Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

William Browne (c. 1590–c. 1645)

Extracts from Britannia’s Pastorals: The Complaint of Pan

Book II. Song 4.

WHAT boot is it though I am said to be

The worthy son of winged Mercury?

That I with gentle nymphs in forests high

Kissed out the sweet time of my infancy?

And when more years had made me able grown,

Was through the mountains as their leader known?

That high-browed Mænalus where I was bred,

And stony hills not few have honoured

Me as protector by the hands of swains,

Whose sheep retire there from the open plains?

That I in shepherd’s cups—rejecting gold—

Of milk and honey measures eight times told

Have offered to me, and the ruddy wine

Fresh and new pressed from the bleeding vine?

That gleesome hunters pleased with their sport

With sacrifices due have thanked me for ’t?

That patient anglers standing all the day

Near to some shallow stickle or deep bay,

And fishermen whose nets have drawn to land

A shoal so great it wellnigh hides the sand,

For such success some promontory’s head

Thrust at by waves, hath known me worshipped?

But to increase my grief, what profits this,

‘Since still the loss is as the loser is?’