A formalist and a pedant, a man of red tape and routine, full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces which he mistook for eloquence, honest as daylight and tedious as a king, he was just the time-consumer for Alexander's purpose.

The wily Italian listened with profound attention to the wise saws in which the excellent diplomatist revelled, and his fine eyes often filled with tears at the Doctor's rhetoric.
Three interviews--each three mortal hours long--did the two indulge in at Ghent, and never, was high-commissioner better satisfied with himself than was John Rogers upon those occasions.

He carried every point; he convinced, he softened, he captivated the great Duke; he turned the great Duke round his finger.

The great Duke smiled, or wept, or fell into his arms, by turns.

Alexander's military exploits had rung through the world, his genius for diplomacy and statesmanship had never been disputed; but his talents as a light comedian were, in these interviews, for the first time fully revealed.
On the 26th March the learned Doctor made his first bow and performed his first flourish of compliments at Ghent.