John being unwilling, after the fatigue of so long a journey,
to incommode us with a banquet. The house in which I was lodged
had been newly furnished for the purpose of receiving me. It
consisted of a magnificent large _salon_, with a private apartment,
consisting of lodging rooms and closets, furnished in the most
costly manner, with furniture of every kind, and hung with the
richest tapestry of velvet and satin, divided into compartments
by columns of silver embroidery, with knobs of gold, all wrought
in the most superb manner. Within these compartments were figures
in antique habits, embroidered in gold and silver.

The Cardinal de Lenoncourt. a man of taste and curiosity, being
one day in these apartments with the Duc d'Arscot, who, as I have
before observed, was an ornament to Don John's Court, remarked
to him that this furniture seemed more proper for a great king
than a young unmarried prince like Don John. To which the Duc
d'Arscot replied that it came to him as a present, having been
sent to him by a bashaw belonging to the Grand Seignior, whose
sons he had made prisoners in a signal victory obtained over
the Turks. Don John having sent the bashaw's sons back without
ransom, the father, in return, made him a present of a large
quantity of gold, silver, and silk stuffs, which he caused to be
wrought into tapestry at Milan, where there are curious workmen
in this way; and he had the Queen's bedchamber hung with tapestry
representing the battle in which he had so gloriously defeated
the Turks.

The next morning Don John conducted us to chapel, where we heard
mass celebrated after the Spanish manner, with all kinds of music,
after which we partook of a banquet prepared by Don John. He