text: " "If such an expectation really availed to _enliven_ the Escurial " cried Don John recklessly "your friendship must indeed possess miraculous properties! However you may judge with your own eyes the pleasantness of my position; and every day that improves your acquaintance with the ill blood and ill condition of this accursed army of the royalists ill-paid ill-disciplined and ill-intentioned will inspire you with stronger yearnings after our days of the Mediterranean where I was master of myself and of my men