biting to them a curious spectacle, which, even with
this pleasure-loving people, had the rare merit of novelty. This was the
graceful tourney introduced into Castile from the Spanish Arabs. The
highest nobles in his suite took the lead in it. The cavaliers were
arranged in six quadrilles, or factions, each wearing its distinctive
livery and badges, with their heads protected by shawls, or turbans,
wreathed around them in the Moorish fashion. They were mounted _a la
gineta_, that is, on the light jennet of Andalusia,--a cross of the
Arabian. In their hands they brandished their slender lances, with long
streamers attached to them, of some gay color, that denoted the
particular faction of the cavalier. Thus lightly equipped and mounted,
the Spanish knights went through the delicate manoeuvres of the Moorish
tilt of reeds, showing an easy horsemanship, and performing feats of
agility and grace, which delighted the Italians, keenly alive to the
beautiful, but hitherto accustomed only to the more ponderous and clumsy
exercises of the European tourney.[27]

After some weeks, Prince Philip quitted the hospitable walls of Milan,
and set out for the north. Before leaving the place, he was joined by a
body of two hundred mounted arquebusiers, wearing his own yellow
uniform, and commanded by the duke of Arschot. They had been sent to him
as an escort by his father. He crossed the Tyrol, then took the road by
the way of Munich, Trent, and Heidelberg, and so on towards Flanders. On
all the route, the royal party was beset by multitudes of both sexes,
pressing to catch a glimpse of the young prince who was one day to sway
the mightiest sceptre in Europe. The magistrates of the cities through
which he passed welcomed him with complimentary addresses, and with
presents, frequently in the form of silver urns, or goblets, filled with
golden ducats. Philip received the donatives with a gracious
condescension; and, in truth, they did not come amiss in this season of
lavish expenditure. To the addresses, the duke of Alva, who rode by the
prince's side, usually responded. The whole of the long journey was
performed on horseback,--the only sure mode of conveyance in a country
where the roads were seldom practicable for carriages.

At length, after a journey of four months, the royal cavalcade drew
near the city of Brussels. Their approach to a great town was intimated
by the crowds who came to welcome them; and Philip was greeted with a
tum