"be no rule for sb." - what does it mean?

[szaroczek]

A sentence from "Young Goodman Brown":

"Howbeit, I have nothing to do with the governor and council; they have their own ways, and are no rule for a simple husbandman, like me."

What exactly (!) does the bold expression mean, please?

 

[szaroczek]

Does this "are no rule" modify the "governor and council" or to "their ways"?

 

[szaroczek]

I mean, from grammatical point of view, is it like "the governor and council are no rule for a simple husbandman..." or "their own ways (governor's and council's) are no rule for a simple husbandman..."?

 

[RobMasters]

The ways of the governor and the council do not apply to the writer. They have their ways and the writer does not have to attend to these ways.

??

 

[szaroczek]

Well, I am still a little confused, too... :-| I just don't get this syntax construct. Sens is sort of more of less understandable but how to understand grammatical construction of this phrase :?: