Madam--'till pow'rfully convinc'd by You

Title:

An Epistle, From Ardelia to Mrs. Randolph, In answer to her Poem, Upon Her Verses.

Primary Text:

MS Folger, 48-9

Secondary Eds:

1903 Reynolds prints Folger text, 95-6; rpt of 1903 Reynolds: 1979 Rogers AF, 75-6.

Comment:

Mrs Randolph was an aspiring woman poet who lived south-east of Eastwell; her poem to Anne, "Madam, As when the Macedonian Conqu'rour dy'd", which is one of those which preface the Folger book, demonstrates that Mrs Randolph had seen a number of Finch's poems: Mrs Randolph alludes to, imitates, and semi-quotes lines from Finch's pastorals, lyrics, and points the reader directly to "A Pastoral between Damon and Menalcus," (which a marginal note in the preface tells the reader appears on p. 92 of the Folger). Thus she had seen numbers of Finch's poems in a small manuscript miscellany; this suggests that numbers of manuscripts of different sizes of Finch's poems were in circulation by around 1702. Rowe's poem in praise of Finch's pindaric on the Spleen (which appears in Chalmer's English Poets, the anonymous cruel "Upon a F--t", Swift's poem, "Apollo Outwitted", Pope's ambivalent praise and parodies, Shippen's praise for Finch's s two Pindarics and "An Epistle from Alexander to Ephestion) -- all show how well known Finch had become.


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