Id., p. III

Wlio dost with plenty meads and pastures fill, By drops distill'd like dew on TTcrmon liill :

Pardon a silly swain

And thou whicir througli the dosert and tlio (N-ep. Didst lead thy cliosen like a llock of slieep : Assometinie hy a star thon guidod'st tliem, Wliioli fed upon the plains of Bethlehem ; So by thy sacred Spirit direct my quill » ( I j.

Voici quelques passag-es où Browiie s'est inspiré de l'Ecriture Sainte.

« Like Sion Mount, that cannot be removVl » (2).

« Hère sits a mother weeping, pale and wan,

With fixed eyes, whose hopeless thoughts seem'd ran

How (since for many days no food she tasted,

Her meal, heroil consum'd, ail spent, ail wasted) (3)

« Hère underneath a tree in heavy plight, Her bread and pot of water wasted quite, * Egyptian Hagar, nippd with hunger fell, Sat robb'd of hope : her infant Ishmael, Far froni her being laid. . . » (4).

Il est inutile de prolonger cette série d'allusions directes à la Bible. Nous trouvons des cas bien plus intéressants encore où Browne reproduit le langage biblique. Voici un exemple des plus frappants :

« Mark the falr bloomlng of the hawthorn-tree, Who, finely clothed in a robe of white,

1. Poems of William liroirnp (Muses Library), Ed., Gordon Goodwin, London, s, d., I, 4» p- iii-