A Song

By Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea 1661–1720 Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea

Love, thou art best of Human Joys,

Our chiefest Happiness below;

All other Pleasures are but Toys,

Musick without Thee is but Noise,

And Beauty but an empty show.

Heav’n , who knew best what Man wou’d move,

And raise his Thoughts above the Brute;

Said, Let him Be, and Let him Love;

That must alone his Soul improve,

Howe’er Philosophers dispute.

Biography

Although she has always enjoyed some fame as a poet, Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea, has only recently received greater praise and renewed attention. Her diverse and considerable body of work records her private thoughts and personal struggles but also illustrates her awareness of the social and political climate of her era. Not only do Finch’s poems reveal a sensitive mind and a religious soul, but they exhibit great . . .

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