C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Sophia (1750–1824) and Harriet (1757–1851) Lee
Lee, Sophia, and Harriet. English novelists; born in London—Sophia in 1750, Harriet in 1757; died—Sophia March 13, 1824, Harriet Aug. 1, 1851. They were daughters of John Lee, actor. Sophia at twenty-nine wrote a very successful comedy, ‘The Chapter of Accidents.’ In ‘The Recess: A Tale of Other Days’ (1784) and in ‘Canterbury Tales’ (5 vols., 1797–1805), which she wrote in conjunction with Harriet, and which soon became a general favorite, is seen the beginning of the historical school in novel-writing. One of the ‘Canterbury Tales’—‘Kruitzner; or, The German’s Tale’—written by Harriet, suggested to Byron the subject of ‘Werner.’ She also wrote the stories ‘The Errors of Innocence’ (5 vols., 1786), and ‘Clara Lennox’ (1797).