Page:Poems of Anne Countess of Winchilsea 1903.djvu/28

 xxiv INTRODUCTION ���England, and alike distinguished for moral worth and literary attainments." But if such a friendship did exist there is no hint of it in the poetry of either. Their minds were stretched to a contemplation of the progress of man through the "Inextricable Mazes of Life to his probable final Ruine," and they could not turn the uncertain and diffi- cult stream of their verse into merely domestic or friendly channels. Both were, however, ardently devoted to Mary Beatrice, and it is not strange that the young, unhappy duchess, "so innocently bred," so religiously inclined, found in them most congenial companionship. The two Annes vied with each other in their scorn of vice and frivolity, and their association with their blameless mistress creates at once in the midst of the stifling court life of Charles II. 's day a little oasis of moral purity, and of spiritual and intel- lectual aspiration. To the court in general, Miss Strickland adds, Anne Kingsmill was well-known as the beautiful and witty maid of honor. �In her youthful days Anne had looked forward to life and recognition at court as "an earthly paradise," but her Marriage to disappointment there had been intense. Almost Mr. Finch h er only unquestioned source of happiness, aside from her love for her royal mistress, was her acquaint- ance with Mr. Heneage Finch. Ardelia had early declared hostility to love, "however painted o'er and seeming soft" his addresses might be, but she was at last forced to admit that Mr. Finch's constant passion had found the way "to win a stubborn and ungrateful heart." Mr. Finch was at that time a commoner with but a remote chance of an earl- dom, but as the oldest living son of Lord Winchilsea, and the uncle of Charles, the heir to the title, he was treated with consideration in court circles. He had been bred to arms, and was at this time captain of the halbardiers of the Duke of York, and likewise gentleman of the ��� �