They live upon an estate given them by their mother, and others upon
an estate cheated from their brethren. They live like sheep and
kine, by the allowances of Nature, and others like wolves and foxes
by the acquisitions of rapine; and, I hope, I may affirm (without
any offence to the great) that sheep and kine are very useful, and
that wolves and foxes are pernicious creatures. They are, without
dispute, of all men the most quiet and least apt to be inflamed to
the disturbance of the commonwealth; their manner of life inclines
them, and interest binds them, to love peace. In our late mad and
miserable civil wars, all other trades, even to the meanest, set
forth whole troops, and raised up some great commanders, who became
famous and mighty for the mischiefs they had done. But I do not
remember the name of any one husbandman who had so considerable a
share in the twenty years' ruin of his country, as to deserve the
curses of his countrymen; and if great delights be joined with so
much innocence, I think it is ill done of men not to take them here
where they are so tame and ready at hand, rather than hunt for them
in courts and cities, where they are so wild and the chase so
troublesome and dangerous.
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