Harriet Lee (writer)
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Harriet Lee was an English writer and novelist, born in London in 1757, and died near Briston at Clifton, England, on August 1, 1851. Her father, John Lee, was an actor and theatrical manager who died in 1781, and her mother, an actress whose name remains unknown, contributed to her family's theatrical background. Additionally, she was the sister of Sophia Lee (1750–1824), a notable dramatist.
Life
Lee was born in
In 1786, she published The Errors of Innocence, a novel broken up into five volumes, written in
Clara Lennox, a two-volume-novel, was published in 1797 and translated into French the following year. The five volumes of Lee's most famous work, Canterbury Tales, were published between 1797 and 1805. In 1798, she published a play, called The Mysterious Marriage, in three acts, It was also called The Heirship of Rosalva.[1] It has never been staged.
Before 1798, William Godwin met Lee during a ten-day visit in Bath. He was impressed with her conversation and, in a letter he sent to Lee after their meeting, stated "There are so few persons in the world that have excited that degree of interest in my mind which you have excited".[2] He had been determined to offer her a marriage proposal. Lee found the egotism in Godwin's letter distasteful, and she admonished him with a frank response. From April to August 1798, they carried out a correspondence. Godwin again visited Bath at the end of 1798 and met with Lee. She ultimately decided that his religious opinions made a happy union impossible. She thought this because Godwin is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism and the first modern proponent of anarchism.[3] Her last letter, sent on 7 August 1798, expressed a hope that friendly relations might be maintained; and Godwin sent letters to her at a later date criticizing some of her literary productions.
Among her friends were the novelists Jane and Anna Maria Porter, who lived in Bristol, and Thomas Lawrence. It is said that Sophia and Harriet Lee were the first to predict the future eminence of Sir Thomas Lawrence, who presented to them portraits by himself of Mrs. Siddons, John Kemble, and General Paoli. Samuel Rogers mentions meeting Harriet Lee in 1792. She lived to the age of ninety-four, and it was remarked that her lively conversational talents, clear judgment, powerful memory, and benevolent and kindly disposition were present up until her death. She died in Clifton, Bristol, on 1 August 1851.[1]
Influence on Byron
Notes
- ^ a b c Archbold 1892.
- ^ Kegan Paul, Charles (1876). William Godwin: His Friends and Contemporaries, Volume 1. London: Henry S. King & Co.
- ^ Philp, Mark (20 May 2006). "William Godwin". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- ^ ix. 846
- ^ Bristol Journal. 9 August 1851; Biographia Dramatica; Ann. Beg. 1851, p. 315; Gent. Mag. September 1851, p. 326; Kegan Paul's William Godwin, i. 298-316; Moore's Life of Byron, p. 536; D. E. Williams's Sir Thomas Lawrence, i. 15.]]
References
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Archbold, William Arthur Jobson (1892). "Lee, Harriet". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 32. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
Sources
- British Authors Before 1800: A Biographical Dictionary, edited by Stanley J. Kunitz and Howard Haycraft, New York, The H. W. Wilson Company, 1952.
- April Alliston, 'Lee, Harriet (1757/8–1851)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 13 November 2006
- Rebecca Garwood, 'Sophia Lee (1750–1824) and Harriet Lee (1757–1851)' at www.chawton org
- Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). The American Cyclopædia.
.
- Harriet Lee, from Wikinfo
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article on her sister also has a paragraph on Harriet Lee.