and, besides works of art carried away and destroyed, houses burned and furniture broken, fifteen millions of crowns, in money and jewels, were seized upon by open violence.

Independently of the population having been entirely dispersed in the sixth century, Rome has been so often sacked by barbaric armies, that historians have tired of relating the constantly-recurring tales of woe. Even in the fourteenth century, when rapidly rising into new life and strength, the city hardly contained twenty thousand souls within its walls. The great catastrophe of the sixteenth century we have shown. And yet, in the face of these melancholy facts, knowing that a thousand years of shame and sorrow have swept over the land of the mighty, we still find enthusiasts who, on the banks of the Tiber, expect to meet the descendants of the ancient Romans. Alas, alas! treble layers of earth, composed of the ashes of Huns, Goths, Vandals, Spaniards, and Germans, cover the graves of that celebrated people. Not a single drop of Roman blood now flows in Italian veins; and modern Rome claims only the name and the ruins of the fallen mistress of the world.

V.

FERDINAND ALVAREZ OF TOLEDO,

DUKE OF ALBA.

FERDINAND ALVAREZ of Toledo, Duke of Alba, who acted so important a part in the most brilliant period of Spanish history, was born at Alba, in Spain, in 1508. He was the son of Garcia, Count of Toledo, and grandson of Frederick of Toledo, first Duke of Alba, head of one of the noblest and most ancient families of Spain, and claiming descent from the Imperial family of the Commeni. Having in his fourth year had the misfortune to lose his father, who was slain in an action against the Moors, on the coast of Africa, the young Ferdinand was educated under the care of his grandfather, a nobleman distinguished as well for gallantry in the field and conduct in the cabinet, as for attachment to his sovereign, as he was the only Spanish nobleman of rank who remained faithful to Ferdinand the Catholic, when, on the death of Queen Isabella, the crowd of courtiers gathered round Philip of Austria, her successor, by right of his wife, when he occupied the throne of Castile.

Our young Ferdinand was already in early boyhood allowed to look upon the rude face of war. His grandfather, having been appointed to command an army sent

against the French and the subjects of the King of Navarre, took the boy along with him, and caused him to be instructed in the exercises to which the soldiers of the period were trained. On the return of peace, the Count of Toledo, as he was then called, followed his grandfather into Castile, and was placed under the best instructors the country afforded. Of quick parts, though of impetuous temper, he seems to have made considerable progress; and though martial and gymnastic exercises were deemed the principal attainments required for a young noble of the period, and were ardently practised by the young Count, letters were not overlooked, and in his thirteenth year the future soldier had not only read Vegetius, but acquired the greater part of the book by heart.

While this education was in progress, Charles V. had assumed the government of his kingdoms, and found himself, at the age of seventeen, sovereign of Spain, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, the Netherlands, and the Indies-dominions far exceeding any over which a Christian monarch had ever held sway. The wars also, to which his fatal rivalry with Francis I. of France gave rise, had likewise commenced; and Don Miguel, of Velasco, Constable of Castile, having in 1524 laid siege to Fontarabia, then occupied by the French, our young Count solicited permission to join the army; and as his grandfather, rendered timid by age, and by the fate of his son Don Garcia, withheld his consent, the fiery youth escaped from the castle, and repaired to the Spanish camp. He was well received by Velasco, who made his peace with the aged Duke, a service which our hero repaid by the zeal and energy which he displayed in the discharge of the various duties intrusted to him. His gallantry was conspicuous on every occasion; and the constancy with which he supported the cold, frost, and hardships the troops had to encounter during the severity of the winter siege, attracted general admiration. His manners also gained him friends;

he was courteous, cheerful, and liberal; always ready to assist soldiers and inferior officers with his purse and his interest. So favourable was the opinion already formed of him, that, on the reduction of Fontarabia, he was named governor of the fortress, though only seventeen years

of age.

The death of his grandfather, by which he succeeded to the Dukedom of Alba, now, however, obliged him to resign his command, and attend to his family affairs; and in his twentieth year we already find him married to Donna Maria of Geissmar, a lady, as biographers tell us, of great beauty and merit. Though it is evident that the Duke was not, in early life at least, a very faithful husband, it is certain that he always entertained the highest regard and esteem for this lady, who, on her part, was most tenderly attached to him.

Charles V. was too good a judge of merit to neglect an officer of Alba's promising talents, and when he assumed the command of the army destined to confront Solyman the Magnificent, in Hungary, the young Duke of Alba was placed at the head of the Spanish cuirassiers, and was favourably noticed during the operations that led to the retreat of the Turkish host; an event which their enemies looked upon as a victory, so generally successful had been the Ottoman armies of the period.

The expedition which, in 1535, Charles V. undertook for the reduction of Tunis, furnished Alba with gallant opportunities for distinguishing himself. A terrific tempest, an actual hurricane, which arose in the darkness of night, during the siege of Goletta, threw the Christian camp into the utmost confusion; the Moors, not doubting what would be the situation of their enemies, endeavoured to turn it to account, sallied from the fortress, and attacked the Imperialists with great fury. Alfonso of Cueva, who commanded the first line, was forced to give way, and would have been completely routed, had not the Duke of Alba come to his

assistance with the Spanish cavalry, and driven the assailants back to their walls.

The reduction of Goletta, captured after a vigorous resistance, did not discourage Barbarossa, the usurper of Tunis. Resolved to try the fate of a general battle, he assembled all his disposable forces, and taking post near the head of some ancient aqueducts, which gave him the command of the springs, there awaited the arrival of the Christians. Leaving their camp early in the morning, the invading host moved towards the enemy, but having a wide sandy plain' to traverse, in the hottest season of the year, their suffering from heat, thirst, and dust is said to have been such as almost to have endangered their safety. Vast numbers fell down exhausted; many even perished during this scorching march. Nor were heavily laden infantry soldiers the only sufferers; horsemen, and men of high rank, and of all arms, perished beneath the flaming rays of the African sun.

The fainting host was only revived by the sight of the enemy, drawn up in one long line, and estimated by Spanish writers at a hundred thousand infantry, and twenty thousand cavalry. Conscious that victory alone could avail them in their perilous position, the Imperial army prepared with alacrity for battle, and from right to left the whole front was soon engaged in fierce and resolute combat.

The right wing of the Imperialists, composed of old Spanish bands long trained to victory, early overthrew the enemies they encountered, and carried the ruins in which they had been posted; but on the left, the aspect of affairs was darkly threatening. The Italians, little inured to the toils of war, had not recovered from the disorder into which the long and exhausting march had thrown them, when they were boldly charged home by whole swarms of Moors; unable to form and rally under so fierce an onset, they fought to disadvantage; many were overthrown, and entire battalions already betook themselves to flight, when Alba