"Slowe be the seruers in seruing in alway,
But swift be they after, taking thy meate away;
A speciall custome is vsed them among,
No good dish to suffer on borde to be longe:
If the dishe be pleasaunt, eyther fleshe or fishe,
Ten handes at once swarme in the dishe:
And if it be flesh ten kniues shalt thou see
Mangling the flesh, and in the platter flee:
To put there thy handes is perill without fayle,
Without a gauntlet or els a gloue of mayle."
"The two last lines remind us of a saying of Quin, who declared it was not
safe to sit down to a turtle-feast in one of the city-halls, without a
basket-hilted knife and fork. Not that I suppose Quin borrowed his bon-mots
from black letter books." (Warton.)