And once again:
On hours of talk or squabbling rude,
Of physic, barber, flirting, food,
A gentleman does not intrude.
Let everyone be cautious
In palaces of kings;
And let not students rummage
In their professor's things:
For naughty meddlers suffer
Destruction swift and sure,
Like evening candles, lighted
In houses of the poor.
Or put it this way:
On entering a palace,
Adjust a modest dress;
Go slowly, bowing lowly
In timely humbleness;
And sound the kingly temper,
And kingly whims no less.
Or this way:
Though ignorant and common,
Unworth the honoring,
Men win to royal favor
By standing near the king:
For kings and vines and maidens
To nearest neighbors cling.
And once again:
The servant in his master's face
Discerns the signs of wrath and grace,
And though the master jerk and tack,
The servant slowly mounts his back.
