It was an unfortunate circumstance, for what Doña 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.