Anne Wharton
Encyclopedia
Anne Wharton, née Lee was an English poet and verse dramatist.
, who was Anne Wharton's uncle.
In 1673 she married Thomas Wharton
(1648–1715). She paid visits to Paris for her health in 1678 and 1680, as she suffered from eye troubles and convulsions, possibly linked to syphilis. Her husband soon neglected her and they had no children.
After her death, Anne Wharton's brother-in-law, Goodwin Wharton
claimed in his autobiography that he had had an affair with her, and that she had had three other affairs - with Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough
before her marriage (he bribed a servant to let him into the girl's room at night) and with "Jack Howe" (probably the Whig politician John Grubham Howe
, 1657–1722) in the 1680s - as well as being "lain with long by her uncle, my Lord Rochester." Her letters to her husband from Paris seem devoted, but when visited her again in Paris, to obtain her signature on some documents to do with her £8000 estate, her ardour seems to have cooled.
Anne Wharton's death, in her sister Eleanor's house at Adderbury in 1685, was very painful. The poet Robert Gould
in an eclogue to the memory of Eleanor, who died in 1691, observes that hers was peaceful one by comparison:
"Think how her sister, dear 'Urania' [i. e. Anne], fell,
When ev'ry Arte'ry, Fibre, Nerve and Vein
Were by Convulsions torn, and fill'd with Pain..."
and Aphra Behn
. Behn's was a verse-letter addressed to Anne, included in her 1684 Poems on Several Occasions, in which she took the opportunity of defending herself from a charge of bawdiness brought by the future bishop Gilbert Burnet
, who had attended Rochester on his deathbed. Anne may also have prompted Behn to provide a prologue for Rochester's play Valentinian, which was first performed in 1684.
A modern critical edition of 34 known works by Anne Wharton was published in 1997 but at least eleven other poems have been discovered in manuscript since then. Her "Elegy on the Earl of Rochester" appears in the New Oxford Book of Seventeenth-Century Verse (1991) and "A Paraphrase on the Last Speech of Dido in Virgil's Aeneis" in Seventeenth-Century Poetry: An Annotated Anthology.
How hardly I concealed my Tears?
How oft did I complain?
When many tedious Days, my Fears
Told me I Loved in vain.
But now my Joys as wild are grown,
And hard to be concealed:
Sorrow may make a silent Moan,
But Joy will be revealed.
I tell it to the Bleating Flocks,
To every Stream and Tree,
And Bless the Hollow Murmuring Rocks
For Echoing back to me.
Thus you may see with how much Joy
We Want, we Wish, Believe;
'Tis hard such Passion to Destroy,
But easy to Deceive.
Life
Anne was the posthumous younger daughter of Sir Henry Lee, and a member of a wealthy family. Her mother died not long after her birth. She and her sister Eleanor were brought up at Adderbury House, where they lived with the mistress, mother and grandmother of its owner, the poet and libertine John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of RochesterJohn Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester , styled Viscount Wilmot between 1652 and 1658, was an English Libertine poet, a friend of King Charles II, and the writer of much satirical and bawdy poetry. He was the toast of the Restoration court and a patron of the arts...
, who was Anne Wharton's uncle.
In 1673 she married Thomas Wharton
Thomas Wharton, 1st Marquess of Wharton
Thomas Wharton, 1st Marquess of Wharton PC was an English nobleman and politician. He was the son of Philip Wharton, 4th Baron Wharton and his second wife, Jane Goodwin, only daughter of Colonel Arthur Goodwin of Upper Winchendon, Buckinghamshire, and heiress to the extensive Goodwin estates in...
(1648–1715). She paid visits to Paris for her health in 1678 and 1680, as she suffered from eye troubles and convulsions, possibly linked to syphilis. Her husband soon neglected her and they had no children.
After her death, Anne Wharton's brother-in-law, Goodwin Wharton
Goodwin Wharton
Goodwin Wharton was a Whig politician and autobiographer.-Early life:Goodwin Wharton was the third and youngest son out of the seven children of Philip Wharton, 4th Baron Wharton and Jane Goodwin, daughter of Arthur Goodwin , of Upper Winchendon, Buckinghamshire...
claimed in his autobiography that he had had an affair with her, and that she had had three other affairs - with Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough
Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough
Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough and 1st Earl of Monmouth, KG, PC was an English nobleman and military leader. He was the son of John Mordaunt, 1st Viscount Mordaunt, and his wife Elizabeth, the daughter and sole heiress of Thomas Carey, the second son of Robert Carey, 1st Earl of Monmouth...
before her marriage (he bribed a servant to let him into the girl's room at night) and with "Jack Howe" (probably the Whig politician John Grubham Howe
John Grubham Howe
John Grubham Howe , commonly known as Jack Howe, was an English politician. Elected on numerous occasions as Member of Parliament, he made the transition from the Whig to the Tory faction.-Early life:...
, 1657–1722) in the 1680s - as well as being "lain with long by her uncle, my Lord Rochester." Her letters to her husband from Paris seem devoted, but when visited her again in Paris, to obtain her signature on some documents to do with her £8000 estate, her ardour seems to have cooled.
Anne Wharton's death, in her sister Eleanor's house at Adderbury in 1685, was very painful. The poet Robert Gould
Robert Gould
Robert Gould was a significant voice in Restoration poetry in England.He was born in the lower classes and orphaned when he was thirteen. It is possible that he had a sister, but her name and fate are unknown. Gould entered into domestic service...
in an eclogue to the memory of Eleanor, who died in 1691, observes that hers was peaceful one by comparison:
When ev'ry Arte'ry, Fibre, Nerve and Vein
Were by Convulsions torn, and fill'd with Pain..."
Works
Wharton is remembered today for the verse drama Love's Martyr; or, Witt above Crowns, and for a number of lyrical poems and biblical paraphrases, but all that was published in her lifetime was a heartfelt elegy on Rochester's death, under the pseudonym Urania. This brought appreciative poetic responses from Edmund WallerEdmund Waller
Edmund Waller, FRS was an English poet and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1624 and 1679.- Early life :...
and Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature.-Early life:...
. Behn's was a verse-letter addressed to Anne, included in her 1684 Poems on Several Occasions, in which she took the opportunity of defending herself from a charge of bawdiness brought by the future bishop Gilbert Burnet
Gilbert Burnet
Gilbert Burnet was a Scottish theologian and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Burnet was respected as a cleric, a preacher, and an academic, as well as a writer and historian...
, who had attended Rochester on his deathbed. Anne may also have prompted Behn to provide a prologue for Rochester's play Valentinian, which was first performed in 1684.
A modern critical edition of 34 known works by Anne Wharton was published in 1997 but at least eleven other poems have been discovered in manuscript since then. Her "Elegy on the Earl of Rochester" appears in the New Oxford Book of Seventeenth-Century Verse (1991) and "A Paraphrase on the Last Speech of Dido in Virgil's Aeneis" in Seventeenth-Century Poetry: An Annotated Anthology.
A Song
How oft did I complain?
When many tedious Days, my Fears
Told me I Loved in vain.
But now my Joys as wild are grown,
And hard to be concealed:
Sorrow may make a silent Moan,
But Joy will be revealed.
I tell it to the Bleating Flocks,
To every Stream and Tree,
And Bless the Hollow Murmuring Rocks
For Echoing back to me.
Thus you may see with how much Joy
We Want, we Wish, Believe;
'Tis hard such Passion to Destroy,
But easy to Deceive.