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LEE, SOPHIA (1950-1824), English novelist and dramatist, daughter of John Lee (d. 1781), actor and theatrical manager, was born in London. Her first piece, The Chapter of Accidents, a one-act-opera based on Diderot's Pere de famille, was produced by George Colman at the Haymarket Theatre on the 5th of August 1780. The proceeds were spent in establishing a school at Bath, where Miss Lee made a home for her sisters. Her subsequent productions included The Recess, or a Tale of other Times (1785), a historical romance; and Almeyda, Queen of Grenada (1796), a tragedy in blank verse; she also contributed to her sister's Canterbury Tales (1797). She died at her house near Clifton on the 13th of March 1824.
Her sister, HARRIET LEE (1757-1851), published in 1786 a novel written in letters, The Errors of Innocence. Clara Lennox followed in 1797. Her chief work is the Canterbury Tales (1797-1805), a series of twelve stories which became very popular. Lord Byron dramatized one of the tales, " Kruitzner," as Werner, or the Inheritance. She died at Clifton on the 1st of August 1851.