Introduction 



A very little satisfies 



An honest and a grateful heart; 

 And who would more than will suffice, 



Does covet more than is his part. 



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. 



Who free from debt, and clear from crimes, 

 Honours those laws that others fear ; 



Who ill of princes, in worst times, 

 Witt neither speak himself nor hear. 



Who from the busy world retires 



To be more useful to it still, 

 And to no greater good aspires, 



But only the eschewing ill. 



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. 



This man is happier far than he, 



Whom public business oft betrays, 

 Through labyrinths of policy 



To crooked and forbidden ways. 



The world is full of beaten roads, 



But yet so slippery withall, 

 That where one walks secure, *tis odds 



A hundred and a hundred fall. 



Untrodden paths are then the best, 



Where the frequented are unsure, 

 And he comes soonest to his rest, 



Whose journey has been most secure. 



It is content alone that makes 



Our pilgrimage a pleasure here. 

 And who buys sorrow cheapest, takes 



An ill commodity too dear. 



Ixxxi f 



