Adam Pos’d

Anne Kingsmill Finch,
Countess of Winchilsea

Edited by Jack Lynch

The text comes from Finch’s Miscellany Poems on Several Occasions (1713).


Cou’d our First Father, at his toilsome Plough,
Thorns in his Path, and Labour on his Brow,
Cloath’d only in a rude, unpolish’d Skin,
Cou’d he a vain Fantastick Nymph have seen,
In all her Airs, in all her antick Graces, [5]
Her various Fashions, and more various Faces;
How had it pos’d that Skill, which late assign’d
Just Appellations to Each several Kind!
A right Idea of the Sight to frame;
T’have guest from what New Element she came; [10]
T’have hit the wav’ring Form, or giv’n this Thing a Name.