any inquiries which might throw any illustration upon its cause, a loud
shout in the street made him naturally look out of the window. He
observed three or four magnificent equipages drawing up at the door of
the hotel, and followed by a large crowd. Each carriage was drawn by
four horses, and attended by footmen so radiant with gold and scarlet
that, had Popanilla been the late ingenious Mr. Keates, he would have
mistaken them for the natural children of Phoebus and Aurora. The
Ambassador forgot the irregularity of the paragraph in the splendour of
the liveries. He felt triumphantly conscious that the most beautiful
rose in the world must look extremely pale by the side of scarlet cloth;
and this new example of the superiority of art over nature reminding him
of the inferiority of bread-fruit to grilled muffin, he resolved to
return to breakfast.

But it was his fate to be reminded of the inutility of the best
resolutions, for ere the cup of coffee had touched his parched lips the
door of his room flow open, and the Marquess of Moustache was announced.

His Lordship was a young gentleman with an expressive countenance; that
is to say, his face was so covered with hair, and the back of his head
cropped so bald, that you generally addressed him in the rear by
mistake. He did not speak, but continued bowing for a considerable
time, in that diplomatic manner which means so much. By the time he had
finished bowing his suite had gained the apartment, and his Private
Secretary, one of those uncommonly able men who only want an
opportunity, seized the present one of addressing Popanilla.

Bowing to the late Captain with studied respect, he informed him that
the Marquess Moustache was the nobleman appointed by the Government of
Vraibleusia to attend upon his Excellency during the first few weeks of