238 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



money, that he may still get more and more money ; he is still 

 drudging on, and says, that Solomon says, " The diligent hand 

 maketh rich ;" and it is true indeed ; but he considers not that 

 it 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 re- 

 pine, 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 happiness ; few consider him 

 to be like the silk-worm, that, when she seems to play, is, at the 

 very same time, spinning her own bowels, and consuming her- 

 self. And this many rich men do ; loading themselves with 

 corroding cares, to keep what they have, probably, unconscion- 

 ably got. Let us, therefore, be thankful for health and a com- 

 petence, and above all, for a quiet conscience. 



Let me tell you. Scholar, that Diogenes walked on a day, with 

 a friend, to see a country fair ; where he saw ribbons, and look- 

 ing-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 complete 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 might be 

 so, with very many who vex and toil themselves to get what they 

 have no need of. Can any man charge God, that he hath not 

 given him enough to make his life happy ? No, doubtless ; for 

 nature is content with a little : and yet you shall hardly meet 

 with a man that complains not of some want ; though he, indeed, 

 wants nothing but his will, it may be nothing but his will of his 

 poor neighbor, for not worshipping, or not flattering him : and 

 thus, when we might be happy and quiet, we create trouble to 

 ourselves. I have heard of a man that was angry with himself 

 because he was no taller, and of a woman that broke her look- 

 ing-glass because it would not show her face to be as young and 



