The Whole Works of William Browne of Tavistock ... Now first collected and edited, with a memoir of the poet, and notes, by W. Carew Hazlitt, of the Inner Temple |
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 | The Whole Works of William Browne |  |
It chanc'd one morne (clad in a robe of gray,
And blushing oft as rising to betray)
Intic'd this louely Maiden from her bed
(So when the Roses haue discouered
Their taintlesse beauties, flyes the early Bee
About the winding Allies merrily.)
Into the Wood, and 'twas her vsuall sport,
Sitting where most harmonious Birds resort,
To imitate their warbling in a quill
Wrought by the hand of Pan, which she did fill
Halfe full with water: and with it hath made
The Nightingale (beneath a sullen shade)
To chant her vtmost Lay, nay, to inuent
New notes to passe the others instrument,
And (harmelesse soule) ere she would leaue that strife,
Sung her last song, and ended with her life.
So gladly chusing (as doe other some)
Rather to dye then liue and be o're come.
And blushing oft as rising to betray)
Intic'd this louely Maiden from her bed
(So when the Roses haue discouered
Their taintlesse beauties, flyes the early Bee
About the winding Allies merrily.)
Into the Wood, and 'twas her vsuall sport,
Sitting where most harmonious Birds resort,
To imitate their warbling in a quill
Wrought by the hand of Pan, which she did fill
Halfe full with water: and with it hath made
The Nightingale (beneath a sullen shade)
To chant her vtmost Lay, nay, to inuent
New notes to passe the others instrument,
And (harmelesse soule) ere she would leaue that strife,
Sung her last song, and ended with her life.
So gladly chusing (as doe other some)
Rather to dye then liue and be o're come.
| The Whole Works of William Browne | |