338 THE COMPLETE ANGLES. PART I. 



soul, and must needs be possest with happy thoughts 

 at the time of their composure. 



Farewel, ye gilded follies ! pleasing troubles ! 

 Farewel, ye honour'd rags ! ye glorious bubbles ! 

 Fame's but a hollow echo ; 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; embroidered trains, 

 Merely but pageants for proud swelling veins; 

 And blood allv'd to greatness is, alone 

 Inherited not purchased ; 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; [min'd :] 



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 



* An angel is a piece of coin, value ten shillings. The words to vis 

 angels are a periphrasis [a metonimy,] and signify to compare 'wealth. In 

 the old ballad of the Eeggar's Daughter of Betbnal-green, a competition of 

 this kind is introduced: a young knight, about to marry the beggar'* 

 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. 



