DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING A LINE, 357 



I would be rich, but see men (too unkind) 

 Dig in the bowels of the richest mind 

 I would be wise, but that I often see 

 The fox suspected, whilst the ass goes free 

 I would be fair, but see the fair and proud, 

 Like the bright sun, oft setting in a cloud 

 I would be poor, but know the humble grass 

 Still trampled on by each unworthy ass 

 Rich, hated wise, suspected scorn'd, if poor 

 Great, fear'd fair, tempted high, still envied more : 

 I have wish'd all ; but now I wish for neither, 

 Great, high, rich, wise, nor fair poor I '11 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," 

 In the loose rhymes of every poetaster 

 Could I be more than any man that lives, 

 Great, fair, rich, wise, all in superlatives 

 Yet I more freely would these gifts resign, 

 Than ever Fortune 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, 



In which I will adore sweet Virtue's face. 



Here dwell no hateful looks, no palace cares, 



No broken vows dwell here, nor pale-faced fears ; 



Then here I '11 sit, and sigh my hot love's folly, 



And learn t' affect a holy melancholy : 

 And if contentment be a stranger, then 

 I '11 ne'er look for it, but in heaven, again. 



