In "the star-spangled banner," key describes the sailors who fought in the battle for the british as "hirelings and slaves." what might this indicate about how key felt about the sailors compared to how he probably felt about the british naval officers?

London includes a quote about john thornton as he is observing hal attempt to motivate the exhausted dogs "it was idle, he knew, to get between a fool and his folly". if the word "idle" is defined as "of no real worth, importance, or significance", what does this statement mean with regard to hal? who is the fool? what is hal's folly? why would john thornton think it of no real worth or useless to intervene?