For human benevolence is large, though many mat

ters dwarf it,

Prudence, ignorance, imposture, and the straitenings of circumstance and time.

And if to the body, so to the mind, the mass of men are generous :

Their estimate who know us best, is seldom seen to

err:

Be sure the fault is thine, as pride, or shallowness,

or vanity,

If all around thee, good and bad, neglect thy seeming

merit :

No man yet deserved, who found not some to love

him;

And he that never kept a friend need only blame himself:

Many for unworthiness will droop and die, but all are not unworthy;

It must indeed be cold clay soil, that killeth every seed.

Therefore examine thy state, O self-accounted martyr of Neglect,

It may be, thy merit is a cubit, and thy measure thereof a furlong:

But grant it greater than thy thoughts, and grant

that men thy fellows

H

For pleasure, business, or interest, misuse, forget, neglect thee,

Still be thou conqueror in this, the consciousness of high deservings;

Let it suffice thee to be worthy; faint not thou for

praise ;

For that thou art, be grateful; go humbly even in thy confidence;

And set thy foot upon the neck of an enemy so harmless as Neglect.

149

Of Contentment.

Godliness with Contentment,-these be the pillars of felicity,

Jachin, wherewithal it is established, and Boaz, in the which is strength;(14)

And upon their capitals is lily-work, the lotus fruit and flower,

Those fair and fragrant types of holiness, innocence, and beauty;

Great gain pertaineth to the pillars, nets and chains of wreathen gold,

And they stand up straight in the temple porch, the house where Glory dwelleth.

The body craveth meats, and the spirit is athirst for peacefulness;

He that hath these, hath enough; for all beyond is

vanity.

Surfeit vaulteth over pleasure, to light upon the hither side of pain;

And great store is great care, the rather if it mightily increaseth.

Albeit too little is a trouble, yet too much shall swell into an evil,

If wisdom stand not nigh to moderate the wishes: For covetousness never had enough, but moaneth at its wants for ever,

And rich men have commonly more need to be taught contentment than the

poor.

That hungry chasm in their market-place gapeth

still unsatisfied,

Yea, fling in all the wealth of Rome,-it asketh higher victims ;

So, when the miser's gold cannot fill the measure of

his lust,

Curtius must leap into the pit, and avarice shall close upon his life.(15)

Behold Independence in his rags, all too easily contented,

Careful for nothing, thankful for much, and uncom

plaining in his poverty:

Such an one have I somewhile seen earn his crust

with gladness;

He is a gatherer of simples, culling wild herbs

upon the hills;

And now, as he sitteth on the beach, with his motherless child beside him,

To rest them in the cheerful sun, and sort their mints and horehound,

Tell me, can ye find upon

covetous anxiety,

his forehead the cloud of

Or note the dull unkindled eyes of sated sons of pleasure?—

For there is more joy of life with that poor picker of the ditches,

Than among the multitude of wealthy who wed their gains to discontent.

I have seen many rich, burdened with the fear of

poverty,

I have seen many poor, buoyed with all the carelessness of wealth;

For the rich had the spirit of a pauper, and the moneyless a liberal heart;

The first enjoyeth not for having, and the latter hath

nothing but enjoyment.

None is poor but the mean in mind, the timorous,

the weak, and unbelieving;

None is wealthy but the affluent in soul, who is

satisfied and floweth over.