nd his
viceroys were anxious to attack the Sea-wolves on the coast of Africa in
their strongholds. After much squabbling, an agreement was come to. The
principal items of this were, that the Pope should pay one-sixth of the
expenses, Venice two-sixths, and Spain three-sixths; that each party should
appoint its own Commander-in-Chief, and that Don John of Austria should be
in supreme command of the whole forces assembled. The contracting parties
were to furnish 200 galleys, 100 transports, 50,000 foot, 4,500 horse, and
the requisite artillery and stores.

While the Christians were negotiating and talking, the Turks were acting.
It was in May that the Pope caused the treaty to be publicly read in full
consistory; in April the Turkish fleet had got to sea and committed
terrible ravages in the Adriatic, laying waste to Venetian territory.

While ships and men were gathering, and while the fleet which it was to be
his fortune to defeat was pursuing its career in the Mediterranean, Don
John of Austria left Madrid for the south on June 6th, 1571. When he
arrived at Barcelona he made a pilgrimage to the Hermitage of Our Lady of
Montserrat, where his father Charles V. had confessed and received the
sacrament before he sailed on his voyage to the Barbary coast in his
expedition against Barbarossa. From Barcelona he sailed with thirty galleys
to Genoa, where he arrived on the 25th, and was lodged in the palace of
Andrea Doria. In August he arrived by water at Naples.

By this time all Europe was aflame with excitement: warriors of noble birth
were flocking to serve under the standard of the brother of the King of
Spain, who was regarded as the very mirror of chivalry. The following
description of Don John, at Naples, is from the pen of that great historian
Prescott:

"Arrangements had been made in that city for his reception on a more
magnificent scale than any he had witnessed on his journey. Granvelle,
who had lately been raised to the post of Viceroy, came forth at the
head of a long and brilliant procession to welcome his royal guest. The
houses which lined the streets were hung with richly tinted tapestries
and gaily festooned with flowers. The windows and verandahs were graced
with the beauty and fashion of the pleasure-loving capital, and many a
dark eye sparkled as it gazed upon the fine form and features of the
youthful hero, who at the age of twenty-four had come to Italy to assume
the baton of com