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 |  |
Cease gentle Lad (quoth Remond), let no teare
Cloud those sweet beauties in thy face appeare;
Why dost thou call on that which comes alone,
And will not leaue thee till thy selfe art gone?
Thou maist haue griefe, when other things are reft thee:
All else may slide away, this still is left thee;
And when thou wantest other company,
Sorrow will euer be embracing thee.
But fairest Swaine what cause hast thou of woe?
Thou hast a well-fleec'd flocke feed to and fro
(His sheepe along the Vally that time fed
Not farre from him, although vnfollowed).
What, doe thy Ewes abortiues bring? or Lambs
For want of milke seeke to their fellowes Dams?
No gryping Land-lord hath inclos'd thy walkes,
Nor toyling Plowman furrow'd them in balkes.
Ver hath adorn'd thy Pastures all in greene
With Clouer-grasse as fresh as may be seene:
Cleare gliding Springs refresh thy Meadowes heat,
Meads promise to thy charge their winter-meat,
And yet thou grieu'st. O! had some Swains thy store,
Their Pipes should tell the Woods they ask'd no more.
Or haue the Parcæ with vnpartiall knife
Left some friends body tenantlesse of life,
And thou bemoan'st that Fate in his youths morne
Ore-cast with clouds his light but newly borne?
“Count not how many yeares he is bereau'd,
“But those which he possest and had receiu'd;
“If I may tread no longer on this stage,
“Though others thinke me young; it is mine age:
“For who so hath his Fates full period told,
“He full of yeeres departs, and dyeth old.
May be that Auarice thy minde hath crost,
And so thy sighes are for some trifle lost.
Why shouldst thou hold that deare the world throwes on thee?
“Thinke nothing good which may be taken from thee.
Look as some pondrous weight or massie pack,
Laid to be carried on a Porters back,
Doth make his strong ioynts cracke, and forceth him
(Maugre the helpe of euery nerue and lim)
To straggle in his gate, and goeth double,
Bending to earth, such is his burdens trouble:
So any one by Auarice ingirt,
And prest with wealth, lyes groueling in the dirt.
His wretched minde bends to no point but this,
That who hath most of wealth hath most of blisse.
Hence comes the world to seeke such traffique forth
And passages through the congealed North,
Who when their haires with Isicles are hung,
And that their chatt'ring teeth confound their tongue,
Shew them a glitt'ring stone, will streightwaies say,
If paines thus prosper, oh, what fooles would play?
Yet I could tell them (as I now doe thee)
“In getting wealth we lose our libertie.
“Besides, it robs vs of our better powres,
“And we should be our selues, were these not ours.
“He is not poorest that hath least in store,
“But he which hath enough, yet asketh more:
“Nor is he rich by whom are all possest,
“But he which nothing hath, yet asketh least.
“If thou a life by Natures leading pitch,
“Thou neuer shalt be poore, nor euer rich
“Led by Opinion; for their states are such,
“Nature but little seekes, Opinion much.
Amongst the many buds proclaiming May,
(Decking the fields in holy-dayes aray,
Striuing who shall surpasse in brauery)
Marke the faire blooming of the Hawthorne-tree
Who, finely clothed in a robe of white,
Feeds full the wanton eye with May's delight;
Yet for the brauery that she is in
Doth neither handle Card nor Wheele to spin,
Nor changeth robes but twice: is neuer seene
In other colours then in white or greene.
Learne then content, young Shepherd, from this tree,
Whose greatest wealth is Natures liuery;
And richest ingots neuer toyle to finde,
Nor care for pouerty but of the minde,
Cloud those sweet beauties in thy face appeare;
Why dost thou call on that which comes alone,
And will not leaue thee till thy selfe art gone?
Thou maist haue griefe, when other things are reft thee:
All else may slide away, this still is left thee;
And when thou wantest other company,
Sorrow will euer be embracing thee.
But fairest Swaine what cause hast thou of woe?
Thou hast a well-fleec'd flocke feed to and fro
(His sheepe along the Vally that time fed
Not farre from him, although vnfollowed).
What, doe thy Ewes abortiues bring? or Lambs
For want of milke seeke to their fellowes Dams?
No gryping Land-lord hath inclos'd thy walkes,
Nor toyling Plowman furrow'd them in balkes.
Ver hath adorn'd thy Pastures all in greene
With Clouer-grasse as fresh as may be seene:
Cleare gliding Springs refresh thy Meadowes heat,
Meads promise to thy charge their winter-meat,
And yet thou grieu'st. O! had some Swains thy store,
Their Pipes should tell the Woods they ask'd no more.
Or haue the Parcæ with vnpartiall knife
Left some friends body tenantlesse of life,
And thou bemoan'st that Fate in his youths morne
21
“Count not how many yeares he is bereau'd,
“But those which he possest and had receiu'd;
“If I may tread no longer on this stage,
“Though others thinke me young; it is mine age:
“For who so hath his Fates full period told,
“He full of yeeres departs, and dyeth old.
May be that Auarice thy minde hath crost,
And so thy sighes are for some trifle lost.
Why shouldst thou hold that deare the world throwes on thee?
“Thinke nothing good which may be taken from thee.
Look as some pondrous weight or massie pack,
Laid to be carried on a Porters back,
Doth make his strong ioynts cracke, and forceth him
(Maugre the helpe of euery nerue and lim)
To straggle in his gate, and goeth double,
Bending to earth, such is his burdens trouble:
So any one by Auarice ingirt,
And prest with wealth, lyes groueling in the dirt.
His wretched minde bends to no point but this,
That who hath most of wealth hath most of blisse.
Hence comes the world to seeke such traffique forth
And passages through the congealed North,
Who when their haires with Isicles are hung,
And that their chatt'ring teeth confound their tongue,
Shew them a glitt'ring stone, will streightwaies say,
If paines thus prosper, oh, what fooles would play?
Yet I could tell them (as I now doe thee)
“In getting wealth we lose our libertie.
“Besides, it robs vs of our better powres,
“And we should be our selues, were these not ours.
“He is not poorest that hath least in store,
“But he which hath enough, yet asketh more:
“Nor is he rich by whom are all possest,
“But he which nothing hath, yet asketh least.
22
“Thou neuer shalt be poore, nor euer rich
“Led by Opinion; for their states are such,
“Nature but little seekes, Opinion much.
Amongst the many buds proclaiming May,
(Decking the fields in holy-dayes aray,
Striuing who shall surpasse in brauery)
Marke the faire blooming of the Hawthorne-tree
Who, finely clothed in a robe of white,
Feeds full the wanton eye with May's delight;
Yet for the brauery that she is in
Doth neither handle Card nor Wheele to spin,
Nor changeth robes but twice: is neuer seene
In other colours then in white or greene.
Learne then content, young Shepherd, from this tree,
Whose greatest wealth is Natures liuery;
And richest ingots neuer toyle to finde,
Nor care for pouerty but of the minde,
| The Whole Works of William Browne | |