el was read, the grand-master held the naked sword aloft,
in token that the knights were ever ready to do battle for the
Cross.[1399] When the ceremony was concluded, a fine portrait of La
Valette was exhibited to the people; and the brethren gazed, with
feelings of reverence, on his majestic lineaments, as on those of the
saviour of their order.[1400]

But all this is changed. The Christians, instead of being banded against
the Turk, now rally in his defence. There are no longer crusades against
the infidel. The age of chivalry has passed. The objects for which the
Knights Hospitallers were instituted have long since ceased to exist;
and it was fitting that the institution, no longer needed, should die
with them. The knights who survived the ruin of their order became
wanderers in foreign lands. Their island has passed into the hands of
the stranger; and the flag of England now waves from the ramparts on
which once floated the banner of St. John.

CHAPTER VI.

DON CARLOS.

His Education and Character.--Dangerous Illness.--Extravagant
Behavior.--Opinions respecting him.--His Connection with the
Flemings.--Project of Flight.--Insane Conduct.--Arrest.

1567, 1568.

We must now, after a long absence, return to the shores of Spain, where
events were taking place of the highest importance to the future
fortunes of the monarchy. At the time when the tragic incidents
described in the preceding Book were passing in the Netherlands, others,
not less tragic, if we may trust to popular rumor, were occurring in the
very palace of the monarch. I allude to the death of Don Carlos, prince
of Asturias, and that of Isabella of Valois, Philip's young and
beautiful queen. The relations in which the two parties stood to each
other, their untimely fate, and the mystery in which it was enveloped,
have conspired with the sombre, unscrupulous character of Philip to
suggest the most horrible suspicions of the cause of their death. The
mystery which hung over them in their own time has not been dissipated
by the researches of later chroniclers. For that very reason, it has
proved an inexhaustible theme for fiction, until it might be thought to
have passed from the domain of history into that of romance. It has been
found especially suited to the purposes of the drama; and the dramatic
literature of Europe contains more than one masterpiece from the hand of
genius, which displays in sombre coloring the loves and the misfortunes
of