[ACCORDING to a MS. note in the copy of Rel. Wotton. which belonged successively to Ritson and Park, this piece was "printed as early as 1614, with the fourth edit. of Overbury's Wife and Characters;" but it is not found in those copies of either the 4to. or 8vo. edit. of Overbury published in that year, which I have had an opportunity of examining.* Other traces of its existence occur soon afterwards; for Mr. Collier found a part of the first stanza at Dulwich, in the handwriting of Edward Alleyn, on a scrap of paper which contained, on the other side, a memorandum dated 1616. (Life of Alleyn, p. 54.) Jonson's visit to Drummond of Hawthornden is now known to have ended before January 17: 1619 and in his Conversations we find the remark, "Sir Edward [Henry] Wotton's verses of a happie lyfe, he [Jonson] hath by heart." (Laing's ed. p. 8.) Mr. Freeman is therefore in error when he says, "It may be presumed,

I do not know when it was first printed with Overbury. In the first ed. of the Reliques (i. 296.) Percy took it from an edit. of 1638. He had not then seen Rel. Wotton.

that Sir Henry designed this as a picture of himself in his retirement" (Lives of Kentish Poets, i. 250); for the piece must have been written some time before he withdrew from active employment.

The Variations in the different copies of these verses are unusually numerous. I have collected those of six, of which the first has been previously collated by Mr. Dyce. I believe that others might have been added; but their number is perhaps too great already.—A=a copy in Ben Jonson's handwriting, which Mr. Collier found among the Dulwich MSS. and printed in his Life of Alleyn, p. 53.—B=MS. Malone 13, fol. 11. Signature, "Sr. H. Wotton."—C= MS. Malone 19, p. 138, where it is headed by Wotton's name.-D an old MS. Collection belonging to Mr. Pickering, fol. 115, vo. This copy has neither title nor signature. E a copy among the Poems appended to "Le Prince d'Amour," 1660. p. 134. Title, "Happiness." No signature.-F Percy's Reliques, i. 333, ed. 1839, where it is printed from Rel. Wotton. ed. 1651, "compared with one or two other copies."]

OW happy is he born and taught,
That serveth not anothers will;
Whose Armour is his honest thought,
And simple truth his utmost Skill;

[5] Whose Passions not his Masters are; Whose Soul is still prepar'd for Death, Unti'd unto the World by care

Of publick Fame, or private Breath;

Who envies none that chance doth raise, [10] Nor Vice [; who never] understood

How deepest Wounds are given by praise ;-
Nor Rules of State, but Rules of good;

Who hath his Life from Rumours freed; Whose Conscience is his strong retreat; [15] Whose State can neither Flatterers feed, Nor Ruine make Oppressors great;

Who God doth late and early pray
More of his Grace than Gifts to lend;
And entertains the harmless day
[20] With a Religious Book, or Friend!

This man is freed from servile [b]ands
Of hope to rise, or fear to fall :-
Lord of himself, though not of Lands,
And having nothing, yet hath all.

H. WOTTON.

[VARIATIONS. 1. ' or taught'-BCE F.-4. And silly truth his highest skill'-A D. It is highest skill' also in B CEF.-5. Master'-E.-7. Untied to the world with care'-A. with care' also in B C E F, and in E F the line begins, 'Not ty'd unto’—. 8. All the copies but Rel. Wotton. have 'vulgar breath'—, but they vary in the commencement of the line. Thus; 'Of princes grace'-A C. 'Of Princes Loue'-B. 'Of princes ear’—E F.— In C, the third stanza is omitted altogether; and in A B E F, the third and fourth stanzas are transposed. In D, the same transposition was intended; but lines 7, 8, 13, and 14 are accidentally omitted.-9. 'Who envieth none whome chance'-A B. 'whom' also in F. In D, the line runs, 'Whoe envieth not that shame. 10. The punctuation and reading are adopted from the other copies, except that A D F have 'Or vice;' and D,

' and neuer'-. In Rel. Wotton. it stands thus:- Nor Vice hath ever understood;'-. 11. How swordes give sleighter wounds than prayse'-A. 'How desperate woundes are giuen with prayse'-B. 'That.... with'-D E. with' also in F.12. Not rules'-E.-13. 'humors'-A E. 'rumour'-B. ‘humor'-C. The text is doubtless right. The words were frequently confused.-15. 'fauours doth not'-C.—16. ‘ accusers great-all but F and Rel. Wotton.-17. 'Who late & early doth God pray'-C.-18. 'to send'-B C D. His graces more then gifts to lend'-E.-20. 'well-chosen book'-all but Rel. Wotton.-21. This man is free from servile bandes'—A B C D. 'free.... band'—-E. It is 'bands' in Rel. Wotton. 1651 and 1654; but in ed. 1672 is misprinted 'hands'-. 23. 'though omitted in B.-land'-E.]

[THIS piece is inserted in Walton's Angler, (pp. 60, 61, ed. 1655,) with some introductory remarks, which I shall quote at length. "My next and last example shall be that undervaluer of money, the late Provost of Eton Colledg, Sirj Henry Wotton, (a man with whom I have often fish'd and convers'd) a man whose forraign Imployments in the service of this Nation, and whose experience, learning, wit, and

See Walton's Lives, pp. 159, 177, ed. 1796. A curious anecdote to the same effect occurs in Walton's Letter to Fulman about John Hales (Fulman's MSS. C. C. C. Oxford, vol. xii. fol. 80):-" he [Hales] was not good at any continuance to get or saue mony for him selfe; yet he vndertoke to doe it for his freind Sr H: Wotton, who was a neclecter of mony, and Mr Ha. told me he had got 3007. together at the time of his deth, a some to which Sr H. had long beine a stranger, and wood euer hane beine if he had manag'd his owne mony-buissines: it was hapily got together to bury him, and inable him to doe some offices of honor, and Justice, and gratitude, and charitie."-Wotton's saying about Angling is more briefly given in his Life; p. 164.