The features were, handsome, the nose regularly aquiline, the eyes well opened, dark piercing, but with something dangerous and sinister in their expression.
There was an habitual look askance; as of a man seeking to parry or inflict a mortal blow--the look of a swordsman and professional fighter.
The lower part of the face was swallowed in a bushy beard; the mouth and chin being quite invisible.

He was of middle stature, well formed, and graceful in person, princely in demeanor, sumptuous and stately in apparel.

His high ruff of point lace, his badge of the Golden Fleece, his gold-inlaid Milan armor, marked him at once as one of high degree.

On the field of battle he possessed the rare gift of inspiring his soldiers with his own impetuous and chivalrous courage.

He ever led the way upon the most dangerous and desperate ventures, and, like his uncle and his imperial grandfather, well knew how to reward the devotion of his readiest followers with a poniard, a feather, a riband, a jewel, taken with his own hands from his own attire.
His military, abilities--now for the first time to be largely called into employment--were unquestionably superior to those of Don John; whose name had been surrounded with such splendor by the World-renowned battle of Lepanto.