By one of its articles the Holy League insists that every year in the month of March, or in April at the latest, the squadrons of the three Powers should set out to sea, with an army at least equal to the one of 1571. But when Pius V died on the 1st of May, 1572, the Powers had not been able to agree about this second campaign, in spite of the superhuman efforts of the saintly old man. At last, in July, his successor, Gregory XIII, managed to get the matter settled, and in July, on the 6th, D. John of Austria left the port of Messina with Marco Antonio Colonna, to join the Venetian fleet which was cruising in the Levant at Corfu. Jacobo Foscarini commanded instead of old Sebastian Veniero, against whom D. John had made grave complaints before the Venetian Senate. The Duque de Sesa was D. John's lieutenant in the place of the Knight Commander D. Luis de Requesens who had been appointed Governor of Milan by Philip II. These were the only changes in the fleet.

"This expedition," says an historian, "was undertaken with inexcusable delay, continued with slowness, and failed through quarrels. Nobody could have believed in October, 1571, that the victors of Lepanto could have returned thus in 1572." They did return, without having engaged in any definite battle with the Turk, and without other loot than the magnificent galley belonging to Barbarossa's grandson, taken by the Marqués de Santa Cruz and brought back to Naples, to be rechristened "La Presa." Then the expedition was considered ended, and the Venetians went to winter in Corfu, the Pontifical fleet at Rome, and D. John of Austria with his squadron to Messina and from there to Naples, where by ill-fortune Philip II had ordered him to spend the winter.

It was an unfortunate circumstance, for what Do?a Magdalena de Ulloa with her maternal foresight had foretold, when she sent D. John to the Granada war, came to pass: "Indolent wealth will be always prejudicial to his youth, and it is only by the labours and responsibilities of war that he will be able to balance the youthful ardour of his nature." D. John found himself unoccupied, because, while the fleet wintered, the duties of his command did not satisfy his longing for activity; he was wounded in his pride, that his advice about the organisation and commencement of this campaign had not been listened to, the scanty results of which were now deplored by all, when it was too late, proving the Generalissimo to have been right. Something, therefore, was necessary to distract him and fill up his time, and this he found in that delightful country, under that matchless sky, in that corrupt Naples of the sixteenth century, as dangerous then in its treacherous delights as it is to-day.

Naples was at that time one of the most beautiful cities in Italy or in Europe; the famous Viceroy D. Pedro de Toledo had enlarged and beautified it, throwing down the old walls, and constructing magnificent palaces, monasteries and churches in the two miles which this improvement added to the town. He also caused streets and squares to be paved, and filled with trees and fountains, and made the celebrated road more than half a league long, full of sumptuous palaces, which he named the street of the Holy Spirit, and which to-day is called the street of Toledo in his honour. Naples had then more than 300,000 inhabitants, and was the centre to which all the aristocracy of the Kingdom flocked.

In D. John's day, 40 Princes lived there, 25 Dukes, 36 Marquises, 54 Counts, 488 Barons, and numberless gentlemen, not so rich in money as in titles, and sometimes absolutely poor, but not the less proud of their nobility on account of this, and as disdainful as the rest, with no other occupations than riding, games with arms, and to "ruar," that is to saunter about the streets, paying compliments to the ladies, and lazily gossiping in the thousand comfortable seats which it was the custom of the city to provide in the squares and streets.

So, what we call good society was very numerous at Naples, and in it could be noted, in certain elevated circles, as to-day, that fatal anxiety for enjoyment and amusement of every possible kind, as if life had no other aim or object. That lazy nobility, strange medley of the virtues and vices of the time, strongly tinged with paganism, a relic of the Renaissance, flighty and chivalrous, cultured and wild, devout and corrupt, welcomed the hero of Lepanto as a demi-god, whose human charms, which were many and great, were enhanced by the divine rays of Genius and Glory. The men, overcome with admiration, slavishly imitated him, the women, in love with his winning presence, vied with each other for his glances, and solicited his favours as supernatural honours, and the people idle too, and captivated with so much grace and splendour, exaggerated his deeds and triumphs, followed him, and enthusiastically applauded his skill and undoubted bravery in the cane jousts, and games of "pelota," in masquerades, tournaments and bull-fights.

In the diary of D. John's confessor, Fr. Miguel Servia, who had followed him to Naples, we notice a circumstance which will make those smile sadly who know the frailty of the human heart. The more D. John was engulfed in the pleasures of Naples, the more the regularity and the frequency with which the good Franciscan notes this simple phrase in his diary diminishes, "To-day his Highness confessed."

Submerged in these pleasures and the continual amusements of Naples, there happened to D. John what always happens to the unwary, passionate youth, that he went further than he intended.

There was outside assistance for this first false step of D. John's in Naples, ............