CHAP. xxi. THE FIFTH DAY. 179 



I would be poor, but know the humble grass 

 SdjTiiarnpled on breach TrrrwortJjyass 



ir fair, tempted high, _ still envied more: 

 I havewish'd all; but now I w.^h for npiilxr^ 

 Great, hi^h. 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 



Command bare heads, bow'd knees, strike justice dumb, 



As well as blind and lame, or give a tongue 



To stones by epitaphs be call'd " great master,' 3 



In the loose rhymes of every poetaster 



fnnlrl I j^gj^nrp ihan^Miy man thftfr lives, 



GreattJkiry-^i^h, wise, all in MipLilattves 



Yet I more freely would these gifts resign. 



Than eveFTortune would have made them mine; 



And hold one minute of this holy leisure 



Beyond the riches of this empty pleasure ! 



Welcome, pure thoughts ! welcome, ye silent groves ! 



These guests, these courts, my soul most dearly loves ! 



Now the wing'd people of the sky shall sing 



My cheerful anthems to the gladsome spring : 



A prayer-book, now, shall be my looking-glass, 



KTwhich I will addfe SWeet virtue j s iai*e. 



Here dwell no hateful looks, no palace cares, 



No broken vows dwell here, nor paie-iaceci lears ; 



Then here I'll sit, and sigh my hot love's folly, 



And learn t' affect a holy melancholy : 

 And if contentment be a stranger, then 

 rTThe er IOOK for it, but in heaven, agam. " 



VEN. Well, master, these verses be worthy to keep a^rocm in 

 every man's memory. I thank you for them ; and I thank you 

 for your many instructions, which (God willing) I will not forget. 

 And as St. Austin, in his Confessions (book iv. chap, iii.), com- 

 memorates the kindness of his friend Verecundus, for lending 

 him and his companion a country house; because there they 



