The Sun.
London, England, 1818-05-29 00:00:00

LITERARY REVIEW.

SOPHIA ; or, the DANGEROUS INDISCRETION. A
TALE, founded on Facts. In Three Volumes.—London:
Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Pa-

ternoster-row.

It is with sincere pleasure that we announce
the appearance of a Novel, which is not only free
from the detects incident to such productions,
but is even admirably calcula•ed to correct the
erroneous opinions of human life which young
women are apt to imbibe ,from those too attrac.
"tire tales of fancy. so fatally subversive of reason
and judgment. The story of SOPHI.V, avawedly
founded on facts, is peculiarly addressed to fe-
males in that humbler walk of society, where
a venial trespass, the most innocentlact.of India.
cretion, often leads
_to irrepat able ruin and dis-
grace. To combine the useful with the agreeable
it no easy task—to invest with,. interest and at-
traction a fiction' strongly marked -by:resilty is
unquestionably-an evidence of no cone non-
no ordinary talents.; Both_in its plan itml execu-
tion this Novel hears the impression•ora superior
pen. As a specimen of the style we syhjoin the
following passage, which is equally an introduc-
tion-Of-die Heroine ind the Author

" The father of Sophia, with no other support
than an Ensign's Cothmission, married, at an early
age, a young Lady whose beauty and accomplish.
-mews constituted her fortune; his "duty soon
'obliged him to leave her, which he did with an
aching heart: her situation was critical, yet small
was the provision he could make for her, his half-
pay was All, and that All, little as it was, Was
more than he could well spare.

" An aunt was the only remaining relation of
Mrs. Damon I her income was not large, yet
such as it was, she agreed to share it with her
!niece, who was also to reside with her. Things
being thus arranged, Mr. Danton took a heart•
breaking farewell of his wife, to go on permanent
duty at Gibraltar.

" A short time after this, Sophia made her ap-
pearauce in the world ; her form was- cast in
wtture's fittest mould, her complexion was neither
dark nor fair ; she might be called a dark blonde,
or a lair brunette; her eyes were of the deepest
blue, adorncd with long silken eye lashes, while
her dark auburn hair shaded with its beautiful
ringlets an intantine countenance, at once lovely
and expessive. Such was the little Sophia ; and
often woold hersnother gaze with rapture an her
beauty, while she secretly indulged the hope that
it would ot,e day be the means of Making her
fortune ; in order titat it might do so, the fond
mother determined to bestow-as good an education
on the little beauty as het slender finance' could
possibly allow. By a good education Mrs. Dan-
too understood what ought rather is, be called a
showy one; music, dancing, French, and the fa:
shiouable needlewOrks where the accomplishments
in which she wished Sophia to excel ; with the
help of these and her beauty, the fond misjudging
In titer thought her fortune would inevitably be-
made. In porsoanceof this plan, Sophia bed no
sooner completed her 6tth year than 'She was
placed at a ladies' boarding school, with orders
to. he taught every thing that was- fashionable,
her mother in the mean time denying herself al-
most the necessaries of life, in order to give her
daughter a needlessly expensive education.
" Sophia, though blessed with excellent parts,
was at the same time so lively and volatile, that
she could not seriously bend her attention to any
thing, and of course what she learned was Merely
superficial ; she could play of a few fashionable
airs on the piano-forte, draw flowers with some ,
(leg, e e of taste but by no means correctly, talk a
little French, and it must tse confessed danced
better than any girl in the school, and greatly
mortifying to her pride was it that site could not
dress as well : but the promotion of her father to
the rank of Lieutenant, when site was in her ele-
venth year, enabled her in some measure to vie
with the daughters of affluence. Short however
*as her triumph, the Spaniards made an attack
on Gibraltar—=her father was wounded iu the en-
gagement, and before she had, completed her
twelfth year, returned home, an invalid on halt
P4Y.

" event formed a new epoch in the life of
our heroine : she was immediately taken from
school. Her father beheld with regret the im-
propriety of her education, and her mother's ruin-
stat-e of health, the effect of a regular system
t.i starvation, in of der to give her daughter that
editcation which had only unfitted her for the
sphere of life in which it appeared probable she
must move." •

As this Work is really, as we before observed,
calculated to correct the errors of a romantic ima-
gination, too easily susceptible of false impres-
sions, arising; from the general run of Novels,
and to produce true notions of life, of human eon-
diqct, and of seducing expectations, we fed it to be
the duty of a Public Journalist to recommend it
to the attention of our Readers in general ; and
we cannot but hold in respect that Firm which
gives its patronage to prOductions likely to be so
beneficial in its effects upon the youthful mind,
and to society at large.

On Thursday Next—Twenty Capitals (at lean
10001. each) in the first half hour ; Scheme con-
tains THREE of 20,0001. with 104 other Capitals
of 30001. 20001, &c. although there are 4000
Tickets less than Last Lottery. Tickets and
Shares are on Sale at both of WEea's Offices, 9,
Cornhill, and 17, Ludgate-street, where Four
Capitals were shared last Lottery, and Three
30,0001. Prizes in 13 mouths. .