The Merry Counsel

The Contented.

Manifold is human strife,

Human passion, human pain;
Many a blessing yet is rife,

Many pleasures still remain.
Yet the greatest bliss in life,

And the richest prize we find,

Is a good, contented mind.

He by whom man's foolish will

Is each day review'd and blamed,
Who, when others fools are still,

Is himself a fool proclaim'd,—
Ne'er at mill was beast's back press'd

With a heavier load than he.
What I feel within my breast

That in truth's the thing for me!

1789. ——- DIFFERENT EMOTIONS ON THE SAME SPOT.