English Poetry I: From Chaucer to Gray.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
| |
| 39. The Means to Attain Happy Life |
| | | Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517(?)–1547) |
| |
| |
| MARTIAL, the things that do attain | |
| The happy life be these, I find:— | |
| The richesse left, not got with pain; | |
| The fruitful ground, the quiet mind; | |
| |
| The equal friend; no grudge, no strife; | 5 |
| No charge of rule, nor governance; | |
| Without disease, the healthful life; | |
| The household of continuance; | |
| |
| The mean diet, no delicate fare; | |
| True wisdom join’d with simpleness; | 10 |
| The night dischargèd of all care, | |
| Where wine the wit may not oppress. | |
| |
| The faithful wife, without debate; | |
| Such sleeps as may beguile the night: | |
| Contented with thine own estate | 15 |
| Ne wish for death, ne fear his might. | |
| |
|
|
|
