Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/633

1543.] as an honoured ally, ho was received with a splendid hospitality. The French fleet, when he again sailed, put to sea in his company, and, for the first time in history, the Crescent and the Fleur-de-lis were seen floating side by side iii a joint enterprise against a Christian state. Villa Franca fell to the strange allies, and afterwards the town and harbour of Nice. The castle held out till de Guasto could arrive for its relief. But this was the only check which the Turkish admiral had met with. No power could be raised which could hope to cope successfully with him at sea; and, after sweeping the waters in the insolence of a force which he knew to be irresistible, he returned to Toidon, which had been made over to him as a winter station by the King of France.

Strange and offensive, however, as these proceedings appeared, they were still of secondary moment. The eyes of Europe were mainly turned on the central figure of the Emperor. He had made his preparations at his leisure. By midsummer a hundred and twenty cannon had been cast for him at the foundries of Augsburg. Ammunition waggons were prepared and loaded, and