William Browne, of Tavistock 1588-1643
William Browne was born in Tavistock, Devon and was educated at Exeter College, Oxford before studying to become a lawyer.
His chief poetical work is Brittania's Pastoral, a narrative poem in couplets interspersed with lyrics in three books. The first of these was published in 1613 and the second in 1616, but the third remained in manuscript form until 1852. He collaborated with George Wither on The Shepherd's Pipe, a collection of pastorals and also wrote epitaphs, the most famous of which was on the Dowager Countess of Pembroke, the sister of Sir Philip Sidney.