| Chapter 1: | ‘The Fulsom Gingle of the Times’ |
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It is almost certain she was never paid for the work she did for the Crown, despite promises from the king’s agents, Arlington and Thomas Killigrew. Her letters become more and more desperate for money, as she has to pay out for Scott, as well as herself and whoever was with her. She writes later to Arlington himself.6
In the end, her warnings of the readying of the Dutch fleet which resulted in the burning of the English ships in the Medway were ignored. She was ordered back, but not sent any more money and had to borrow £150 to be able to return to London where she was then imprisoned for debt. It is not known how or when she was released; someone must have paid her debts for her, but the next we know of her is the production of her play by Sir William Davenant in 1671—which is strange in itself since Thomas Killigrew had been instrumental in sending her to the continent, had been corresponding with her, and was the other theatre manager, yet only one of her plays was presented by the King’s Company at the Theatre Royal run by him, and that much later.
For the rest we have to discover her through the tone of her writings, all of which depicted various aspects of the society in which she lived. She wrote in a particularly colloquial style unlike anything written before, and in the opinion of some, was the forerunner of Defoe and Swift, but perhaps some of her ironical descriptions are more reminiscent of Jane Austen.