Tho Sir I do much value set
Title:
The agreeable.
Primary Text:
MS Wellesley, 55-7*.
Secondary Ed:
1988 Ellis d'Alessandro prints Wellesley text, 87-9; McGovern & Hinnant, 11-12.
Comment:
This is a poem in response to a nasty letter. The letter is copied out into the MS Wellesley (p 54 -- facing the poem) . Since Sir A.F. says he is sending Finch a dutchwoman--another dutch pug--to show her just how honored her relatives are by her poems, it is reasonable to assume he is a Finch. His sarcasm is directed at her fable, "the pugs," which he dislikes partly because of her disapproval of the Dutch newcomers (he would proably also dislike Heneage's non-juring stance, one not calculated to add to the family's wealth). Anne Finch responds by pretending to marvel at the female he has sent her, and describe the dog as if it were a woman: her pinners are ears, the black or dark brown velvet too hot for summer is her shiny coat, the white gloves are her paws, her too long nose proof she is not a pedigree. The exchange does show the kind of contempt Finch was up against as a poet, and reveals she can counter scorn with equal scorn.
Date:
Probably the summer following the fable "the puggs," written in the same loose octosyllabic style.
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