SANJACINTO, CAL, 
 
 *
 
 . OF CALIF. LIBRARY, LOS
 
 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS; 
 
 OE. 
 
 THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 /"** 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 REV. S. F. SMITH, D. D. 
 
 ^Boston: 
 Published by <D. Mothrop & do.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I PAQH 
 
 I* 
 
 KNIGHTS-HOSPITALLERS 7 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 TRANSITION. ....13 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE ISLAND HOME. . . 25 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 MILITARY EXPLOITS. .... 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SUCCESSFUL DEFIANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 DEFEAT AND DEPARTURE 92 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 WANDERINGS. 127 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 FAME AND HEROISM 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 VALOR AND VICTORY ........... 175 
 
 3 
 
 2133102
 
 4 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. PAGB 
 
 MERIDIAN GLORY. 201 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 240 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA 267 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 CHTVALRT. 291 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 299 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CONCLUSION. . ,813
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 No events of the Middle Ages are more attractive 
 than tfte Crusades. The energetic eloquence of Peter 
 the Hermit the loud cry of the agitated multitudes at 
 Clermont, "It is the voice of God!" the wild en- 
 thusiasm which led 300,000 fanatics from Europe, with- 
 out arms, discipline, or provisions, to perish on the 
 shores of Asia the noble spirit (engendered in part 
 by a religious zeal in behalf of the Holy Sepulchre, and 
 in part by the chivalrous desire to rescue the peaceful 
 pilgrims oppressed by the tyranny of Mohammedan 
 Caliphs) which made kings, princes, and nobles sell 
 their treasures, and mortgage their lands, that they 
 might assume the badge of the Cross the glorious 
 achievements of Godfrey de Bouillon, Tancred, and 
 their companions the emulous rivalry of Richard 
 Cceur de Lion and of his antagonist Saladin, alike in 
 courtesies and arms the alternate severe sufferings 
 
 6
 
 6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and brilliant victories of the Christian armies, are 
 familiar to the young as "household words." 
 
 Few readers, however, are aware that while these 
 Crusaders failed in their first and main purpose the 
 establishment of a Christian dynasty as the rightful 
 guardian of the Holy Sepulchre, yet they left behind 
 them in the East a permanent and glorious record of 
 their presence and dominion. The Crusaders and their 
 descendants became the creators of a great European 
 navy, the founders of a powerful sovereignty in the 
 Mediterranean, the precursors, in some degree, of those 
 Britons, who, in the possession of their latest seat of 
 empire, are the successors to their fame and the in- 
 heritors of their duties.
 
 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 KNIGHTS-HOSPITALLERS. 
 
 "From Norman blood their lofty line they trace, 
 Their lion courage proves their gen'rous race." 
 
 HEBEB'S Palestine. 
 
 IN the year of our Lord 1056, a few merchants of 
 Amalfi, near Naples, after many entreaties, and with 
 no small sacrifice of costly gifts, obtained permission 
 from the Caliph Montessar Billah to found a hospital 
 within the walls of Jerusalem for the relief of the 
 many poor and impotent persons who traveled in pil- 
 grim's guise from all countries to visit the land trodden 
 by the feet of the Redeemer, and to pray within the 
 walls of the Holy City. This trifling boon, granted 
 by the kindness of heart or wrung from the avarice 
 of the Eastern ruler, led to the most important results. 
 
 The Crusades were the great military expeditions of 
 the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, by which the con- 
 federate chieftains and peoples of the Western world 
 
 7
 
 8 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 designed to destroy the rulers and to subjugate to their 
 own sway the empires of the East. These vast military 
 movements were promoted by the combination of many 
 circumstances : by the sudden accession of strength and 
 riches to the Norman barons in the conquest of Eng- 
 land ; by the desire of the Popes of Rome to employ 
 the rulers in Europe in wars in distant lands, in order 
 that they might the better advance their own designs 
 upon the privileges of their kingdoms; by the reports 
 of the cruelties of the Eastern despots on the pilgrims to 
 the Holy City, so often repeated and so magnified by 
 every repetition; and by the exaggerated stories of the 
 fabulous riches of Asia. 
 
