The Quiet Life

What pleasure have great princes
More dainty to their choice
Than herdmen wild, who careless
In quiet life rejoice,
And fortune's fate not fearing
Sing sweet in summer morning?

Their dealings, plain and rightful,
Are void of all deceit;
They never know how spiteful
It is to kneel and wait
On favourite presumptuous
Whose pride is vain and sumptuous.

All day their flocks each tendeth;
At night they take their rest;
More quiet than who sendeth
His ship into the East,
Where gold and pearl are plenty,
But getting, very dainty.

For lawyers and their pleading,
They esteem it not a straw;
They think that honest meaning
Is of itself a law;
Where conscience judgeth plainly
They spend no money vainly.

Oh, happy who thus liveth,
Not caring much for gold;
With clothing which sufficeth
To keep him from the cold!
Though poor and plain his diet
Yet merry it is, and quiet.