"Fame, and that too after death, was all which hitherto the poets
had promised themselves from their art. It seems to have been
left to Wither to discover that poetry was a present possession
as well as a rich reversion, and that the muse had promise of
both lives--of this, and of that which was to come."
--must be extended by us, after reading his lines quoted above, to
include William Browne. He, at least, had no doubt of the Muse as an
earthly companion.
As for posthumous fame, Browne confides to us his aspirations in that
matter also:--
"And Time may be so kind to these weak lines
To keep my name enroll'd past his that shines
In gilded marble, or in brazen leaves:
Since verse preserves, when stone and brass deceives.
Or if (as worthless) Time not lets it live
To those full days which others' Muses give,
Yet I am sure I shall be heard and sung
Of most severest eld and kinder young
Beyond my days; and maugre Envy's strife,
Add to my name some hours beyond my life."