He was from a Northamptonshire family, and was not closely related to the actor John Leigh (c.1689–1726?). He joined the Duke of York's company about 1672, and appeared in that year at the recently opened theatre in Dorset Garden, as the original Pacheco in The Reformation (1673), a comedy ascribed by Gerard Langbaine to one Arrowsmith, a Cambridge M.A. graduate. At Dorset Garden, Leigh played many original parts.[2] After the merger of the duke's company with the king's in 1682, Leigh did not immediately go to the Theatre Royal. He was in 1683, however, at that theatre the original Bartoline in John Crowne's City Politics, and played Bessus in a revival of A King and No King. Here he remained until his death, creating many characters.[3] Leigh died of fever in December 1692, in the same season as James Nokes, and these deaths, combined with the murder of William Mountfort, greatly weakened the company.[1]
Reputation
Richard Estcourt used to imitate Leigh's "Spanish Fryar" in the play by Dryden. Coligni in The Villain by Thomas Porter, Ralph in Sir Solomon by John Caryll, Sir Jolly Jumble in Otway's Soldier's Fortune and Belfond in Thomas Shadwell's Squire of Alsatia were thought his best parts. In his Sir William Belfond, said Colley Cibber, Leigh "seemed not to court, but to attack, your applause, and always came off victorious".[1]
Family
Leigh's wife was an actress, named Elinor Leigh, tentatively identified as Elinor Dixon. She acted as Mrs. Leigh to the season of 1706-7.[4] There is a possibility of confusion with the actress Mrs. Lee (Mary Lee, later Mary Slingsby), given that spelling was not fixed at the time.[1] They had eight children baptised at St Bride's Church.[4] Francis Leigh, one of the sons, was on the stage to 1719. He was one of the actors who on 14 June 1710 defied the authority of Aaron Hill, the manager for William Collier, broke open the doors of Drury Lane, and created a riot. He was also one of the actors who deserted to John Rich and his new-built theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1714.[1]
^(Dates given are approximate.) He was in 1674 Polites in Herod and Mariamne (Samuel Pordage); in 1676 Sir Formal in Thomas Shadwell's The Virtuoso, Old Bellair in George Etherege's The Man of Mode, Fumble in Thomas D'Urfey's Fond Husband, Count de Benevent in Edward Ravenscroft's Wrangling Lovers, Tom Essence in Thomas Rawlins's Tom Essence, or the Modish Wife, and Zechiel in D'Urfey's Madam Fickle; in 1677 Scapin in Ravenscroft's Cheats of Scapin, Monsieur in The French Conjurer (Thomas Porter), and Sir Oliver Santlow in The Counterfeit Bridegroom, an adaptation of Thomas Middleton's No Wit, no Help like a Woman's that was ascribed to Afra Behn; in 1678 Sir Patient Fancy in Behn's play of that name, Malagene in Thomas Otway's Friendship in Fashion, Sir Frederick Banter in D'Urfey's Squire Oldsapp, Don Gomez in John Leanard's Counterfeits, Ælius in Shadwell's Timon of Athens; in 1679 Pandarus in Dryden's Troilus and Cressida, and Petro iBehn's Feigned Courtezans; in 1680 Gripe in Shadwell's Woman Captain, Ascanio Sforza as a buffoon in Nat Lee's Caesar Borgia, Dashit in The 'Revenge (i.e. John Marston's Dutch Courtezan), and Paulo in L. Maidwell's Loving Enemies; in 1681 Sir Jolly Jumble in Otway's Soldier's Fortune, Dominic in Dryden's Spanish Fryar, Teague O'Donelly in Shadwell's Lancashire witches, Sir Anthony Merriwill in Behn's City Heiress, and St. Andre in Lee's Princess of Cleve; and in 1682 Antonio in Otway's Venice Preserved, Sir Oliver Oldcut in D'Urfey's Royalist, Guiliom, a chimney-sweeper, in Behn's False Count, Dashwell in Ravenscroft's London Cuckolds, and Ballio in Thomas Randolph's Jealous Lovers.
^They included: Beaugard's Father in Otway's The Atheist, Rogero in Thomas Southerne's The Disappointment, Sir Paul Squelch in Richard Brome's Northern Lass, Crack in Crowne's Sir Courtly Nice, Trappolin in Nahum Tate's Duke and No Duke, Security in Tate's Cuckold's Haven, an adaptation of Eastward Hoe, Scaramouch in William Mountfort's Dr. Faustus, Sir Feeble Fainwou'd in Behn's Lucky Chance, Scaramouch in her Emperor of the Moon, Sir William Belfond in Shadwell's The Squire of Alsatia, Justice Grub in Fool's Preferment, altered by D'Urfey from Fletcher's The Noble Gentleman, Lord Stately in Crowne's English Friar, Mustapha in Dryden's Don Sebastian, Mercury in Dryden's Amphitryon, Abbé in Mountfort's Sir Anthony Love, Tope in Shadwell's Scowrers, Sir Thomas Reveller in Mountfort's Greenwich Park, Lady Addleplot in D'Urfey's Love for Money, Van Grin in D'Urfey's The Marriage-Hater Matched, and Major-general Blunt in Shadwell's Volunteers. John Genest believed Leigh was the original Aldo in Dryden's Limberham.
