Mrs. Elizabeth Leigh, Moretta in _The Rover_, 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_, Part I (1677); and Mrs.
Closet, _The City Heiress_ (1682).
In and about 1702 another Mrs. Leigh, perhaps Frank Leigh’s wife, made
a brief appearance. She was at first cast for good parts but soon sank
into obscurity. Thus on 21 October, 1702, she sustained Mrs. Plotwell
in Mrs. Centlivre’s _The Beau’s Duel_; on 28 April, 1703, Chloris in
the Hon. Charles Boyle’s insipid _As You Find It._ She may have been
the Mrs. Eli. Leigh who with other performers signed a petition to
Queen Anne in 1709. Of Mrs. Rachel Lee, who took the ‘walk-on’ part of
Judy, a waiting-woman, in Southern’s _The Maid’s Last Prayer_ (1693),
nothing is known.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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