Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden
Sir Henry Wotton (15681639)The Character of a Happy Life
H
That serveth not another’s will;
Whose armour is his honest thought,
And simple truth his utmost skill;
Whose soul is still prepared for death,
Untied unto the world by care
Of public fame or private breath;
Nor vice; who never understood
How deepest wounds are given by praise;
Nor rules of state, but rules of good;
Whose conscience is his strong retreat;
Whose state can neither flatterers feed,
Nor ruin make oppressors great;
More of his grace than gifts to lend;
And entertains the harmless day
With a religious book or friend.
Of hope to rise or fear to fall:
Lord of himself, though not of lands,
And, having nothing, yet hath all.