 In A. D. 1099, forty-three years after the concession 
 of this privilege, Godfrey de Bouillon brought the first. 
 Crusade to a successful termination by the conquest 
 of Jerusalem, and by the temporary location of his 
 army within its walls. Under these circumstances, 
 this Christian hospital, founded by the merchants of 
 Amalfi, necessarily attracted his attention; and, the 
 chief direction being vacant, he gave it in charge to 
 one of his bravest and trustiest knights, Raymond du 
 Puis. This bold warrior soon tired of his peaceful 
 charge. With a keen appreciation of the exigencies 
 of the situation, and with a true discernment of the 
 greater use that 'might be made of the institution 
 intrusted to his care, he at once introduced very im-
 
 KNIGHTS-HOSPITALLERS. 9 
 
 portant changes. Not content to discharge the mo- 
 notonous duties of attendance on wounded soldiers 
 and wearied pilgrims, he proposed to his fellow-knights 
 that they should unite with their errands of mercy 
 the recognition of a higher obligation, and should bind 
 themselves together for the continued defence and 
 preservation of the Holy City from the Intidel. 
 
 The double task of active warfare and of kindly 
 syofpathy thus inaugurated, proved to be in exact 
 harmony with the temper of the times. This scheme 
 of Raymond du Puis (continuing the original purpose 
 of the hospital, and yet enlarging its usefulness by 
 making it the nest and nucleus of a local European 
 militia, bound together by the strongest motives of 
 country and of religion to maintain their hold on the 
 fair city so lately fallen into their hands,) met with 
 universal approval. Pope Paschal II. accorded his 
 plenary blessing. The sovereigns of Europe soon gave 
 to the remodeled institution half-military and half- 
 medicinal wide lands and rich largesses. Distin- 
 guished nobles expressed their willingness to -promote 
 by their personal service 'the plans of Du Puis ; and 
 thus a new brotherhood, combining the piety of the 
 ancient Hospitaller-monk with the enthusiasm of the 
 new Crusader, suddenly came into existence: a new 
 Order was established, as in a day an Order des- 
 tined to play a conspicuous part on the theatre of
 
 10 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 history ; to play an important element in the politics 
 of the East and West; and to be recognized, under 
 many varying circumstances, through succeeding gene- 
 rations as the most efficient defence of Christendom 
 against the insults and encroachments of the Crescent. 
 
 The fortunes of this new Order were identical with 
 those of the Crusaders themselves during the whole 
 period of their sojourning in the East. They necessari- 
 ly assisted, by the very purpose of their institution, in. 
 gaining their victories, or they shared their defeats. 
 
 The Norman chieftains, after a reign in Jerusalem of 
 eighty-eight years, were driven from the Holy City by 
 the Saracens, after the loss of the battle of Tiberias, A. 
 D. 1187. The KnightHospitallers were immediately 
 expelled by the conqueror, and retired to Margat, a 
 fortress then held by the Crusaders. From thence they 
 were invited, A. D. 1194, by the English king, Richard 
 Cosur de Lion, to reside at Acre, a city on the coast, 
 mainly rescued from Saladiu* by Richard's personal 
 daring. The Knight's-Hospitallers, in the face of many 
 
 * The Sultan Saladin showed favor to the Hospitallers. A story is told of 
 hia coming in disguise and gaining admission to the Institution, with the 
 purpose of testing the reported kindness and self-denial of the knight- 
 monks. He refused to eat anything but a piece of the flank of the Grand 
 Master's favorite charger. After some reluctance his request was conceded, 
 and the compliance so convinced the Sultan of the sincerity and kindness 
 of the Hospitallers that (the story says) he made himself known, and evei 
 after showed favor to the Order.
 
 KNIQHTS-HOSPITAIXEBS. 11 
 
 repeated and bloody contests, retained their position at 
 Acre for nearly one hundred years. On the final cap- 
 ture of that city, A. D. 1291, by the Sultan Khaled, they 
 were expelled from Palestine, and took refuge in the 
 isle of Cyprus, by the permission, and on the invitation, 
 of its Norman ruler, Henri de Lusignan. 
 
