LEE, NATHANIEL, son of Rev. Richard Lee DD, Rector of Hatfield, Herts. ; b. 1653; at school under Busby (Baker, Biog. Dram. , 1812, I, pt. ii, 448); went to Charterhouse Sch. ; Trinity Coll. Cambridge, adm. pens. 7 Jul 1665, scholar 1668, matr. 1668; BA 1668/9; went on the stage, but failed as an actor and took to writing tragedies; Nero, his first play, was produced at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane 1675; wrote plays Gloriana and Sophonisba 1676, of which the latter, with music by Purcell and a prologue by John Dryden (qv), was performed in the Tennis Court at Oxford during Commemoration Week Jul 1680; his best known tragedy, The Rival Queens, was produced in 1677; collaborated with Dryden on two plays 1679 and 1682; his last tragedy, Constantine the Great, was produced at the Theatre Royal in 1684; confined in Bethlem Hospital for lunacy, due to his intemperate habits, 1684-9; a collected edition of his tragedies was published in 1713; buried St. Clement Danes, London 6 May 1692. DNB.