How happy is he born or taught
That serveth not another's will:
Whose armour is his honest thought
And sample truth his utmost skill !
Whose passions not his masters are,
Whose soul is still prepared for death.
untied unto the world by care
Of public fame, or private breath:
Who envies none that chance doth raise,
Nor vice: who never understood
How deepest wounds are given by praise;
Nor rules of state, but rule of good:
Who hath his life from rumours freed;
Whose conscience is his strong retreat:
Whose state can neither flatterers feed,
Nor ruin make oppressors great;
Who God doth late and early pray
More of his grace than gifts to lend;
And entertains the harmless day
With a religious book or friend;
This man is freed from servile bands
Of hope to rise, or fear to fail:
Lord of himself, though not of lands,
And having nothing, yet hath all.
There are some very obvious likenesses between this poem and campion's . The Man of Life Upright. Both are concerned with the life and virtues of a good man, both are deeply religious in sprite, and both are simple but dignified in expression. However, there is a difference in emphasis. The upright man of campion's poem places all his thought and trust in "heavenly things". In Sir Henry Wotton's poem the virtuous man is happy not only in the promise of a heavenly reward but also in the enjoyment of a serene life of virtue in this world.