Note 1 — BOOK III
Cecil N. Sidney Woolf translation
The Spaniards abroad, about 1580, were nothing but energetic agents of despotism or serenaders beneath the windows of Italian beauties. In those days Spaniards dropped into Italy just in the way people come nowadays to Paris. For the rest, they prided themselves on nothing but upholding the honour of the king, their master. They ruined Italy—ruined and degraded it.
In 1626 the great poet Calderon was an officer at Milan.