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 |
 | 1, 2. |
|
| 1. |
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 2. |
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 3. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
|
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
|
| I. |
| II. |
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
| 8. |
| 9. |
| 10. |
| 11. |
| 12. |
| 13. |
| 14. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| 1. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
|
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
 | The Whole Works of William Browne |  |
A youthfull Shepherd of the neighbour Wold,
Missing that morne a sheepe out of his Fold,
Carefully seeking round to finde his stray,
Came on the instant where this Damsell lay.
Anger and pitty in his manly brest
Vrge yet restraine his teares. Sweet Maid, possest
(Quoth he) with lasting sleepe, accept from me
His end, who ended thy hard destinie!
With that his strong Dog of no dastard kinde
(Swift as the Foales conceiued by the winde)
He sets vpon the Wolfe, that now with speed
Flies to the neighbour-wood; and lest a deed
So full of ruth should vnreuenged be,
The Shepherd followes too, so earnestly
Chearing his Dog, that he ne're turn'd againe
Till the curst Wolfe lay strangled on the plaine.
Missing that morne a sheepe out of his Fold,
Carefully seeking round to finde his stray,
Came on the instant where this Damsell lay.
Anger and pitty in his manly brest
Vrge yet restraine his teares. Sweet Maid, possest
(Quoth he) with lasting sleepe, accept from me
His end, who ended thy hard destinie!
With that his strong Dog of no dastard kinde
(Swift as the Foales conceiued by the winde)
He sets vpon the Wolfe, that now with speed
Flies to the neighbour-wood; and lest a deed
So full of ruth should vnreuenged be,
The Shepherd followes too, so earnestly
Chearing his Dog, that he ne're turn'd againe
Till the curst Wolfe lay strangled on the plaine.
The ruin'd temple of her purer soule
The Shepherd buries. All the Nymphs condole
So great a losse, while on a Cypresse graffe
Neere to her graue they hung this Epitaph:
Among the wished shades, since she is gone,
Whose willing eare allur'd him more to play,
Then if to heare him should Apollo stay.
Yet happy Pan! and in thy Loue more blest,
Whom none but onely death hath dispossest;
While others loue as well, yet liue to be
Lesse wrong'd by Fate then by inconstancie.
The Shepherd buries. All the Nymphs condole
So great a losse, while on a Cypresse graffe
Neere to her graue they hung this Epitaph:
79
Least
loathed age might spoile the worke in whom
All earth delighted, Nature tooke it home.
Or angry all hers else were carelesse deem'd,
Here did her best to haue the rest esteem'd.
For feare men might not thinke the Fates so crosse,
But by their rigour in as great a losse;
If to the graue there euer was assign'd
One like this Nymph in body and in minde,
We wish her here in balme not vainly spent,
To fit this Maiden with a Monument.
For Brasse and Marble were they seated here.
Would fret or melt in teares to lye so neere.
Now Pan may sit and tune his Pipe alone
All earth delighted, Nature tooke it home.
Or angry all hers else were carelesse deem'd,
Here did her best to haue the rest esteem'd.
For feare men might not thinke the Fates so crosse,
But by their rigour in as great a losse;
If to the graue there euer was assign'd
One like this Nymph in body and in minde,
We wish her here in balme not vainly spent,
To fit this Maiden with a Monument.
For Brasse and Marble were they seated here.
Would fret or melt in teares to lye so neere.
Among the wished shades, since she is gone,
Whose willing eare allur'd him more to play,
Then if to heare him should Apollo stay.
Yet happy Pan! and in thy Loue more blest,
Whom none but onely death hath dispossest;
While others loue as well, yet liue to be
Lesse wrong'd by Fate then by inconstancie.
| The Whole Works of William Browne | |