Sophia Lee

Sophia Lee (1750 – 13 March 1824) was an English novelist and dramatist.

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.

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.

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.

External links

* [http://www2.unipr.it/~dsaglia/almeyda/almprosp.html Text of "Almeyda, Queen of Grenada"]
* April Alliston, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16311 ‘Lee, Sophia Priscilla (bap. 1750, d. 1824)’] , "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 13 Nov 2006
* Rebecca Garwood, [http://www.chawton.org/library/biographies/lee.html 'Sophia Lee (1750-1824) and Harriet Lee (1757-1851)' at www.chawton org]