in repelling them
there, and defeated them (1535) at Tunis, but they soon renewed
their frightful ravages along the European shores.

Finally, in the reign of Solyman's successor, Selim II, they were
met with effectual resistance through the efforts of the Holy League
formed in 1570 by Spain, Venice, and Pope Pius V. Selim in that year
captured and pillaged Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus. In May, 1571,
the League agreed upon a plan of action, and after a series of
indecisive operations the allies accomplished their task in the
manner described below. Their forces were commanded by Don John of
Austria, a Spanish soldier, illegitimate son of Charles V. Don John
had already (1569-1570) defeated the Moriscoes or Moors in Granada.
Stirling-Maxwell is the authoritative historian of his remarkable
career. Sir William's account of the important victory near Lepanto
is one of our most interesting examples of military narration.

The Gulf of Lepanto is a long inlet of irregular shape, extending east
and west, and bounded on the north by the shores of Albania, the ancient
Epirus, and on the south by the coast of Morea, and closed at its
eastern end by the Isthmus of Corinth. The bold headland on the north
side, guarded by the castle of Roumelia, and the lower promontory on the
south with the castle of the Morea, advancing from the opposite shores
into its waters, divide the long inlet into two unequal parts. The first
of these parts consists of the mouth of the gulf and the lake-like
basin, together forming the Gulf of Patras. The second is the long reach
of waters within the castled headlands called the Gulf (anciently) of
Corinth, and now of Epakte or Lepanto. When the hostile fleets came in
sight of each other, that of the League was entering the gulf near its
northern shore, while that of the Turk was about fifteen miles within
its jaws, his vast crescent-shaped line stretching almost from the broad
swampy shallows which lie beneath the Acarnanian mountains to the margin
of the rich lowlands of the Morea.

As the two armaments now advanced, each in full view of the other, the
sea was somewhat high, and the wind, blowing freshly from the east, was
in the teeth of the Christians. But in the course of the morning the
waves of the gulf fell to a glassy smoothness, and the breeze shifted to
the west, a change fortunate for the sailors of the League, which their
spiritual