Anne Finch's unpublished poetry taken from manuscripts and rare books

A Note to the Reader

Here is a summary of what the above documents contain:

2 poems by Anne which have thus far only been printed in censored versions ("By neer resemblance see that bird betray'd" and "Good Heav'n I thank thee since it was design'd");

6 poems certainly by Anne Finch and still unprinted: From MS F-H 282: "Here will I wait," "Daphnis no more your wish repeat"; from MS Portland Vol 19: "The long the long expected Hour is come"; and from MS Additional 4457: "Joy from a zealous pen Ardelia sends," "Pitty, the softest Attribute Above." All these are except for this website extant only in manuscript.

30 poems, of which 9 are certainly by her, some of which have been printed but only one attributed to her in a nowadays hard-to-find text . I think all of these may be by her and for all of them a good case can be made for attributing them to Finch: from 1693 Female Vertuosos: "For the soft Joys of Love no longer last"; from 1696 Tate: "How far the sweets of Solitude excel," "I've searched the barren World, but cannot find," "Double Allegiance, lord, to thee I owe," "The treachrous Fortune of a Royal Crowne," "Sure there's a Zeal that's born of heav'nly Race," "Alas, I walk not out, but still I meet"; from 1701 Gildon: "Mourn all ye Loves the fair Adonis dyes, "All flie th'unhappy, and I all wou'd flie," "The Pretious hours of flying Youth," "When my Aminta weeps 'tis sure"; from 1714 Steele: "A Wretch long tortur'd with Disdain," "In Church the Prayer Book, and the Fan display'd," "Nature, in Pity, has deny'd you Shape," "Begin, our Nation's Pleasure and Reproach!", "The Muses frolicksom and gay," "When Mars the Lemnian Darts survey'd," "How ill the Motion with the Musick suits!" "Immortal Venus, to whose Name"; from 1717 Pope's Own Miscellany: "Now blow, ye Southern winds, with full release," "Think not a partial fondness sway'd my mind," "How is it in this chilling time," "A Toad just crawling up to town," "A Masty of our English breed," "A Man whose house had taken fire", "When Cesar fell, he brav'd each killing wound"; from MS Harleian: " To Coleshill Seat of Noble Pen," "We did attempt to travell all Last night," "This dismal Morn when East Winds blow"; and from MS Additional 28101/1724 The Hive: "Ye Lads and ye Lasses that live at Long-Leat"),

7 poems which there is evidence to think may be by her but where the attribution must still remain uncertain or only possible: from 1701 Gildon: "As servile Preachers, who preferment wait"; from 1711 The Free-Thinkers: "Friend! if I'mlate, excuse the failing"; from MS Harleian 7316: "Ah! fare thee well dear Sutton Toon," "Cosmelia's charmes inspire my Lays," "Call Delia Whore, Friends guard & Foes infest," "To all you sparkling Whiggs at court," "Whilst H--ley with more near approaches blest"); and

2 more certainly by Anne Finch and printed as by her but not available in most editions of her poems or only available in a slightly altered state: from MS Additional 4457: "How plain dear Madam was the Want of Sight"; and from MS Harleian 7316: "The South Sea affair is what I sing")


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