The Poetical Works of William Basse (1602-1653): Now for the first time collected and edited with introduction and notes by R. Warwick Bond |
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ELEGY ON SHAKESPEARE,
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 | The Poetical Works of William Basse |  |
117
ELEGY ON SHAKESPEARE,
Mr. Basse On Mr. William Shakespeare.
Renowned Spencer lie a thought more nighTo learned Beaumont, and rare Beaumont ly
A little nearer Chaucer, to make rome
For Shakespeare in your threfold, fourfold tombe.
To lodge all fouer in one bed make a shifte
Vntil Domes day, for hardly will (a) fifte
Betwixt this day and that by fate bee slaine,
For whom the curtains shal bee drawne, againe.
But if Precedencie in death doe barre
A fourth place in your sacred Sepulcher,
In this uncarved marble of thy owne,
Sleepe, brave Tragedian, Shakespeare, sleepe alone;
Thy unmolested rest, unshared cave,
Possesse as lord, not tenant, to thy grave,
That unto others it may counted bee
Honour hereafter to bee layed by thee.
| The Poetical Works of William Basse | |