Marie Leprince de Beaumont (1711-1780) was a prolific writer of stories for children. She wrote sixty volumes of tales, including Beauty and the Beast. She was born in Rouen and spent ten years in a convent, where she became a teacher, most notably acting as governess of the daughters of the Duchess of Lorraine. She married but divorced her husband for his repeated infidelity, and lived in London from 1748-1764. She published three treatises on education: Le Magasin des enfants, Le Magasin des adolescentes and Le Mentor moderne. During her time in England, she was engaged to teach Sophia Carteret, daughter of the Earl Granville and Lady Sophia Fermor.