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 command and lead the crusade against the Moslems. His
splendid dress of white velvet and cloth of gold set off his graceful
person to advantage. A crimson scarf floated loosely over his breast,
and his snow-white plumes drooping from his cap mingled with the yellow
curls that fell in profusion over his shoulders. It was a picture which
the Italian maiden might love to look on. It was certainly not the
picture of the warrior sheathed in the iron panoply of war. But the
young Prince, in his general aspect, might be relieved from the charge
of effeminacy by his truly chivalrous bearing and the dauntless spirit
which beamed from his clear blue eyes. In his own lineaments he seemed
to combine all that was comely in the lineaments of his race."
At Naples Don John found a fleet at anchor under the command of Don Alvaro
de Bazan, first marquis of Santa Cruz, of whom much was to be heard in the
future in his capacity as Admiral of Castile.
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