310 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PART I. 



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 

 Grod deliver us from pinching poverty; and grant, that 

 having a competency, we may be content and thankful. 

 Let not us repine, or so much as think the gifts of G-od 

 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 con- 

 suming herself. 1 And this many rich men do ; loading 

 themselves with corroding cares, to keep what they have, 

 probably, unconscionably got. Let us, therefore, 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 tinnimbruns 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 G-od, 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 nattering him : and thus, when we might be happy and 

 quiet, we create trouble to ourselves. I have heard of a 



1 This is inaccurate : the silk-worm does not consume herself by spin- 

 ning her own bowels, but, out of a reservoir of silk gum on each side of the 

 throat, spins a warm covering for protection during the torpidity preceding 

 a change of state. RENNIE. 