 This expulsion of the Knights-Hospitallers from the 
 Holy Land, although in the first instance a heavy blow 
 afttl great discouragement, most repugnant to their 
 cherished aspirations, became in a few years the founda- 
 tion of their fame, and the source of largely increased 
 efficiency. The Order lacked not, in its hour of trial, 
 leaders adequate to its needs. William and Fulke de 
 Villaret, two noble brothers, proved themselves equal 
 to the emergency by their counsels and courage. These 
 brave men were of far too lofty and impatient a nature 
 to accept a home on sufferance, however cheerful the 
 invitation or warm the welcome. Convinced by the in- 
 exorable logic of accomplished facts, that they could not 
 hope to re-establish a Western supremacy in Palestine, 
 and well aware that there were others beside the Sar- 
 acens inimical to the Faith, they resolved not to recede 
 from their proud position as the foremost sentinels of 
 Christendom, but to seek for other opportunities of at- 
 testing their obedience to their oaths and their devotion 
 to their precepts and principles. 
 
 For this purpose, two things were necessary in this
 
 12 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 great crisis of their destiny : the first, the possession of 
 a home of their own, in which their Grand Master 
 might exercise an undisputed authority over the mem- 
 bers of the Order ; the second, the creation of a navy, 
 by which they might keep watch and ward upon the 
 sea, and restrain the Infidel corsairs who at that peri- 
 od devastated the Christian populations on the shores 
 of the Mediterranean. These two important ends were 
 obtained by the powerful arm and energetic councils 
 of Fulke de Villaret, who secured for himself and for 
 his Order a place of permanent sovereignty a "local 
 habitation and a name " for the future Sea-Kings of the 
 Mediterranean.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 TRANSITION. 
 *^ 
 
 " Who would not brave the battle-fire, the wreck, 
 To stand the Monarch of that peopled deck?" 
 
 BTRON, Corsair. 
 
 THE island of Rhodes, about eighty miles from Cy- 
 prus, was selected by Villaret as the most desirable 
 home for himself and his companions. It had every 
 pleasant and profitable recommendation beautiful air, 
 fertile soil, delicious climate, splendid scenery, materials 
 for ship-building, and excellent harbors. In its center 
 rose the lofty mountain of Artemira, covered with those 
 noble forests of pine which to this day supply masts 
 and timber for the arsenals of the Turkish Empire. Its 
 lower hills produced on their sunny slopes lucious 
 grapes. Its fields, plentifully supplied with water, 
 brought forth every variety of fruit and of grain to per- 
 fection. It was a land of oil-olive and honey. Its 
 name was most probably derived from the Greek word 
 rodon, a rose, as this flower blooms there in perpetual 
 succession throughout the year ; although, according to 
 
 13
 
 14 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 others, it is so called from the rose of the pomegranate, 
 which was used in the dye of the beautiful cloths woven 
 by its inhabitants, and stamped on their coins. 
 
 Rhodes was formerly celebrated for its Colossus, 
 a gigantic human figure representing Apollo (or the 
 Sun), originally cast in bronze by Chares, a famous 
 Greek sculptor, about 300 years before the Christian 
 era, to commemorate a successful resistance of the Rho- 
 dians to an invasion. It was 120 feet in height, and 
 was ascended by an interior, winding staircase. It was 
 placed near the entrance to the harbor, and some 
 modern travelers* even to this day maintain that " the 
 two rocks, level with the water at the entrance of the 
 port, evidently supported this statue." This great fab- 
 ric of the Colossus, after it had stood fifty-six 3'ears, was 
 overthrown by an earthquake. Its massive trunk and 
 huge fragments lay scattered for centuries on the 
 ground, and were collected A. D. 672, and sold to a 
 Jewish merchant, who loaded 900 camels, it is said, 
 with the metal. 
 
 Villaret, the Grand Master of the Hospitallers, for 
 they had not as yet attained the position, nor won the 
 name of Sea-Kings, determined to obtain possession of 
 
 * These are the very words of the French Marshal Marmont, who visited 
 Bhodes after the Crimean war. See Present State of the Turkish Um- 
 pire. By MARSHAL MARMONT. Harrison: London, 1854. P. 20. The 
 general account of the Colossus is taken from Gibbon's Decline and Fall 
 of the Roman Empire. See also Vertot, Vol. EL, p. 304.
 
