who were waging the _holy war_ in Crete, but repeated and disastrous
defeats were sustained by the Ottoman navy, whenever it attempted to
dispute the sovereignty of the sea with the Lion of St Mark. In July
1651, a formidable armament with supplies and troops for Crete was
almost entirely destroyed off Naxos by Mocenigo: and on July 6, 1656,
the same commander inflicted on the Turkish fleet, off the mouth of the
Straits, the most decisive overthrow which it had sustained since the
fatal day of Lepanto. Seventy sail of ships and galleys were sunk or
taken; the Capitan-pasha escaped into the Bosphorus with only fourteen
vessels; and the inhabitants of Constantinople, in the first access of
consternation, expected the apparition of the Christian ensigns in the
Golden Horn; but the victors contented themselves with the occupation of
Tenedos and Lemnos, which they held till dislodged in the following year
by Kiuprili.

The serdar, Delhi-Hussein, who had for eleven years gallantly upheld the
renown of the Ottoman arms in Crete, withstanding with equal firmness
the efforts of the enemy, and the mutinous spirit of his own soldiers,
had been recalled early in 1656 to assume the vizirat; a fleeting
glimpse of honour, which, though cancelled even before he reached
Constantinople in favour of the Kaimakam Mustapha, subsequently (as
already related) cost him his life from the jealousy of Mohammed
Kiuprili. His successors possessed neither his energy nor his military
skill; and the Venetians, taking courage from the change of commanders,
sallied from Candia, and even ventured, though without success, to
attempt the recovery of Canea. Negotiations for peace, meanwhile, had
been kept on foot almost from the first; but as the Ottoman pride
absolutely refused to listen to any propositions which did not include
the total and unconditional surrender of Candia, no pacification could
be effected; and the war continued to linger till Ahmed-Kiuprili,