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 |  |
To make this sure (the God of Shepherds last,
When other Ceremonies were o're past),
And to performe what he before had vow'd
To dire Reuenge, thus spake vnto the crow'd:
What I haue lost, kinde Shepherds, all you know,
And to recount it were to dwell in woe:
To shew my passion in a Funerall Song,
And with my sorrow draw your sighes along.
Words, then, well plac'd might challenge somewhat due,
And not the cause alone, win teares from you.
This to preuent, I set Orations by
“For passion seldome loues formalitie.
What profits it a prisoner at the Barre,
To haue his iudgement spoken regular?
Or in the prison heare it often read,
When he at first knew what was forfeited?
Our griefes in others teares, like plates in water,
Seeme more in quantitie. To be relator
Of my mishaps, speaks weaknesse, and that I
Haue in my selfe no powre of remedy.
When other Ceremonies were o're past),
And to performe what he before had vow'd
To dire Reuenge, thus spake vnto the crow'd:
What I haue lost, kinde Shepherds, all you know,
And to recount it were to dwell in woe:
To shew my passion in a Funerall Song,
And with my sorrow draw your sighes along.
Words, then, well plac'd might challenge somewhat due,
And not the cause alone, win teares from you.
This to preuent, I set Orations by
“For passion seldome loues formalitie.
What profits it a prisoner at the Barre,
To haue his iudgement spoken regular?
88
When he at first knew what was forfeited?
Our griefes in others teares, like plates in water,
Seeme more in quantitie. To be relator
Of my mishaps, speaks weaknesse, and that I
Haue in my selfe no powre of remedy.
| The Whole Works of William Browne | |