LIFE OF COTTON. 



XXIV. 



That man is happy, in his share, 



Who is warm clad, and cleanly fed ; 



Whose necessaries bound his care, 

 And, honest labour makes his bed ; 



XXV. 



Who, free from debt and clear from crimes, 

 Honours those laws that others fear ; 



Who ill, of princes, in worst times, 

 Will neither speak himself, nor hear; 



XXVI. 



Who from the busy world retires 



To be more useful to it still ; 

 And to no greater good aspires, 



But only the eschewing ill ; 



XXVII. 

 Who, with his angle and his books, 



Can think the longest day well spent, 

 And praises God, when back he looks 



And finds that all was innocent. 



XXVIII. 

 This man is happier far than he, 



Whom public business oft betrays, 

 Through labyrinths of policy 



To crooked and forbidden ways. 



XXIX. 



/ 

 The world is full of beaten roads, 



But yet so slippery withal, 

 That where one walks secure, 'tis odds 



A hundred and a hundred fall. 



XXX. 



Untrodden paths are then the best, 

 When the frequented are unsure ; 



And he comes soonest to his rest 

 Whose journey has been most secure. 



