This Venetian proved himself to be, to the great torment of Sir John, a stupendous genius in his own way; ever on the watch to be treated al paro di teste coronate—­equal with crowned heads; and, when at a tilt, refused being placed among the ambassadors of Savoy and the States-general, &c., while the Spanish and French ambassadors were seated alone on the opposite side.  The Venetian declared that this would be a diminution of his quality; the first place of an inferior degree being ever held worse than the last of a superior.  This refined observation delighted Sir John, who dignifies it as an axiom, yet afterwards came to doubt it with a sed de hoc quaere—­query this!  If it be true in politics, it is not so in common sense, according to the proverbs of both nations; for the honest English declares, that “Better be the head of the yeomanry than the tail of the gentry;” while the subtle Italian has it, “E meglio esser testa di Luccio, che coda di Storione;” “better be the head of a pike than the tail of a sturgeon.”  But before we quit Sir John, let us hear him in his own words, reasoning with fine critical tact, which he undoubtedly possessed, on right and left hands, but reasoning with infinite modesty as well as genius.  Hear this sage of punctilios, this philosopher of courtesies.

“The Axiom before delivered by the Venetian ambassador was judged upon discourse I had with some of understanding, to be of value in a distinct company, but might be otherwise in a joint assembly!” And then Sir John, like a philosophical historian, explores some great public event—­“As at the conclusion of the peace at Vervins (the only part of the peace he cared about), the French and Spanish meeting, contended for precedence—­who should sit at the right hand of the pope’s legate:  an expedient was found, of sending into France for the pope’s nuncio residing there, who, seated at the right hand of the said legate (the legate himself sitting at the table’s end), the French ambassador being offered the choice of the next place, he took that at the legate’s left hand, leaving the second at the right hand to the Spanish, who, taking it, persuaded himself to have the better of it; sed de hoc quaere.”  How modestly, yet how shrewdly insinuated!

So much, if not too much, of the Diary of a Master of the Ceremonies; where the important personages strangely contrast with the frivolity and foppery of their actions.

By this work it appears that all foreign ambassadors were entirely entertained, for their diet, lodgings, coaches, with all their train, at the cost of the English monarch, and on their departure received customary presents of considerable value; from 1000 to 5000 ounces of gilt plate; and in more cases than one, the meanest complaints were made by the ambassadors about short allowances.  That the foreign ambassadors in return