The Happy Heart

see ambition never pleased;

I see some Tantals starved in store;
see gold's dropsy seldom eased;
I see even Midas gape for more;
neither want nor yet abound,-
hough's a feast, content is crowned.

feign not friendship where I hate;
I fawn not on the great (in show);
prize, I praise a mean estate,→
Neither too lofty nor too low:

his, this is all my choice, my cheer,

mind content, a conscience clear.

2841

Joshua Sylvester (1563-1618]

THE HAPPY HEART

From "Patient Grissell"

or, yet hast thou golden slumbers?

O sweet content!

, yet is thy mind perplexed?
O punishment!

ugh to see how fools are vexèd olden numbers, golden numbers? tent! O sweet, O sweet content!

ce, apace, apace, apace; bor bears a lovely face; onny nonny, hey nonny nonny!

the waters of the crispèd spring?

O sweet content!

hou in wealth, yet sink'st in thine own tears?

O punishment!

It patiently want's burden bears

bears, but is a king, a king!

tent! O sweet, O sweet content!

ce, apace, apace, apace;

bor bears a lovely face;

ɔnny nonny, hey nonny nonny!

Thomas Dekker [1570?-1641?]

THE MILLER OF THE DEE

THERE dwelt a miller, hale and bold,
Beside the River Dee;

He wrought and sang from morn till night,

No lark more blithe than he; And this the burden of his song

Forever used to be,

"I envy no man, no, not I,

And no one envies me!"

"Thou'rt wrong, my friend!" said old King Hal.
"As wrong as wrong can be;
For could my heart be light as thine,

I'd gladly change with thee.

And tell me now what makes thee sing
With voice so loud and free,

While I am sad, though I'm the King,
Beside the River Dee?"

The miller smiled and doffed his cap:
"I earn my bread," quoth he;
"I love my wife, I love my friend,

I love my children three.

I owe no one I cannot pay,

I thank the River Dee,

That turns the mill that grinds the corn

To feed my babes and me!"

"Good friend," said Hal, and sighed the while,

"Farewell! and happy be;

But say no more, if thou'dst be true,

That no one envies thee.

Thy mealy cap is worth my crown;

Thy mill my kingdom's fee!

Such men as thou are England's boast,

Oh, miller of the Dee!"

Charles Mackay [1814-1889]

Coronation

2843

CORONATION

king's gate the subtle noon ve filmy yellow nets of sun; he drowsy snare too soon guards fell one by one.

gh the king's gate, unquestioned then, eggar went, and laughed, "This brings hance, at last, to see if men

e better, being kings."

ing sat bowed beneath his crown, pping his face with listless hand; hing the hour-glass sifting down slow its shining sand.

r man, what wouldst thou have of me?"

e beggar turned, and pitying,

ed, like one in dream, "Of thee, thing. I want the king."

se the king, and from his head

ook off the crown, and threw it by. han, thou must have known," he said, greater king than I."

ugh all the gates, unquestioned then, ent king and beggar hand in hand. spered the king, "Shall I know when efore his throne I stand?"

beggar laughed. Free winds in haste [ere wiping from the king's hot brow crimson lines the crown had traced. This is his presence now."

he king's gate, the crafty noon
nwove its yellow nets of sun;
of their sleep in terror soon
he guards waked one by one.

"Ho here! Ho there! Has no man seen
The king?" The cry ran to and fro;
Beggar and king, they laughed, I ween,
The laugh that free men know.

On the king's gate the moss grew gray;

The king came not. They called him dead; And made his eldest son one day

Slave in his father's stead.

Helen Hunt Jackson (1831-1885)

THE CHARACTER OF A HAPPY LIFE

How happy is he born and taught

That serveth not another's will;
Whose armor is his honest thought,
And simple truth his utmost skill!

Whose passions not his masters are;
Whose soul is still prepared for death,
Not tied unto the world by care

Of public fame or private breath;

Who envies none that chance doth raise,
Nor vice; who never understood
How deepest wounds are given by praise;
Nor rules of state, but rules of good;

Who hath his life from rumors freed;
Whose conscience is his strong retreat;
Whose state can neither flatterers feed,
Nor ruin make oppressors great;

Who God doth late and early pray
More of His grace than gifts to lend;
And entertains the harmless day

With a well-chosen book or friend;

-This man is freed from servile bands
Of hope to rise, or fear to fall:
Lord of himself, though not of lands,
And having nothing, yet hath all.
Henry Wollon (1568-1639]

lind to Me a Kingdom Is" 2845

MIND TO ME A KINGDOM IS"

ind to me a kingdom is,

h present joys therein I find,

it excels all other bliss

t earth affords or grows by kind:

gh much I want which most would have,

incely pomp, no wealthy store,

force to win the victory,

ily wit to salve a sore,

shape to feed a loving eye;

one of these I yield as thrall:
hy? My mind doth serve for all.

how plenty [surfeits] oft,
d hasty climbers soon do fall;
that those which are aloft
shap doth threaten most of all;
get with toil, they keep with fear:
cares my mind could never bear.

ent to live, this is my stay;
seek no more than may suffice;
ss to bear no haughty sway;
ok, what I lack my mind supplics:
thus I triumph like a king,

tent with that my mind doth bring.

e have too much, yet still do crave; little have, and seek no more.

y are but poor, though much they have, nd I am rich with little store:

y poor, I rich; they beg, I give;
y lack, I leave; they pine, I live.

igh not at another's loss;
grudge not at another's gain;
vorldly waves my mind can toss;
y state at one doth still remain: