2/6 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



siders not that 't is not in the power of riches to 

 make a man happy ; for it was wisely said, by a 

 man of great observation, " That there be as many 

 miseries beyond riches as on this side them." 

 And yet God deliver us from pinching poverty, 

 and grant that, having a competency, we may be 

 content and thankful. Let not us repine, or so 

 much as think the gifts of God unequally dealt, if 

 we see another abound with riches, when, as God 

 knows, the cares that are the keys that keep those 

 riches hang often so heavily at the rich man's 

 girdle that they clog him with weary days and 

 restless nights even when others sleep quietly. 

 We see but the outside of the rich man's happi- 

 ness ; few consider him to be like the silkworm, 

 that, when she seems to play, is at the very same 

 time spinning her own bowels, and consuming 

 herself. And this many rich men do ; loading 

 themselves with corroding cares, to keep what they 

 have, probably, unconscionably got. Let us, there- 

 fore, be thankful for health and a competence, 

 and, above all, for a quiet conscience. 



Let me tell you, scholar, that Diogenes walked 

 on a day, with his friend, to see a country-fair, 

 where he saw ribbons and looking-glasses and 

 nut-crackers and fiddles and hobby-horses, and 

 many other gimcracks ; and having observed them, 

 and all the other finnimbruns that make a com- 

 plete country-fair, he said to his friend, " Lord ! 

 How many things are there in this world of which 

 Diogenes hath no need ! " And truly it is so, or 



