Page:Poems of Anne Countess of Winchilsea 1903.djvu/58

 liv INTRODUCTION ���proposals of Gildon in 1701. Later Rowe sent down to Eastwell copies of his Imitations of Horace's Odes. In 1713 Ardelia wrote a prologue to be spoken by Mrs. Oldfield, at the presentation of Howe's tragedy, Jane Shore. These facts would seem to indicate a literary friendship of consid- erable strength. A personal acquaintance is highly probable, but of that I find no direct proof. �Swift's Letters and Journal to Stella show that by 1710 he was on familiar terms with Charles, the third Earl of Winchilsea, who, in spite of his Jacobite ances- tors, had so far submitted to the revolution government as to deserve and receive valuable public appoint- ments from William, and later from Anne. Swift says of �/ �him, "Being very poor he complied too much with the gov- ernment he hated ; " but that the two men were on especially good terms is apparent from the words in which Swift informs Stella of the death of the handsome young earl: " Poor Lord Winchilsea is dead, to my great grief. He was an worthy, honest gentleman, and particular friend of mine; and what is yet worse, my old acquaintance, Mrs. Finch, is now Countess of Winchilsea, the title being fallen to her husband but without much estate." Swift's intimacy with Lord Winchilsea and also with Lady Worsley, one of Anne Finch's closest friends, would certainly imply that Swift had frequent opportunities of meeting the lady of whom he speaks thus cavalierly. To offset this note to Stella we may turn to Swift's poem, Apollo Outwitted, to Mrs. Finch under the name of Ardelia. This was published in Miscellanies in Prose and Verse in 1711, but would seem to have been written some years earlier. It very possibly belongs to the September-October, 1708, spent by Swift in Kent. Ardelia is represented as having adroitly won from Apollo the gift of song but without having granted his suit. In revenge the god exclaims that, though he cannot revoke his gift, he will ��� �