 TRANSITION. 15 
 
 this beautiful island, and to make it, by the law of 
 might and by the right of conquest, the future resi- 
 dence and habitation of his Order. His bold design 
 was not so rash as it seemed, and was favored by a 
 variety of fortunate circumstances. In the first place, 
 the inhabitants of Rhodes were in that state of con- 
 fusion and weakness which always accompanies a rev- 
 olution, or sudden change of government. The ancient 
 hereditary authority of the Greek Emperor ruling at 
 Constantinople had lately been violently overturned 
 and seized upon by a band of Saracen Corsairs, who 
 had not as yet succeeded in reconciling the native pop- 
 ulation to their tyranny and usurpation. In the next 
 place, the Byzantine or Greek Emperor could not assert 
 the re-establishment of his power, or molest the in- 
 vaders, so that the island was really at this crisis open 
 to any assailants who might prove themselves stronger 
 than the Saracens, and more able than they to maintain 
 their hold of it. Lastly, many of the neighboring states 
 in the Mediterranean encouraged this contemplated 
 project of the Knights. The Pope of Rome, who ex- 
 ercised a greater authority among nations than he does 
 at present, gave his blessing to the undertaking, and 
 showed more substantial tokens of approval by confer- 
 ring on Villaret and his fraternity the treasures and 
 revenues of the Templars, unjustly confiscated after the 
 cruel trial and death of their heroic chief, James de
 
 16 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 Molay. The Christian republics also of Genoa and 
 Venice, with the rulers of France, Spain, and Cyprus, 
 gave Villaret assurances of their sympathy and promises 
 of support, as they were all most desirous that so 
 central a situation should be wrested from the Saracen 
 Corsairs, who would prey on their commerce and en- 
 slave their mariners, and should be transferred to the 
 custody of an Order dedicated to the service of the 
 Cross and to the defence of Christendom. 
 
 The conquest of Rhodes, however, was no easy task. 
 The combatants on both sides were brave men, stim- 
 ulated by the strongest motives to noble deeds and 
 martial daring. The Knights were animated by the 
 aspirations of ambition, the urgent need of a resting- 
 place and home, the hatred engendered by prolonged 
 warfare and by the temper of the times against a 
 scorned and loathed creed. The Corsairs were in- 
 flamed, on their part, by the most powerful incentives 
 which influence mankind, the conviction that hearth 
 and home, wives and children, religion, honor, liberty, 
 and life depended on the combat. For weeks the issues 
 of the strife were doubtful ; the Saracens, protected by 
 their walls, made a prolonged and obstinate resistance. 
 At last the valor and perseverance of Villaret prevailed. 
 In the face of a fierce tempest of stones, flung from pon- 
 derous machines, and of a great flight of arrows dis- 
 charged by the besieged, Villaret, after the loss of many
 
 TKANSITION. 17 
 
 brave associates, forced an entrance into the fortress, 
 and secured the prize. He admitted the townsmen to 
 mercy, as if for their sake he had made war, and per- 
 mitted the Saracens to retire with their ships to the' 
 neighboring coasts of Asia Minor. 
 
 Villaret knew full well that the dangers to which he 
 was exposed had not ended with his victory ; he could 
 expect no forbearance from his foes. He had not 
 only ttk^vin the prize, but to hold it against all comers 
 by the might of his arm, the efficiency of his ships, and 
 the gallantry of his soldiers. 
 
 His late antagonists, on their ejection from Rhodes, 
 had sought and found shelter and protection at Broussa, 
 a city of Bithynia, where at that time the Emir Oth- 
 man, the famous founder of the power and empire of 
 the Ottoman Turks, kept his court. This successful 
 chieftain constituted himself the champion of the in- 
 jured servants of Mahomet, prepared a naval expe- 
 dition, and pledged himself to reinstate the Saracen 
 Corsairs in their home. With a boldness scarcely 
 warranted by the inexperience of his Knights as sailors, 
 yet amply justified by the result, Villaret resolved to 
 meet his new enemv with his galleys on the open 
 sea, rather than await his attack on land, or endure the 
 miseries of a siege. He issued forth with all his vessels, 
 and effectually repulsed the flotilla of Othman, so 
 that this mighty conqueror for the first time found
 
 18" KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 his career of triumph stayed, and his soldiers confronted 
 with better warriors than themselves. This engage- 
 ment was remarkable as the first victory of the Hos- 
 pitallers in their new career as Sea-Kings, and as the 
 precursor of that violent, unceasing internecine strife 
 which raged for five long centuries between the descen- 
 dants of Othman and the successors of Villaret. 
 
