Partly Reconstructed Poem: from MS Finch-Hatton 283, pp 44-47, with help of notes by WJCameron, Chapter 11, Note 2. See Entry No. 3 in my annotated chronology (April 1682 to May 15, 1684).

Title: The Grove. Written when I was a Maid of Honor (date 1683-4)

Here will I wait . . . I may grant
Ah! grateful shades I may not want
That . . . content when Joyes I see
In all that do inhabit thee
Ah! let me be your guest, and I
In . . . ease shall live and in . . . dye
For sure the Paths of this fair grove
Are kinder, . . . y[...] h[...] to Love
Bl[...]ing, . . . day . . . do appeare
Which she . . . h[...] tempests ne'er . . . here
He with Large Promiss of Joyes
And Armes [Arrows?] getts, . . . thou . . . destroyes
Thy Love did . . .
And gagg'd . . . a heart . . .
The being in pain which I found
. . . thy my Love and . . . wound
Honour'd i[...] pleasure . . . ne'er read
By . . . knowledge . . . he'd often said
D[...b...]d [a name], I . . . his temples grac'd
Then all the trophies, in them plac'd.
Promis'd, the chosen heart . . . speed
Shou'd pay my Sighs, [...f...] 'em bleed.
These are his Soft Deluding wayes,
With hopes and flat'ry he betrayes
To claime it now and make it [word heavily blotted]
To see't with Joy, and hast [word heavily blotted]
Was all I look'd for, when behold
So false is all by . . . untold
He all his . . . hee did pay
And . . ., . . . honour he did obey
Who Shortly had on pain of all
The Players, that of . . . [...h...] p[...'...]d fall
Charg'd him, he . . .
So hearts are us'd, when thoughts . . .
Thus . . . the Tyrant [...]'d not sway
Betray'd though y[...]d, . . . S[...] . . . ,
And . . . , . . . , shun . . .
Publick Assemblies, and the Court,
Within . . . we'll . . . the Darts
Such to the Temper'd, . . . from hearts
And knows that in his hand, ther' [...]ne
That I am . . . , but that alone.
Therefore S[...]d shou'd, his . . . Stay
And pass . . ., my Life away.
Since what the World does leasure call
[word heavily blotted], taste finds . . . all
Since here, that only . . . k[...h...]t
In all is plac'd or all . . . ript;
Sir . . . , h[o...] . . .
Then H[...]ing these, that own his Pow'r,
To you still C[...]ts, I repair
T...] . . . all thoughts of Love or care.

Comment: every attempt has been made to obliterate this poem; heavy crossed hatchwork, crosscrossing over this, covers each line; yet she could have ripped the sheet out. The author herself went over these lines because in some places a particular word has been blotted out with a great deal of ink, suggesting some strong emotional response on the part of the blotter. This is to and about someone probably male who badly hurt the maid of honor and who himself was somehow punished and perhaps mocked by the players. Perhaps Anne crossed this poem out because it records a previous affair (before Heneage Finch). The poem is also about her choice to stay at (return to) court; she prefers the grove, but the world is so organized she has no choice, must bend to its taste and power.