393. The Character of a Happy Life by Sir Henry Wooton
H Wooton read by Classic Poetry Aloud: Giving voice to the poetry of the past.\nwww.classicpoetryaloud.com\n\n--------------------------------------------\n\nThe Character of a Happy Life\nby Sir Henry Wooton (1568 \u2013 1639)\n\nHow happy is he born and taught\nThat serveth not another's will;\nWhose armour is his honest thought,\nAnd simple truth his utmost skill!\n\nWhose passions not his masters are;\nWhose soul is still prepared for death,\nUntied unto the world by care\nOf public fame or private breath;\n\nWho envies none that chance doth raise,\nNor vice; who never understood\nHow deepest wounds are given by praise;\nNor rules of state, but rules of good;\n\nWho hath his life from rumours freed;\nWhose conscience is his strong retreat;\nWhose state can neither flatterers feed,\nNor ruin make oppressors great;\n\nWho God doth late and early pray\nMore of His grace than gifts to lend;\nAnd entertains the harmless day\nWith a religious book or friend;\n\n\u2014 This man is free from servile bands\nOf hope to rise or fear to fall:\nLord of himself, though not of lands,\nAnd having nothing, yet hath all.\n\n\nFirst aired: 4 February 2008\n\nFor hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.\n\nReading \xa9 Classic Poetry Aloud 2009