Part I

, who is so persistently confused with Mrs. Mary Lee, was the wife of Antony Leigh, the celebrated comedian. In Betterton’s comedy, _The Revenge_ (1680), when she acted Mrs. Dashit, she is billed as Mrs. A. Lee. Her husband died in December, 1692. Their son Michael also gave great promise on the boards. The lad’s name occurs in the cast of Shadwell’s _The Amorous Bigot_ (1690) as ‘young Leigh’, when he played Diego, a servant, to his father’s Tegue o’ Divelly, the Irish friar. Unfortunately he died at an early age, probably in the winter of 1701, but his younger brother Francis attained considerable success. Frank Leigh made his debut at Lincoln’s Inn’s Fields, 31 December, 1702, as Tristram in the original production of Mrs. Centlivre’s _The Stolen Heiress._ He died in the autumn of 1719. Mrs. Leigh was herself an actress of no small eminence, her special line being ‘affected mothers, aunts, and modest stale maids that had missed their market’. Says Cibber, ‘In all these, with many others, she was extremely entertaining’. After 10 June, 1707, when she acted Lady Sly in Carlile’s _The Fortune Hunters_, her name is no longer to be found in the bills, and in October, 1707, Mrs. Powell is playing her parts. Mrs. Leigh’s repertory was very large, and amongst her roles were Lady Woodvil in Etheredge’s _The Man of Mode_ (1676); Lady Plyant in _The Double Dealer_ (1694); the Nurse in _Love for Love_ (1695); the Hostess in Betterton’s revival of _Henry IV_, Part I (1699); and Lady Wishfort in _The Way of the World_ (1700). In comedies by Mrs. Behn, Mrs. Leigh only appears twice, Moretta, _The Rover_,