Leslie, Eliza

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LESLIE, Eliza

Born 15 November 1787, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; died 1 January 1858, Gloucester, New Jersey

Also wrote under: A Lady of Philadelphia, Eliza Lord

Daughter of Robert and Lydia Baker Leslie

Eliza Leslie, the eldest of five children, resided in London with her family from 1793 to 1799. There Leslie was educated at home, attending school only to learn needlework. When her father died, Leslie and her mother opened a boardinghouse in Philadelphia to support the family. Leslie also taught drawing, building up a fair reputation; her brother Charles Robert became a well-known painter.

Leslie's literary career began in middle age when she published Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats (1827), a collection of recipes she had gathered years before as a student at Mrs. Goodfellow's cooking school in Philadelphia. This early American cookbook was such a success that Leslie was encouraged to undertake other literary ventures. During the next 30 years she published cookbooks, domestic economy treatises, children's books, magazine fiction, and some poetry. Satiric wit and lively anecdotes were the characteristics of her conversation and prose. In her last years she enjoyed the acclaim of a celebrity.

Of all Leslie's work, the books on cooking and housekeeping—many going through multiple editions—were most popular. She reported the greatest financial success for Directions for Cookery (1837), The House Book (1840), and The Lady's Receipt-Book (1846). Her domestic economy books dealt with a wide range of housekeeping activities; similarly, her cookbooks included suggestions on other domestic tasks.

Leslie was also successful and creative in her works for children. Her earliest effort, The Mirror (1828), was followed by many stories, some of the best republished in Atlantic Tales (1833). Leslie contributed to children's annuals and edited one, The Violet (1837-1842). Her stories were designed to amuse, instruct, and inspire further reading. Some were syllabicated for beginning readers. Many incorporated American themes and subjects. In addition to her juvenile literature, she developed a game about Boston and published three books of playtime activities for girls.

Soon after her early successes, she began writing short stories for ladies' magazines. In 1832 she won a literary prize from Godey's Lady's Book for "Mrs. Washington Potts." Subsequently, she won three other prizes from different periodicals. Her numerous stories appeared in Godey's, Parley's, Graham's, the Saturday Gazette, and the Saturday Evening Post. Many were reprinted in collections, the most well known being the three-volume Pencil Sketches (1833-1837). For several years she edited the annual The Gift (1836-1845), which included her contributions along with those of such authors as Lydia Howard Sigourney, Edgar Allan Poe, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. In 1843 she started Miss Leslie's Magazine, but it survived just one year. Leslie wrote only one novel, Amelia (1848).

Leslie's stories for adults, like those for children, were written to be entertaining and instructive. Upper-class snobbery and bad manners are most frequently satirized. Several stories contrast modest, intelligent country girls with extravagant, inane city flirts, illustrating the foolishness of class distinctions based on money, family background, or the whims of social matrons. Female vanity, especially lavishness in dress, is repeatedly shown to lead to marital and financial unhappiness. Integrity, self-respect, and honesty are reflected in a character's demeanor and dress. The well-mannered woman always knows how to be useful in her place; she is adept in domestic skills and, if necessary, can earn a living utilizing them.

Miss Leslie's Behaviour Book (1859) straightforwardly reiterates such definitions of appropriate female behavior. In addition, it includes chapters on "Conduct to Literary Women" and "Suggestions to Inexperienced Authors." Not only does Leslie give advice on respecting literary women's time and talents, but also she cautions against thinking female authors are deficient in domestic skills.

Leslie's contemporaries disagreed about the value of her work: some felt it represented life perfectly, others that her satirical approach was overused. The reader today will find Leslie's work generally well-written, fast-moving, and amusing, but its messages become repetitious. Though her attention was focused primarily on women, she showed no particular sympathy with her sex as a whole. She revealed the foibles of high society and encouraged propriety in "woman's sphere." Leslie did not address current social issues; nevertheless, her work, because of its popularity, merits reexamination as an indicator of beliefs about women and the woman writer in antebellum America.

Other Works:

The Young Ladies' Mentor; or, Extracts in Prose and Verse for the Promotion of Virtue and Morality (1803). Stories for Adelaide: Being a Second Series of Easy Reading Lessons, with Divided Syllables (1829). The Young Americans; or, Sketches of a Sea Voyage, and a Short Visit to Europe (1829). American Girl's Book; or, Occupation for Play Hours (1831). Cards of Boston (1832). 200 Receipts for French Cookery (1832). Laura Lovel: A Sketch (1834). Althea Vernon; or, the Embroidered Handkerchief, to Which is Added, Henrietta Harrison; or, the Blue Cotton Umbrella (1838). Mr. and Mrs. Woodbridge, with Other Tales (1841). Mrs. Washington Potts, and Mr. Smith: Tales (1843). The Indian Meal Book (1846). Leonilia Lynmore, and Mr. and Mrs. Woodbridge; or, A Lesson for Young Wives (1847). The Dennings and Their Beaux (1851). The Maid of Canal Street, and The Bloxhams (1851). The Behaviour Book: A Manual for Ladies (1853).

Bibliography:

Haven, A. B., "Personal Reminiscences of Miss E. Leslie," in Godey's Lady's Book (April 1958). Mott, F. L., A History of American Magazines, 1741-1850 (1938).