"The Compleat ^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 'tis true indeed ; but he considers not that 'tis 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 us not repine, 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 herself. And 

 this many rich men do, loading themselves with corroding cares, to 

 keep what they have (probably) unconscionably got. Let us, there- 

 fore, be thankful for health and a competence ; and, above all, for a 

 quiet conscience. 



Let me tell you, scholar, that Diogenes walked on a day, with his 

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

 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 neighbour, 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 looking-glass because it would not show her face to be as young 



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