Mary Lee, when she was out of Humour,’ which commences:-- How little do you guess what I’m to say! I’m not to ask how you like Farce or Play: For you must know I’ve other Business now; It is to tell you, Sparks, how we like you. In April she gave a fine performance of Cleopatra, Sedley’s _Antony and Cleopatra_; in June she was acting Circe, the title-rôle of Charles Davenant’s gorgeously mounted opera; in August, Astatius in a bucolic, whose scene is Arcady, entitled _The Constant Nymph; or The Rambling Shepherd_, ‘written by a Person of Quality,’ which proved anything but a success. In the autumn she created the Queen in _Abdelazer_; in November, Roxana in Pordage’s tumid _The Siege of Babylon_, a play founded upon the famous romance, _Cassandra_. In January, 1678, she played Priam’s prophetic daughter, a very strong part, in Banks’ melodrama, _The Destruction of Troy_; August of the same year, Elvira in Leanerd’s witty comedy, _The Counterfeits_, whence a quarter of a century later Colley Gibber borrowed pretty freely for _She Wou’d and She Wou’d Not_. That autumn Mrs. Lee acted Eurydice in Dryden and Lee’s _Oedipus_. It was this year that her husband died, and she was left a widow. In April, 1679, she played Cressida in Dryden’s _Troilus and Cressida_, and probably in the same month, Cleomena in Mrs. Behn’s _The Young King_; later in the autumn, Laura Lucretia in _The Feign’d Curtezans;_ in October, Bellamira, the heroine of Lee’s excellent if flamboyant tragedy, _Caesar Borgia_, to the Borgia of Betterton and Smith’s Machiavel. In 1680 her rôles were Arviola in Tate’s _The Loyal General;_ Julia in Lawrence Maidwell’s capital comedy, _The Loving Enemies;_ Queen Margaret in Crowne’s _The Misery of Civil War_, a version of 2 _Henry VI_. In the winter of this year Mrs. Lee re-married, and thenceforward is billed as Lady Slingsby, our first titled actress. Her husband was probably Sir Charles Slingsby, second baronet, of Bifrons in Kent, a nephew of Sir Robert Slingsby, Comptroller of the Navy, who had died 26 October, 1661. Sir Charles is recorded to have sold Bifrons in 1677, but we know practically nothing about him.[2] Dr. Doran supposes Lady Slingsby to have been connected with the Slingbys of Scriven, but he adduces no authority. In 1681 Lady Slingsby performed Queen Margaret in Crowne’s _Henry VI, the First Part with the Murder of Gloucester_, an adaption of Shakespeare’s I _Henry VI_, suggested by the great success of his previous alteration. She also played Regan in Tate’s foolhardy tinkering with _King Lear_; Sempronia in Lee’s powerful _Lucius Junitis Brutus;_ and in December, Marguerite in the same author’s excellent _The Princess of Cleves_. In 1682 she acted another Roman rôle, Tarpeia, in an anonymous tragedy, _Romulus and Hersilia_, produced 10 August. She also spoke Mrs. Behn’s famous epilogue reflecting upon the Duke of Monmouth. Two days later a warrant was issued