How much better is it to be silent, or at least to speak sparingly!
for it is not enough to speak good, but timely things. If a man be
asked a question, to answer; but to repeat the question before he
answer is well, that he be sure to understand it, to avoid
absurdity; for it is less dishonour to hear imperfectly than to
speak imperfectly. The ears are excused, the understanding is not.
And in things unknown to a man, not to give his opinion, lest by the
affectation of knowing too much he lose the credit he hath, by
speaking or knowing the wrong way what he utters. Nor seek to get
his patron's favour by embarking himself in the factions of the
family, to inquire after domestic simulties, their sports or
affections. They are an odious and vile kind of creatures, that fly
about the house all day, and picking up the filth of the house like
pies or swallows, carry it to their nest (the lord's ears), and
oftentimes report the lies they have feigned for what they have seen
and heard,
Imo serviles.--These are called instruments of grace and power with
great persons, but they are indeed the organs of their impotency,
and marks of weakness.
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