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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
Browne, William (1590- ca. 1645)

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THE FIRST VOLUME, THE SECOND VOLUME.
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Britannia's PASTORALS.
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The first Booke.
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The second Booke.
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The third Booke.
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THE SHEPHEARDS PIPE.
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THE INNER TEMPLE MASQUE.
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MISCELLANEOUS POEMS

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3.

[Fairest, when by ye rules of palmistrye]

Fairest, when by ye rules of palmistrye
You tooke my hand to trye if you could guesse,
By lines therein, if anye wight there be
Ordain'd to make me know some happines;
I wish't that those Characters could explaine,
Whom I will neuer wrong with hope to win;
Or that by them a coppy might be sene,
By you, o loue, what thoughts I haue within.
But since the hand of Nature did not sett
(As providentlie loth to haue it knowne)
The meanes to finde that hidden Alphabet,
Mine Eyes shall be th' interpreters alone;
By them conceiue my thoughts, & tell me, faire,
If now you see her, that doth love me there?
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