Book excerpt: Coloma (1851-1914) was a Spanish author whose works included novels, short stories and biographies. In 1908 he became a member of the Real Academia. This semi-fictionalised biography of Don John of Austria (1547-78), an illegitimate son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and half-brother of Philip II of Spain, was published as Jeromin (1902) in the original Spanish and appeared in this English translation in 1912.