"phoenix of Portugal," who had so long sat brooding on his domestic
hearth.

At last the holy league was formed, the new and last crusade proclaimed,
his uncle and bosom friend appointed to the command of the united troops
of Rome, Spain, and Venice. He could no longer be restrained.
Disdaining the pleadings of his mother and of his spouse, he extorted
permission from Philip, and flew to the seat of war in the Levant. Don
John received him with open arms, just before the famous action of
Lepanto, and gave him an, excellent position in the very front of the
battle, with the command of several Genoese galleys. Alexander's
exploits on that eventful day seemed those of a fabulous hero of romance.
He laid his galley alongside of the treasure-ship of the Turkish fleet, a
vessel, on account of its importance, doubly manned and armed. Impatient
that the Crescent was not lowered, after a few broadsides, he sprang on
board the enemy alone, waving an immense two-handed sword--his usual
weapon--and mowing a passage right and left through the hostile ranks for
the warriors who tardily followed the footsteps of their vehement chief.
Mustapha Bey, the treasurer and commander of the ship, fell before his
sword, besides many others, whom he hardly saw or counted. The galley
was soon his own, as well as another, which came to the rescue of the
treasure-ship only to share its defeat. The booty which Alexander's crew
secured was prodigious, individual soldiers obtaining two and three
thousand ducats each. Don John received his nephew after the battle with
commendations, not, however, unmingled with censure. The successful
result alone had justified such insane and desperate conduct, for had he
been slain or overcome, said the commander-in-chief, there would have
been few to applaud his temerity. Alexander gaily replied by assuring
his uncle that he had felt sustained by a more than mortal confidence,
the prayers which his saintly wife was incessantly offering in his behalf