 The Grand Master of the Hospitallers now felt him- 
 self safe in his new possession. His first care was 
 the greater security of his fortifications. He minutely 
 examined, repaired, and strengthened every battlement, 
 fortalice, wall, and bastion. Whatever art, science, 
 or expenditure could do towards rendering the town 
 and fortress of Rhodes impregnable was at once un- 
 dertaken, and eventually accomplished. The second 
 care of Villaret was to strengthen and augment his 
 navy. For this purpose he imposed a tax upon the 
 various properties, domains, and priories of his Order in 
 the different countries of Christendom, and expended 
 the proceeds in the purchase or construction of gal- 
 leys. 
 
 These early vessels were very different from the 
 wooden leviathans which a few years since were famed 
 as the wooden walls of England ; and were still more 
 unlike the dark, cumbrous iron-clads of the present. 
 These galleys were low-built vessels, navigated with 
 both oars and sails. They were 120 or 130 feet long,
 
 TRANSITION. 19 
 
 and from 9 to 10 deep. They had two masts, made 
 from the single trunk of a tree, which could be let 
 down or put up at the pleasure of the mariner. They 
 were provided with twenty-five to thirty banks, or 
 benches, divided in the centre, two oars to each, bank, 
 one on each side of the vessel, which oars were pulled 
 by four, five, or six rowers, generally chained by theii 
 ankles to the floor or to the bank. These rowers wen 
 for tKe most part slaves, or sailors forming part of thi 
 crews of the Saracen or Turkish vessels which fell at 
 prizes to their ships. The galleys were the chief vessel: 
 used in the naval warfare- of these days, and the resul ; 
 greatly depended on the skill in boarding and in the 
 personal courage of the combatants in hand-to-hand 
 conflicts. Each national fleet had also one or two 
 larger vessels, named a galeasse, or caracca, used at 
 this time less for fighting than for the parade of state 
 occasions, and for the transport of ambassadors and po- 
 tentates. These flagships were sometimes richly or- 
 namented. Short sentences of Holy Scripture were 
 inscribed in golden letters on the sterns. Their sails 
 were striped in colors of red and blue. They were 
 often "pavilioned" with the fla^s of the maritime na- 
 tions and of their chief captains, and the sides of the 
 vessels were sometimes dressed in silver and gold. 
 Shakespeare probably had in his eye or memory ome 
 such gorgeous galeasse, when he described the vessel
 
 20 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, upon the Cydnus, 
 " when first she saw Marc Antony " 
 
 " The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne 
 Burned on the water: the poop was beaten gold: 
 Purple the sails, and so perfumed, that 
 The winds were lovesick with them: the oars were silver, 
 Which to the tune of flutes kept time." * 
 
 There were other vessels of war in use at this period 
 of a smaller build ; these were named brigantines, or 
 dromones. They had no resemblance to English and 
 American brigs, but were light, undecked vessels, navi- 
 gated with either oars or sails. They had from twenty 
 to twenty-four banks of oars, with only one man to each 
 oar. They were chiefly used by the Corsairs, the 
 rowers forming the crew, and keeping their arms under 
 their rowing-benches for immediate use. 
 
 The galleys of the Knights always carried, in addition 
 to their sailors and slave rowing-crew, a picked body 
 of trained fighting men. These were at this period 
 known by a curious designation. They were called 
 * Turkopoliers," or " The Turkopolieris." The title is 
 derived from a Greek word, paulos, a child, and was 
 intended to describe youths descended from European 
 fathers and Syrian mothers. These youth were edu- 
 cated in the Christian faith, and were brought up at the 
 expense and under the auspices of the Knights. Clothed 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, Act. IL, scene 1L
 
 TRANSITION. 21 
 
 after the fashion of an Arabian and Eastern rathei 
 than of a Western army, inured to the peculiarities of 
 the climate, trained to discipline and military exercises, 
 they formed an efficient auxiliary force, either as infan- 
 try soldiers or as marines. An English Knight was 
 always intrusted with the chief command of this 
 corps, under the title of " The Turkopolier." 
 
