262 IIPE OF COTTON. 



XXVI. 



Who from the busy world retires, 

 To be more useful to it still, 



And to no greater good aspires, 

 But only the eschewing ill :. 



XXVII. 



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. 



XXTIII. 

 This man is happier far than he 



Whom public business oft betrays, 

 Through labyrinths of policy, 



To crooked and forbidden ways : 



XXIX. 



, The world is full of beaten roads, 



But yet so slippery withal, 

 That where MM walks secure, 'tis odds 

 A hundrfd and a hundred fall. 



XXX. 



Untrodden paths are then the best, 

 When the frequented are unsure; 



And be comes soonest to his real 

 Whose journey has been moat secure. 



XXXI. 



It is content, alone, that makes 

 Our pilgrimage a pleasure here : 



And who buys sorrow cheapest, takes 

 An ill commodity too dear. 



XXXII. 



But he has fortune's worst withstood, 

 And happiness can never miss ; 



Can covet nought but where he stood ; 

 And thinks him happy where he is. 



