Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/734

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LESLIE
LESLIE

sylvania” (Harrisburg, 1876); and “Paul Dreifuss, his Holiday Abroad” (Boston, 1882). — His wife, Susan Inches, is the daughter of Judge Joseph Lyman, of Northampton, Mass., married Prof. Lesley in 1849, and has been devoted to the work of organized charities in Philadelphia. She has published “Memoirs of Mrs. Anne J. Lyman” (Cambridge, 1876; 2d ed., entitled “Recollections of My Mother,” Boston, 1886).


LESLIE, Alexander, British soldier, b. in England about 1740; d. there, 27 Dec., 1794. He was brigadier-general and commanded the light infantry at the battle of Long Island in August, 1776, served at the capture of Charleston in May, 1780, invaded Virginia with 3,000 men, 16 Oct., 1780, and joined Lord Cornwallis in North Carolina in December of that year. He led the right wing of the British force at Guilford, and at the close of the war was commandant at Charleston.


LESLIE, Eliza, author, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 16 Nov., 1787; d. in Gloucester, N. J., 2 Jan., 1858. Her father, a watchmaker of Philadelphia, was a personal friend of Franklin, Jefferson, and other eminent men. Eliza accompanied her parents to England in 1793, and, after her return in 1800, resided chiefly in Philadelphia. Her first compositions were in verse. In her fortieth year she published her first prose work, a cookery-book, which met with a large sale, and subsequently, after obtaining a prize for her story, “Mrs. Washington Potts,” which was published in “Godey's Ladies' Book,” she adopted literature as a profession and edited “The Gift,” a popular annual. Her writings are distinguished for good sense, ease of expression, and quiet humor, and her works on cookery and housekeeping were for many years very popular. Her publications include “Seventy-five Receipts” (Philadelphia, 1827); “American Girl's Book” (1831); “Pencil Sketches” (1833-'7); “Domestic Cookery-Book” (1837); “Althea Vernon” (1838); “Henrietta Harrison” (1838); “House-Book” (1840); “Ladies' Receipt-Book” (1848>; “The Dennings” (1851); and “Behavior-Book” (1853). During the last ten years of her life she was engaged on a life of John Fitch, the steam navigator. — Her brother, Charles Robert, artist, b. in London, England, 19 Oct., 1794; d. there, 5 May, 1859, accompanied his family to the United States in 1800, was educated in the public schools of Philadelphia, and apprenticed to a bookseller, but in 1813 returned to England, where he was in the studios of Benjamin West and Washington Allston, and soon attained notice. He was elected an associate of the Royal academy in 1821 and academician in 1825. In 1831 he became professor of drawing in the U. S. military academy, but resigned the next year, owing to the discontent of his English wife. In 1848-'51 he was professor of painting in the Royal academy. His “Cooke as Richard III.” and “Murder of Rutland by Clifford” are in the Philadelphia academy of fine arts. His most famous paintings are in the Vernon collection in the National gallery, London, and in the Sheepshank's collection. His works include “The Coronation of Queen Victoria,” “Anne Page and Master Slender,” “Sir Roger de Coverley going to Church,” and “May Day in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth.” He published “Memoirs of John Constable” (London, 1848), and “Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds,” continued by Tom Taylor (1865). See “Charles Robert Leslie's Autobiographical Recollections,” edited by Tom Taylor (1860; republished, Boston, 1860). — Another brother, Thomas Jefferson, soldier, b. in London, 2 Nov., 1796; d. in New York city, 25 Nov., 1874, was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1815, was paymaster of engineers from that date till 1838, was appointed 2d lieutenant in 1816, 1st lieutenant in 1819, and brevetted captain for ten years' faithful service in 1829. He was major and paymaster in 1838, declined the appointment of deputy paymaster-general in 1847, and during the civil war was chief of the paymaster's department of New York district. In 1865 he was brevetted colonel and brigadier-general for faithful performance of duty during a continuous period of fifty years' service. He was retired in 1869.


LESLIE, Frank, publisher, b. in Ipswich, England, 29 March, 1821; d. in New York city, 10 Jan., 1880. He was the son of Joseph Carter, a glove-manufacturer, and was christened Henry, educated in his native town, and placed in a wholesale dry-goods house in London at the age of seventeen. While at school he showed a strong taste for art, and before he left had become proficient in the use of the pencil and engraver's tools. On the establishment of “The Illustrated London News” he began sending in sketches signed “Frank Leslie,” a pen-name that he adopted to conceal his identity from his father. The prompt publication of his sketches led him to give up the dry-goods business, and he became superintendent of the engraving department of the paper before he was of age. He studied the various branches of the publication business, became an expert in the operation of “overlaying” wood-engravings, and was successful as an engraver on wood. In 1848 he came to the United States, assumed the name of Frank Leslie by legislative act, and secured employment on “Gleason's Pictorial” in Boston. Shortly afterward he became superintendent of the engraving department of “The Illustrated News.” In 1854 he began publishing on his own account, his first periodical being “The Gazette of Fashion,” and his second “The New York Journal.” On 14 Dec., 1855, he published the first number of “Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper,” in which his ideas of a pictorial newspaper were indicated by illustrations of Dr. Kane's arctic expedition that attracted wide attention. In 1865 he established “The Chimney Corner,” and followed it with German and Spanish editions of the “Illustrated Newspaper,” “The Boys' and Girls' Weekly,” “The Lady's Journal,” a weekly, “The Budget of Fun,” a monthly, “The New World,” a weekly, “Pleasant Hours,” “Popular Monthly,” and “Sunday Magazine,” monthlies, and “The Chatter-Box,” the “Illustrated Almanac,” and the “Comic Almanac,” annuals. Mr. Leslie received the medal of the American institute for wood-engraving in 1848, was a commissioner to the Paris exposition of 1867, where he was presented with a prize medal in gold by Napoleon III. for his services on the jury on art, and president of the New York state centennial commission in 1876. He was a liberal patron of art and charitable interests. — His wife, Miriam