Nor was it peaceable even at the nuptial dinner, which closed with the following catastrophe of etiquette:—­

Sir John having ushered among the countesses the lady of the French ambassador, he left her to the ranging of the lord chamberlain, who ordered she should be placed at the table next beneath the countesses, and above the baronesses.  But lo!  “The Viscountess of Effingham standing to her woman’s right, and possessed already of her proper place (as she called it), would not remove lower, so held the hand of the ambassadrice, till after dinner, when the French ambassador, informed of the difference and opposition, called out for his wife’s coach!” With great trouble, the French lady was persuaded to stay, the Countess of Kildare and the Viscountess of Haddington making no scruple of yielding their places.  Sir John, unbending his gravity, facetiously adds, “The Lady of Effingham, in the interim, forbearing (with rather too much than little stomach) both her supper and her company.”  This spoilt child of quality, tugging at the French ambassadress to keep her down, mortified to be seated at the side of the Frenchwoman that day, frowning and frowned on, and going supperless to bed, passed the wedding-day of the Palatine and Princess Elizabeth like a cross girl on a form.

One of the most subtle of these men of punctilio, and the most troublesome, was the Venetian ambassador; for it was his particular aptitude to find fault, and pick out jealousies among all the others of his body.

On the marriage of the Earl of Somerset, the Venetian was invited to the masque, but not the dinner, as last year the reverse had occurred.  The Frenchman, who drew always with the Venetian, at this moment chose to act by himself on the watch of precedence, jealous of the Spaniard newly arrived.  When invited, he inquired if the Spanish ambassador was to be there? and humbly beseeched his majesty to be excused, from indisposition.  We shall now see Sir John put into the most lively action by the subtle Venetian.

“I was scarcely back at court with the French ambassador’s answer, when I was told that a gentleman from the Venetian ambassador had been to seek me, who, having at last found me, said that his lord desired me, that if ever I would do him favour, I would take the pains to come to him instantly.  I, winding the cause to be some new buzz gotten into his brain, from some intelligence he had from the French of that morning’s proceeding, excused my present coming, that I might take further instructions from the lord chamberlain; wherewith, as soon as I was sufficiently armed, I went to the Venetian.”

But the Venetian would not confer with Sir John, though he sent for him in such a hurry, except in presence of his own secretary.  Then the Venetian desired Sir John to repeat the words of his own invitation, and those also of his own answer! which poor Sir John actually did!  For he adds, “I yielded, but not without discovering my insatisfaction to be so peremptorily pressed on, as if he had meant to trip me.”