I disclaim all responsibility for the views, historical or otherwise, expressed in this book, but if I have failed to reproduce a vivid picture of life in old Spain, it is solely the fault of my prentice hand. As on the walls of some tapestried chamber the author displays the Story of Don John of Austria from his engaging childhood to his saintly death. The light as it shines on this Prince Charming, also falls on those great ones of his time who were his friends or foes, and on the multitude of their servants and followers, lingering most lovingly on beautiful Doña Magdalena de Ulloa, as it glints on the golden texture of her unselfish life. In the woof of the background the author has woven many homely touches, which seem to make the figures live again, and, shaking off the dust of more than three centuries, to leave the arras as in some Pavillon d'Armide. Has the turning of the hangings broken the spell? As I cannot but remember that Cervantes, shrewdest of observers, has said that translating from one language to another is "like one looking on the wrong side of Flemish tapestry; although the figures are seen they are full of threads which blur them, and the smoothness and bloom of the surface are not seen; not for this" he, however, adds encouragingly, "do I wish to say that this exercise of translating is not praiseworthy, because a man may spend his time in other and worse ways." Ojalá! that any possible reader of this book may not have cause to doubt the truth of this last axiom. My best thanks are due to Padre Coloma for his courtesy in allowing me to translate this work, to Colonel Coloma for the trouble he has taken for its welfare, to Señor de Osma for all his kindness, to Doctor de Alcázar y Polanco and Mr. Medd, and last, but not least, to my husband for all his help. A. M. M. CONTENTS PAGE BOOK I 3 BOOK II 105 BOOK III 233 BOOK IV 315 ILLUSTRATIONS DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA _Frontispiece_