Sophia Lee
Sophia Lee (1750 – 13 March 1824) was an English novelist and dramatist.
[edit] Life
She was the daughter of John Lee (died 1781), actor and theatrical manager, and was born in London. Her first piece, The Chapter of Accidents, a three-act opera based on Denis Diderot's Le père de famille, was produced by George Colman the Elder at the Haymarket Theatre on 5 August 1780 and was an immediate success.[1]
When her father died in 1781, Lee spent the proceeds of the opera on establishing a school at Bath, where she made a home for her sisters Anne and Harriet. Her novel The Recess, or a Tale of other Times (1783) was a historical romance; and the play Almeyda, Queen of Grenada (1796) was a long tragedy in blank verse, which opened at Drury Lane on 20 April 1796 but ran for only four nights. The Recess can also be regarded as a formative work of the original Gothic, echoing and pre-dating themes from other contemporary Gothic writers.[1]
With her sister Harriet Lee she wrote a series of Canterbury Tales (1797). Other works included The Life of a Lover (1804) and Ormond; or the Debauchee (1810). She died at her house near Clifton, Bristol on 13 March 1824.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911.
- Attribution
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lee, Sophia". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
[edit] External links
- Text of Almeyda, Queen of Grenada
- "Lee, Sophia Priscilla (bap. 1750, d. 1824)", on the website of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (subscription or UK public library membership required), http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/16311
- Rebecca Garwood, 'Sophia Lee (1750-1824) and Harriet Lee (1757-1851)' at www.chawton org
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
