Balzac mentions, in one of his novels, the story of a physician
who obtained great practice, merely by sending throughout Paris a
gaudily-dressed footman, who rang at every door, as it were, in search
of his master; so quick were the fellow's movements, so rapid his
transitions, from one part of the city to the other, nobody believed
that a single individual could ever have sufficed for so many calls; and
thus, the impression was, not only that the doctor was greatly sought
after, but that his household was on a splendid footing. The Emperor of
the Brazils seems to have read the story, and profited by the hint, for
while other nations are wasting their thousands in maintaining a whole
corps of diplomacy, he would appear like the doctor to have only one
footman, whom he keeps moving about Europe without ceasing: thus _The
Globe_ tells us one day that the Chevalier de L------, the Brazilian
ambassador, has arrived in London to resume his diplomatic functions;
_The Handelsbad of the Hague_ mentions his departure from the Dutch
Court; _The Algeimeine Zeitung_ announces the prospect of his arrival
at Vienna, and _The Moniteur Parisien_ has a beautiful article on the
prosperity of their relations with Mexico, under the auspices of the
indefatigable Chevalier: “_non regio terræ_,” exempt from his labours.
Unlike Sir Boyle Roche, he has managed to be not only in two, but twenty
places at once, and I should not be in the least surprised to hear of
his negotiations for sulphur at Naples, at the same moment that he was
pelting snowballs in Norway. Whether he travels in a balloon or on
the back of a pelican, he is a wonderful man, and a treasure to his
government.
The multiplicity of his duties, and the pressing nature of his
functions, may impart an appearance of haste to his manner, but it looks
diplomatic to be peremptory, and he has no time for trifling.
Truly, Chevalier de L------, thou art a great man--the wandering Jew was
but a type of thee.
A NUT FOR FOREIGN TRAVEL.
[Illustration: 094]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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