person
Dom Pedro II of Brazil
Dom Pedro
also: дон Педро, Dom Pedro, Pedro II, the Brazilian Dom Pedro
Second and last Emperor of Brazil (r. 1831-1889), deposed in a military coup on 15 November 1889 -- just six weeks before this letter -- and subsequently exiled, reportedly traveling privately/incognito in Europe. Chekhov invokes him here as a comic figure of low-profile, calls-free travel, jesting that he will arrive in Petersburg 'incognito, in the manner of the Brazilian Dom Pedro.'
Reading notes
- To N. A. Leikin, 25 December 1889. Moscow. §4 на манер бразильского дон Педро
"In the manner of the Brazilian Dom Pedro" -- a topical joke keyed to a very recent news event: Dom Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil, had been deposed in a military coup on 15 November 1889, only about six weeks before this letter, and was reported in the European press to be traveling privately/incognito following his exile. Chekhov borrows the image of a deposed monarch slipping quietly into a city, making no formal calls, to describe his own planned low-key arrival in Petersburg. The joke's freshness depends entirely on the coup's recency -- it would not have landed the same way a few months later.