COTTIN, Sophie (1773-1807), née Restaud, was born at Tonneins, Lot-et-Garonne, and was educated at Bordeaux. At seventeen she married a banker, who died three years after, when she removed to Paris. In 1798 she published anonymously her Claire d'Albe, to obtain money, it is said, for a friend who was proscribed and exiled. Her second romance, Malvina (1800), was also anonymous; but the success of Amélie Mansfield (1802) induced the authoress to reveal her identity. In 1805 appeared Mathilde, a crusading story, sentimental and extravagant to a degree; and in 1806 she produced her last story, the famous Elisa beth, ou les exiles de Sibérie. At the date of her death Madame Cottin was engaged on an educational novel, and on a treatise entitled La réligìon prouvée par le sentiment, Her worst fault is a tendency to exaggerate the virtues of her characters. A complete edition of her works was published, in two volumes, in 1847.