Page:Poems of Anne Countess of Winchilsea 1903.djvu/81

 INTRODUCTION Ixxvii ���nent Ladies." But observing how injudicious that selection is in the case of Lady Winchelsea, and of Mrs. Aphra Behn (from whose attempts they are miserably copious) I have thought something better might have been chosen by more competent persons who had access to the volumes of the several writers �Could you tell me anything of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu more than is to be learned from Pope's letters and her own ? She seems to have been destined for something much higher and better than she became. A parallel between her character and genius and that of Lady Winchelsea, her contemporary (though somewhat prior to her) would be well worth drawing. �And now at last for the poems of Lady Winchelsea. I will transcribe a note from the blank leaf of my own edition written by me before I saw the scanty notice of her by Walpole. (By the by, that book has always disappointed me when I have consulted it on any particular occasion.) The note runs thus : 'The "Frag- ment," p. 13, seems to prove that she was attached to James II., as does p. 74, and that she suffered by the Revolution. The most celebrated of these poems, but far from the best is " The Spleen." "The Petition for an Absolute Retreat," and the "Nocturnal Reverie," are of much superior merit. See also for favorable specimens, p. 56; "On the Death of Mr. Thynne," p. 134 [Moral Song]; and p. 13, " Fragment." The Fable of ' Love, Death, and Reputation,' p. 160, is ingeniously told.' Thus far my own note. I will now be more particular. P. 4, ' Our Vanity,' etc., and p. 153 are noticeable as giving some account from herself of her authorship. See also p. 193, where she alludes to ' The Spleen.' She was unlucky in her models, Pindaric Odes, and French Fables. But see p. 49, ' The Blindness of Elymas,' for proof that she could write with powers of high order when her own individual character and personal feel- ings were not concerned. For less striking proofs of this power see p. 238, 'All is Vanity; ' omitting verses 5 and 6, and reading " clouds that are lost and gone," &c. There is merit in the two next stan- zas ; and the last stanza toward the close contains a fine reproof for the ostentation of Louis XIV., and one magnificent verse, �Spent the astonished hours, forgetful to adore. �But my paper is nearly out. As far as, ' For my garments,' p. 70, the poem is charming; it then falls off; revives at p. 72, 'Give me there,' p. 72 [1. 123], &c., reminds me of Dyer's 'Grongar Hill;' it revives p. 76, toward the bottom, and concludes with sentiments ��� �