Father, Richard Lee, of Winslade, Devon; in 1674 married Sir George Chudleigh, of Ashton, Devon, and had three children. Widely read in classical and English literature, and an admirer of the feminist writer Mary Astell. Her verse is very assured and polished, high-minded and judgemental, celebrating female friendships and severe on husbands. The Ladies Defence was a response to a sermon by a Nonconformist minister, Mr Sprint, printed in 1699, about women’s weak moral nature and need for absolute obedience to their husbands: it is for four speakers, Sir John Brute, a stupid, tyrannical husband, a Parson, not unrelated to Mr Sprint, Sir William Loveall, dim and chivalrous, and one Melissa, who has a few sharp things to say.
The Ladies Defence or, The Bride-Woman’s Counsellor Answer’d: a poem (London, 1701); Poems on Several Occasions (London, 1710).