 A galley equipped for war, at this period, had, below 
 the*cfeck, the gang of slave-rowers, confined to their 
 darksome hold, and chained to their rowing-bench. 
 On the deck were two steersmen, for such was the 
 custom, at the helm, the captain Knight, with his 
 allotted band of noble companions in their panoply of 
 burnished brass, on the poop, the sailors, attending to 
 their respective duties on ship-board, the Turkopolieri 
 soldiers, provided with offensive and defensive arms, 
 with bows and arrows which they discharged from 
 the forecastle and poop, with swords for close combat, 
 with long hand-pikes, or "spontoons," short hand- 
 pikes, with which they endeavored either to effect 
 a boarding, or to injure the sails and rigging of 
 their opponents. Sometimes the deck contained a 
 strong timber-built machine, placed between the masts, 
 for casting huge stones for the purpose of sinking an 
 antagonist; or a movable crane, for hoisting upon the 
 enemy's ship a huge basket filled with soldiers. The 
 language of signals, so necessary and brought to such
 
 22 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 perfection in the complicated naval evolutions of these 
 days, was but little known or practised. At night the 
 simple orders, which it was alone possible for the ad- 
 miral to give, were conveyed by the arrangement of the 
 lights in the leading galley. 
 
 Such was the general mode of naval warfare at this 
 period, though within a few years a new and far more 
 destructive element was added in the liquid fire first 
 invented in the Greek arsenals of Constantinople, but 
 brought quickly into general use, and poured out of 
 iron tubes from ship to ship, or from wall and rampart, 
 in red-hot streams upon the combatants. 
 
 The conquest of Rhodes carried with it the necessary 
 submission of some of the small neighboring islands. 
 The most valuable was the little island called Syma, as 
 it was celebrated for its ship-carpenters, who materially 
 assisted by their skillful craftmanship in the recon- 
 struction and enlargement of the navy of the Cider. 
 There was another commodity for which Syma was 
 renowned sponges, of which there are fifty different 
 sorts. The sponge has life, though of so slight a kind 
 as to be called the most torpid of zoophytes. These 
 sponges all live and grow at the bottom of the sea, and 
 can only be reached by skillful divers. There were no 
 diving-bells invented in those days, and therefore a 
 curious law was enacted in the island of Syma, that no 
 young man should be allowed to marry fintil he could 
 dive down a certain distance, and remain for a certain
 
 TRANSITION. 23 
 
 specified time under the water. Marshal Marmont gives 
 this account of his visit to this island, A. D. 1854 : 
 
 44 1 went to the sponge fishery. It is a laborious and 
 dangerous employment, but so lucrative that five or 
 six successful days afford those engaged in it the means 
 of support for an entire year. The sponge is attached 
 to rocks at the bottom of the sea, serving as a retreat 
 to myriads of crustaceous" (i. e., shell-covered, with 
 joints; from crusta, a shell) "creatures which occupy 
 its cavities. The fishermen dive for it to the depth of 
 even a hundred feet, and sometimes continue for five or 
 six minutes under water, unless the quantity of sponge 
 they may have collected becomes inconvenient or un- 
 manageable, when they are hauled to the surface by the 
 crew of the boat to which they belong. The divers 
 occasionlly fall victims to the sharks that attack them 
 in the water. The sponge is prepared for market by 
 being pressed, to dislodge the animalculae it contains, and 
 afterwards washed in lye to deprive it of mucilaginous 
 matter." 
 
 The Mediterranean, even at this early period, was 
 the scene of considerable commerce. So frequent and 
 important was the interchange and barter of goods 
 between the Republic of Genoa and the States of Bar- 
 bary, that there are old charters of this date yet extant, 
 dictating its terms and enforcing its regulations. Genoa 
 was the most extensive mart for woolen cloths then ex-
 
 24 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 isting in the world, and the common articles of this in- 
 ternational traffic included woolen cloth, corn, wool, oil 
 (for the manufacturers of soap), hides, tanned leather, 
 wax, gum, dates, dried fruits, drugs and perfumes in 
 every variety. Villaret, after his great triumph over 
 the Othman fleet, adopted, with much wisdom, as far 
 as circumstances would permit, a policy of peace. He 
 quickly declared the harhor of Rhodes to be a free port, 
 and invited to it the ships of all Christian nations. 
 
 In a few years the transition inaugurated and so 
 successfully carried out by himself, was completed. He 
 and his Knights soon found abundant employment for 
 the galleys of the Order, in acting at one time as a 
 trusted convoy to the rich argosies of Genoa or Venice ; 
 in carrying at another, with becoming dignity, the 
 higher members of their fraternity on their visits to their 
 priories, or on their more solemn embassies to pope or 
 prince; or in attacking, as opportunity might allow, 
 with the certain swoop of an eagle upon his prey, the 
 marauding vessels of the Corsair or the Turk. Thus 
 the sons of the Norman chieftains, the well-born, chival- 
 rous Knights of the Order of the Hospitallers, adapted 
 themselves to their altered circumstances, and trans- 
 ferred the lofty courage, bold zeal, and fervent devotion 
 to the Cross, which had distinguished the soldiers of 
 Palestine, to the new duties required of the "Sea- 
 Kings of the Mediterranean."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE ISLAND HOME. 
 
