;
and yet no Man who makes his Happiness more publick, by a free
communication of the Art and Knowledge of it to others. All that I my
self am able yet to do, is only to recommend to Mankind the search of
that Felicity, which you instruct them how to find and to enjoy.

1.

Happy art thou whom God does bless
With the full choice of thine own Happiness;
And happier yet, because thou'rt blest
With Prudence how to choose the best:
In Books and Gardens thou hast plac'd aright
(Things well which thou dost understand,
And both dost make with thy laborious hand)
Thy noble innocent delight:
And in thy virtuous Wife, where thou again dost meet
Both Pleasures more refin'd and sweet:
The fairest Garden in her Looks,
And in her Mind the wisest Books.
Oh! who would change these soft, yet solid Joys,
For empty Shows and senseless Noise;
And all which rank Ambition breeds,
Which seem such beauteous Flowers, and are such poisonous Weeds?

2.

When God did Man to his own Likeness make,
As much as Clay, though of the purest kind,
By the great Potters Art refin'd,
Could the Divine Impression take:
He thought it fit to place him, where
A kind of Heav'n too did appear,
As far as Earth could such a likeness bear:
That Man no Happiness might want,
Which Earth to her first Master could afford;
He did a Garden for him plant
By the quick hand of his Omnipotent Word.
As the chief Help and Joy of Humane Life,
He gave him the first Gift; first, ev'n before a Wife.

3.

For God, the universal Architect,
'T had been as easie to erect
A Louvre, or Escurial, or a Tower,
That might with Heav'n communication hold
As _Babel_ vainly thought to do of old:
He wanted not the skill or power,
In the World's Fabrick those were shown,
And the Materials were all his own.
But well he knew what place would best agree
With Innocence, and with Felicity:
And we elsewhere still seek for them in vain,
If any part of either yet remain;
If any part of either we expect,
This ma