crown. This seemed in that romantic age the proper outcome of events. The public mind was agreed that a kingdom must be found for the hero. Where the kingdom was to be, or how it was to be instituted, was not so clearly understood. Some Albanians, who believed that the Turkish rule on the shore of the Adriatic would now be immediately ended, came and offered their homage to Don John, and he was not indisposed to accept it; but his brother Philip did not enter very heartily into the project, and events fell out far otherwise than was expected immediately after Lepanto.
Indeed the conclusion of the Holy League was lame and impotent, in no wise corresponding to the vigorous achievement which had marked its beginning. In 1572, Pope Pius, the soul of the confederation, died. His successor was most zealous in his endeavour to repel the Infidel, but the crusading spirit and power seemed not to be in him. Through that summer again the great fleets were at sea, but they did nothing of importance, and the great opportunity of striking while the enemy was discouraged by the victory of Lepanto was lost. There was no triumph to record for 1572; and before operations could be undertaken in 1573, Venice had made a separate peace with the Turks, thus shamefully deserting her allies. Therefore, as no other Power had shown any anxiety to enter the League, that holy combination, so solemnly and vauntingly inaugurated, came of necessity to an end. Its banner was hauled down, and Don John ran up his flag as Spanish General of the Sea once more.
For a year or two after the dissolution of the Holy League, Don John's life passed, for the most part peaceably, in the enjoyment of his fame. He was charged with the conduct of affairs in various places, and he retained his naval command. He made an easy capture of Tunis, and placed on its throne a king who was to rule under the protection of the King of Spain; but this acquisition remained to Spain only for a short time, as Tunis was retaken by the Turks. The occupations of the young general seem, however, to have left him time for participating very frequently in amusements; and of many of these, our author, as we think, has done well to speak at some length. The shows called masques were often the principal entertainments, and they entered into and formed part of pleasures and sports which, in other times, would probably have dispensed with them. For instance, balls and tournaments were incomplete if not largely decorated with allegorical figures and devices. Dancing was a very favourite amusement of Don John; and very splendid balls were given to him in many of the cities to which his duties called him. At Piacenza a magnificent tournament was held by the Duke of Parma in his honour as the first knight in Christendom: the account of it is interesting, as showing how this pastime of nobles and knights had changed its character since the times when it was thought to be a serious, as it was certainly a somewhat sanguinary diversion. The Duke's passage of arms may not unfairly be bracketed with a tournament which was held in Scotland in this nineteenth century.
The military pageant was formally brought to pass by the action of a challenger, who proclaimed to all the world of chivalry the charms and virtues of his mistress, and who undertook to
