egree
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 made presents to the masters of the ceremonies from t