| |
| HOW happy is he born and taught | |
| That serveth not another’s will; | |
| Whose armour is his honest thought | |
| And simple truth his utmost skill! | |
| |
| Whose passions not his masters are, | 5 |
| Whose soul is still prepared for death, | |
| Not tied unto the world with care | |
| Of public fame, or private breath; | |
| |
| Who envies none that chance doth raise | |
| Or vice; Who never understood | 10 |
| How deepest wounds are given by praise; | |
| Nor rules of state, but rules of good: | |
| |
| Who hath his life from rumours freed, | |
| Whose conscience is his strong retreat; | |
| Whose state can neither flatterers feed | 15 |
| Nor ruin make oppressors great; | |
| |
| Who God doth late and early pray | |
| More of his grace than gifts to lend; | |
| And entertains the harmless day | |
| With a well-chosen book or friend: | 20 |
| |
| —This man is freed from servile bands | |
| Of hope to rise, or fear to fall; | |
| Lord of himself, though not of lands; | |
| And having nothing, yet hath all. | |
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