ALL sorts of men through various labours press | |
| To the same end, contented quietness; | |
| Great princes vex their labouring thoughts to be | |
| Possessed of an unbounded sovereignty; | |
| The hardy soldier doth all toils sustain | 5 |
| That he may conquer first, and after reign: | |
| Th’ industrious merchant ploughs the angry seas | |
| That he may bring home wealth, and live at ease. | |
| These none of them attain: for sweet repose | |
| But seldom to the splendid palace goes; | 10 |
| A troop of restless passions wander there, | |
| And private lives are only free from care. | |
| Sleep to the cottage bringeth happy nights, | |
| But to the court hung round with flaring lights, | |
| Which th’ office of the vanished day supply, | 15 |
| His image only comes to close the eye, | |
| But gives the troubled mind no ease of care, | |
| While country slumbers undisturbed are; | |
| Where, if the active fancy dreams present | |
| They bring no horrors to the innocent. | 20 |
| Ambition doth incessantly aspire, | |
| And each advance leads on to new desire; | |
| Nor yet can riches av’rice satisfy, | |
| For want and wealth together multiply: | |
| Nor can voluptuous men more fulness find, | 25 |
| For enjoyed pleasures leave their stings behind. | |
| He’s only rich who knows no want; he reigns | |
| Whose will no severe tyranny constrains; | |
| And he alone possesseth true delight | |
| Whose spotless soul no guilty fears affright. | 30 |
| This freedom in the country life is found, | |
| Where innocence and safe delights abound. | |
| Here man’s a prince; his subjects ne’er repine | |
| When on his back their wealthy fleeces shine: | |
| If for his appetite the fattest die, | 35 |
| Those who survive will raise no mutiny: | |
| His table is with home-got dainties crowned, | |
| With friends, not flatterers, encompassed round | |
| No spies nor traitors on his trencher wait, | |
| Nor is his mirth confined to rules of state; | 40 |
| An armed guard he neither hath nor needs, | |
| Nor fears a poisoned morsel when he feeds; | |
| Bright constellations hang above his head, | |
| Beneath his feet are flow’ry carpets spread | |
| The merry birds delight him with their songs, | 45 |
| And healthful air his happy life prolongs; | |
| At harvest merrily his flocks he shears, | |
| And in cold weather their warm fleeces wears; | |
| Unto his ease he fashions all his clothes; | |
| His cup with uninfected liquor flows: | 50 |
| The vulgar breath doth not his thoughts elate, | |
| Nor can he be o’erwhelmed by their hate. | |
| Yet, if ambitiously he seeks for fame, | |
| One village feast shall gain a greater name | |
| Than his who wears the imperial diadem, | 55 |
| Whom the rude multitude do still condemn. | |
| Sweet peace and joy his blest companions are; | |
| Fear, sorrow, envy, lust, revenge, and care, | |
| And all that troop which breeds the world’s offence, | |
| With pomp and majesty, are banish’d thence. | 60 |
| What court then can such liberty afford? | |
| Or where is man so uncontroll’d a lord? | |
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