 ,, " Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam, 
 
 Survey our Empire, and behold our Home." 
 
 [BYBON, Corsair. 
 
 THE conquerors of Rhodes, after the defeat of Oth- 
 man, were left in peaceful possession of the fair home 
 they had won. During the next 170 years no bark of 
 the Moslem nor heel of the invader defiled their soil. 
 The fame of this conquest, combined with the beauty 
 and fertility of the land itself, caused not only an 
 immediate increase to the reputation of the Order, 
 but gave a vast accession to its members. Every court 
 in Europe sent its soldiers of fortune to enlist under the 
 banners of Villaret. So great and rapid was the multi- 
 plication of claimants for admission to the Fraternity 
 that it was found expedient to establish separate na- 
 tions, or "Langues," and to place each nation under its 
 own special commander. Three of these Langues were 
 assigned to French Knights, under the title of France, 
 Provence, and Auvergne. Two were allotted to Spain 
 
 25
 
 26 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 and Portugal, under the langues of Arragon and Castile. 
 One langue was given respectively to Italy, Germany, 
 and England. The wealth of the Fraternity was ma- 
 terially augmented, and a skillful and powerful navy 
 constructed, so that the naval prowess and gallant ad- 
 ventures of the Sea-Kings were celebrated in all lands. 
 Within a few years their dominion extended beyond 
 the narrow limits of their sea-girt home ; and the strong 
 fortress of Smyrna, on the main land of Asia Minor, 
 about twenty miles from Rhodes, submitted to their 
 sway. These accessions of territory were won under 
 the auspices of the Grand Masters of the Order, who 
 were elected to their high office for their achievements 
 in the fight, skill in seamanship, personal courage, or 
 successful pursuit and capture of ships. In 1365 A. D., 
 an illustrious chief, Raymond Beranger, found himself 
 able to muster to his call one hundred vessels. The 
 Corsairs of Egypt, emboldened at this time by the ex- 
 tensive conquests of their caliphs, made frequent preda- 
 tory incursions upon Cyprus. The ruler of that island 
 in his hour of need invoked the assistance of his brave 
 neighbors and well-tried allies at Rhodes. Raymond 
 Beranger, not content with the temporary repulse of 
 the marauders, persuaded the King of Cyprus to make 
 with him a combined attack upon the stronghold of 
 Alexandria, and to beard the lion in his den. The ex- 
 pedition was agreed to ; and so well was the secret
 
 THE ISLAND HOME. 27 
 
 of the destination of the assembled fleet preserved, that 
 the flotilla reached the port, and the Turkopoliers had 
 under the shadow of the night disembarked for the as- 
 sault, before the enemy had discovered their approach. 
 No sooner was the note of warning sounded, than the 
 walls were quickly lined with soldiers and townsmen. 
 The besieged, protected by their ramparts, repulsed 
 their assailants, and with push of pike or stroke of 
 scimitar drove them backwards into the fosses and 
 breaches of the fortress, and rolled down upon them 
 huge blocks of stone. New combatants took the place 
 of the dead and wounded, and, heedless of the fate of 
 their companions, endeavored to reach with their scal- 
 ing-ladders the summit of the walls. 
 
 "The stubborn spearmen still made good 
 Their dark impenetrable wood, 
 Each stepping "where his comrade stood 
 The instant that he fell." * 
 
 They were, however, overwhelmed and driven back 
 by the storm of arrows, and by the streams of burning 
 oil and liquid fire, which pierced the coats of mail 
 of the men-at-arms, and burnt the Eastern robes and 
 turbans of the Turkopoliers, and compelled them to 
 rush into the sea to extinguish their flaming vestments. 
 The Knights and their brave marines after a short in- 
 terval renewed the contest, and, animated by the voice 
 
 * Scott, Marmion.
 
