CHAP, xxi.] THE FIFTH DA Y. 509 



told you was an excellent angler. But let them be writ by whom 

 they will, he that writ them had a brave soul, and must needs be 

 possest with happy thoughts at the time of their composure. 



* Farewell, ye gi!ded follies, pleasing troubles ; 

 Farewell, ye honourM rags, ye glorious bubbles ; 

 Fame's but a hollow eclio ; Gold, pure clay ; 

 Honour the darling but of one short day ; 

 Beauty, th' eye's idol, but a damask'd skin ; 

 State, but a golden prison, to live in 

 And torture free-born minds ; embroider'd Trains, 

 Merely but pageants for proud swelling veins ; 

 And Blood allied to greatness is alone 

 Inherited, not purchas'd, nor our own. 



Fame, Honour, Beauty, State, Train, Blood and Birth, 



Are but the fading blossoms of the earth. 



I would be great, but that the sun doth still 



Level his rays against the rising hill : 



I would be high, but see the proudest oak 



Most subject to the rending thunder-stroke : 



I would be rich, but see men, too unkind, 



Dig in the bowels of the richest mind : \ 



I would be wise, but that I often see 



The fox suspected, whilst the ass goes free : 



I would be fair, but see the fair and proud, 



Like the bright sun, oft setting in a cloud : 



I would be poor, but know the humble grass 



Still trampled on by each unworthy ass : 



Rich, hated ; wise, suspected ; scorn'd, if poor; 



Great, fear'd ; fair, tempted ; high, still envy'd more. 

 I have wish'd all ; but now I wish for neither, 

 Great, high, rich, wise, nor fair : poor I'll be rather. 



Would the World now adopt me for her heir ; 

 Would beauty's Queen entitle me the fair ; 

 Fame speak me fortune's minion ; could I "vie 

 Angels with India ; \ with a speaking eye 



* These verses are also said to have been written by Sir Walter Raleigh, when a 

 prisoner in the Tower, shortly before his execution. Walton expresses himself doubtful 

 as to the author. t Mine. 



J An angel is a pieco of coin, value ten shillings. The words to " vie angels" are a 

 metonymy, and signify to compare wealth. In the old ballad of the Beggar's Daughter" 

 of Bethnal Green, a competition of this kind is introduced : a young knight, about to 

 marry the beggar's daughter, is dissuaded from so unequal a match by some gentlemen, 

 his relations, who urge the poverty of her father: the beggar challenges them to drop 

 angels with him, and fairly empties the purses of them all. The contest, and its issue, 

 are related in the following stanzas, part of the ballad : 



Then spake the blind beggar : " Although I be poor, 



Yet rail not against my child at my own door: 



Though she be not deck'd in velvet and pearl, 



Yet I will drop angels with you for my girl. 



And then, if my gold may better her birth, 



And equal the gold that you lay on the earth, 



Then neither rail nor grudge you, to see 



The blind beggar's daughter a lady to be. 



But first you shall promise, and have it well known, 



The gold that you drop shall all be your own." 



With that they replied, "Contented be we." 



" Then here's," quoth the beggar, " for pretty Besse." 



With that, an angel he cast on the ground ; 



And dropped, in angels, full three thousand pound ; 



And oftemimcs, it was proved most plain, 



For the gentlemen's one the beggar dropt twain : 



