Chapter 2 LORD OF HIMSELF

How happy is he born or taught

Who serveth not another's will;

Whose armour is his honest thought,

And simple truth his highest skill;

Whose passions not his masters are;

Whose soul is still prepared for death-

Not tied unto the world with care

Of prince's ear or vulgar breath;

Who hath his ear from rumours freed;

Whose conscience is his strong retreat;

Whose state can neither flatterers feed,

Nor ruin make oppressors great;

Who envies none whom chance doth raise,

Or vice; who never understood

How deepest wounds are given with praise,

Nor rules of state but rules of good;

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 free from servile bands

Of hope to rise or fear to fall:

Lord of himself, though not of lands,

And, having nothing, yet hath all.

Wotton.