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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AN ELEGYE ON SR THOMAS OVERBVRYE,
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 | The Whole Works of William Browne |  |
AN ELEGYE ON SR THOMAS OVERBVRYE,
POISONED IN THE TOWRE OF LONDON.
Had not thy wrong, like to a wound ill cur'd,
Broke forth in death, I had not bin assured
Of griefe enough to finish what I write;
These lynes, as those which doe in cold blood fight,
Had come but faintly on; for euer he
That shrines a name within an Elegye.
(Vnles some neerer cause doe him inspire,)
Kindles his bright flame at the Funeral fire.
For passion (after less'ning her extent,)
Is then more strong, & soe more eloquent.
Broke forth in death, I had not bin assured
Of griefe enough to finish what I write;
These lynes, as those which doe in cold blood fight,
Had come but faintly on; for euer he
That shrines a name within an Elegye.
(Vnles some neerer cause doe him inspire,)
Kindles his bright flame at the Funeral fire.
For passion (after less'ning her extent,)
Is then more strong, & soe more eloquent.
How powerfull is the hand of Murther now!
Was't not enough to see his deare life bowe
Beneath her hate? but crushing that faire frame,
Attempt the like on his vnspotted Fame?
O base reuenge! more then inhumane fact!
Which (as the Romanes sometime would enact
No doome for Patricide, supposing none
Could euer so offend) the vpright Throne
Of Iustice salues not: leauing that intent
Without a Name, without a Punishment.
318
Beneath her hate? but crushing that faire frame,
Attempt the like on his vnspotted Fame?
O base reuenge! more then inhumane fact!
Which (as the Romanes sometime would enact
No doome for Patricide, supposing none
Could euer so offend) the vpright Throne
Of Iustice salues not: leauing that intent
Without a Name, without a Punishment.
Yet through thy wounded Fame, as thorow these
Glasses which multiply the Species,
We see thy vertues more; and they become
So many Statues sleeping on thy Tombe.
Glasses which multiply the Species,
We see thy vertues more; and they become
So many Statues sleeping on thy Tombe.
Wherein confinement new thou shalt endure,
But so as, when to make a Pearle more pure
We giue it to a Doue, in whose wombe pent
Sometime, we haue it forth most orient.
But so as, when to make a Pearle more pure
We giue it to a Doue, in whose wombe pent
Sometime, we haue it forth most orient.
Such is thy lustre now that venom'd Spight
With her blacke Soule dares not behold thy light,
But banning it, a course beginnes to runne
With those that curse the rising of the Sunne.
The poyson that workes vpwards now, shall striue
To be thy faire Fames true Preseruatiue.
And witch-craft that can maske the vpper shine,
With no one cloud shall blinde a ray of thine.
With her blacke Soule dares not behold thy light,
But banning it, a course beginnes to runne
With those that curse the rising of the Sunne.
The poyson that workes vpwards now, shall striue
To be thy faire Fames true Preseruatiue.
And witch-craft that can maske the vpper shine,
With no one cloud shall blinde a ray of thine.
And as the Hebrewes in an obscure pit
Their holy Fire hid, not extinguish'd it,
And after time, that broke their bondage chaine,
Found it, to fire their sacrifice againe:
So lay thy Worth some while, but being found,
The Muses altars plentifully crownd
With sweete perfumes by it new kindled be,
And offer all to thy deare Memorie.
Their holy Fire hid, not extinguish'd it,
And after time, that broke their bondage chaine,
Found it, to fire their sacrifice againe:
So lay thy Worth some while, but being found,
The Muses altars plentifully crownd
With sweete perfumes by it new kindled be,
And offer all to thy deare Memorie.
Nor haue we lost thee long: thou art not gone,
Nor canst descend into Obliuion.
But twice the Sunne went round since thy soule fled,
And onely that time men shall terme thee dead:
Hereafter (raisd to life) thou still shalt haue
An antidote against the silent Graue.
Nor canst descend into Obliuion.
But twice the Sunne went round since thy soule fled,
319
Hereafter (raisd to life) thou still shalt haue
An antidote against the silent Graue.
W. B. Int. Temp.
| The Whole Works of William Browne | |