Drama by Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea

Anne Finch (née Kingsmill) (1661–1720) was born into a royalist Northamptonshire gentry family. In 1682, she was appointed maid of honor to Mary Beatrice, Duchess of York, and in 1684 married Colonel Heneage Finch, a gentleman of the bedchamber to James Stuart, Duke of York. While at court, Finch wrote song lyrics, hymns, and other poems reflecting the duchess’s refined taste and encouragement of women writers. Finch’s lyrics reflect Stuart’s patronage of music and drama and were equally suited for private performance or incorporation into contemporary plays. The Finches’ fortunes changed abruptly when James, who ascended the throne in 1685, was forced to abdicate in 1688. The Finches retired to Heneage’s nephew’s estate in Kent for over a decade. Soon after James’s deposition, Finch wrote two closet dramas. The Triumphs of Love and Innocence is a tragicomedy about a Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes who is suspected of corruption but restored when the treacherous plot to incriminate him is foiled. The play reflects the aftermath of the Revolution, when James’s followers believed he would be reinstated. Finch’s second play, Aristomenes, is a tragedy about a Messenian leader who miraculously escapes a Spartan dungeon but whose beloved son, Aristor, dies in the ensuing Spartan attack. This play likely reflects Finch’s realization that neither James nor his son would ever be restored. Both dramas were transcribed into Finch’s folio manuscript, complete with settings and stage directions. Due to their Jacobite contents, however, they were intended only for Finch’s circle of manuscript readers.