Читать книгу Character Writings of the Seventeenth Century - Various - Страница 95

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How happy is he born or taught

That serveth not another's will;

Whose armour is his honest thought,

And silly truth his highest skill!

Whose passions not his masters are,

Whose soul is still prepared for death;

Untied unto the world with care

Of princely love or vulgar breath.

Who hath his life from rumours freed,

Whose conscience is his strong retreat;

Whose state can neither flatterers feed,

Nor ruin make accusers great.

Who envieth none whom chance doth raise

Or vice, who never understood

How deepest wounds are given with praise;

Not rules of State, but rules of good.

Who God doth late and early pray

More of His grace than gifts to lend;

Who entertains the harmless day

With a well-chosen book or friend.

This man is free from servile bands,

Of hope to rise, or fear to fall;

Lord of himself, though not of lands,

And having nothing he hath all.