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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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5.

[Wer't not for you, here should my pen haue rest]

Wer't not for you, here should my pen haue rest
And take a long leaue of sweet Poesye;
Britannias swaynes, & riuers far by west,
Should heare no more mine oaten melodye;
Yet shall the song I sing of them, awhile
Vnperfect lye, and make noe further knowne
The happy loves of this our pleasant Ile;
Till I haue left some record of mine owne.
You are the subiect now, and, writing you,
I well may versify, not poetize:
Heere needs no fiction: for the graces true
And vertues clipp not with base flatteryes.
Heere should I write what you deserue of praise,
Others might weare, but I should win the bayes.
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