SOURCE: Review of Valentine's Eve by Amelia Opie, in Monthly Review, Vol. LXXIX, January-April, 1816, pp. 438-39.

In the following review, the critic commends Opie 's Valentine's Eve for the virtuous example of its heroine, but finds fault with the dialogue and the portrayal of various characters.

This story is not calculated either by its conduct or its circumstances tö display advantageously the talents of the writer; and, since "most animals know where their strength lies," as Warburton said, when referring to his critics, such persons as attempt to perform the critical office towards Mrs. Opie must consider her as an exception to his rule. Why, else, does she so often attempt the composition of playful dialogue, in which she has never succeeded; and the exhibition of consummate villainy, such as is here attributed to Melvyn and Sophia Clermont, and such as her own mind is too amiable...