomas Freeman, Wesleyan missionary
at Cape Coast, containing the announcement of this cala-
mitous event. The sympathy of a large portion of the pub-
lic, as well of her immediate friends, will be awakened by

:he circumstances of the death of this talented and estimable

lady :—" Cape Coast Town, Oct. 16, 1838.—Here I would
gladly close my letter, but, alas ! alas ! I feel it my painful
duty to record the awfully sudden death of poor Mrs.
Maclean—not occasioned by any sickness peculiar to this
climate (her general health having been very good from the
day she landed until yesterday morning,) when she was found
dead in her room, lying close to the door, having in her hand
a bottle which had contained prussic acid, a portion of which
she had taken (as proved by the surgeon,) the remainder
being spilt on the floor. She had been, a short time before,
in apparent good health and spirits. A letter was found,
which she had written to a friend in Scotland, dated the same
morning, in which she expresses herself as satisfied and
pleased with Cape Coast and its inhabitants, and as finding
every thing here much better than she had expected. (She
told me the same eight or ten days ago, or thereabouts.) On
the body being thus found, a -jury was immediately sum-
moned, composed of the European merchants of the town,
(I was not among them,) and the nature of the evidence
given was such as they considered would authorise them to
give a verdict to the following effect :—' It is thought that
she was seized with spasms inn the stomach (with which she
was often troubled, being subject to them), and took an over-
dose of prussic acid, as she was found dead on the floor of
her bed-room, close to the door, with the small bottle in her
hand. It is suppose that she took an over-dose, which killed
her.'—Mr. Maclean had been very ill with the same complaint
(the spasms,*) while she only felt them for a short time at
once, not enough to make her ill. Indeed, whenever I have
seen her, (which was often) she always appeared in high
health and spirits. We all deeply deplore the event. She
was a person of an amiable disposition. To me she was very
kind, especially during my late illness, in sending me any
little thing (such as dried fruit, &c.) which I stood in need
of. I fondly hoped she would have been spared ; for. though
her literary pursuits would most probably hace hindered from
paying much attention to our poor degraded Fantee females,
yet even the mere presence of an European lady is of vast
importance in this place. I have dwelt longer than I ought,
perhaps, on this melancholy catastrophe, because I feared
lest it should operate injuriously on the mind of any mis-
sionaries. or their wives, whom the committee may intend to
send to this station.

* The spasms are by no means peculiar to this climate;
the only complaints which are peculiar and dangerous here
are the fever and dysentery. Epidemics are scarcely known
at Cape Coast,