 28 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 and the example of their trusted leader, overcame every 
 obstacle, gained a footing on the parapet, and throwing 
 themselves in force into the battlements, made them- 
 selves masters of the nearest houses, and obtained pos- 
 session of the place. After so obstinate a defence, and 
 the loss of so many brave soldiers, Beranger was too 
 weak to retain his conquest. Contenting himself with 
 exacting from his foes the penalty of their presumption 
 by burning their ships, and by carrying away as slaves 
 many of the soldiers and townsmen, he returned laden 
 with prisoners and rich booty. 
 
 The work of the valiant Grand Master on this occa- 
 sion was not exclusively that of devastation and destruc- 
 tion. He had the satisfaction of releasing many of his 
 own Fraternity, and Christian captives of other lands, 
 from the slave dungeons of the Turks. Among these 
 was a nobleman of high birth and lineage, the Chevalier 
 Pierre St. George, a nephew of the reigning Pope Urban 
 V. Beranger intended in his own person to restore him 
 to his uncle, and to accompany him to the Papal court 
 at Avignon; but his purpose was frustrated by the 
 death of Urban. This bold attack on Alexandria was 
 a lesson never forgotten by the Turks, who henceforth 
 abstained from any descent upon the unarmed popu- 
 lation of Cyprus. 
 
 Raymond Beranger and his Order spent much time 
 and money in strengthening and beautifying their be-
 
 THE ISLAND HOME. 29 
 
 loved home. There was at Rhodes an outer and an 
 inner harbor. For the protection of the outward harbor 
 two moles or arms were constructed running out into 
 the sea, and defended at their extremities by two 
 towers, St. Nicholas and St. Elmo, both well furnished 
 with artillery. These towers protected a great number 
 of vessels merchant ships, galleys, caiques, and feluc- 
 cas. The harbor was alive with all the bustle and life 
 of an -active commercial port. Beyond this was an inner 
 harbor, entered by a narrow opening between two forti- 
 fied bastions, within which the galleys* of the Knights 
 were moored. The town itself was rebuilt at much 
 cost around this inner harbor. On the eastern side 
 were the houses of the merchants and townsmen, the 
 habitations of the sailors, mechanics, and artisans, the 
 quarter allotted to the Jews, and one or two convents 
 or monasteries. The western portion was occupied by 
 the Grand Master and the resident members of the 
 Fraternity. 
 
 The chief pride was the street of the Knights (the 
 Strada dei Cavalieri, as it was named), extending 
 throughout the length of the town. It is still to be 
 seen almost as it was in its original splendor. In this 
 street stood the majestic palatial castle of the Grand 
 Masters, the noble church of St. John with its lofty 
 cupalo, the palace of the Bishop, the houses of the 
 chapter, a large monastery, and, forming its especial
 
 SO KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 feature, an extensive barrack for the Turkopoliers, with 
 the large hotels, auberges, or noble mansions of the 
 different languages, where the Knights and their fol- 
 lowers of each European nation lived in common. This 
 Strada dei Cavalieri was a long and picturesque avenue 
 of Gothic palaces, bearing to this day over the, lintels 
 of their handsome gateways, and on their inner court- 
 yards, the undefaced armorial bearings of their respec- 
 tive nationalities. The ancient arms of France, the 
 noble fleur-de-lis, are to be traced even by the modern 
 traveler in all parts of the town. The suburbs of 
 Rhodes, adorned with the kiosks or summer-houses 
 of the Knights, sparkling streams, splendid terraces, 
 luxuriant gardens, and refreshed with the cool air of its 
 central mountain, were peculiarly lovely and attractive. 
 
 "There mildly dimpling, ocean's cheek 
 Reflects the tint of many a peak, 
 Caught by the laughing tides that lave 
 This Eden of the Eastern wave." * 
 
 The Sea-Kings were kind and beneficent masters. 
 The people subject to their rule had no tyrannical ex- 
 cesses to lament, and no grievous exactions to complain 
 of, but found at all times their happiness and prosperity 
 promoted to the utmost. The best proof' of this is the 
 famous legend of the encounter of a Knight of Rhodes 
 with a huge dragon, that for some time brought misery 
 
 Byron, Giaour.
 
 THE ISLAND HOME. 31 
 
 and destruction upon the inhabitants. The story, often 
 told both in prose and verse, is so good in itself, and so 
 redounds to the credit of all concerned, that it will bear 
 repetition. It teaches that most difficult of all lessons 
 for a youth to learn, the duty of obedience. The cir- 
 cumstances are recorded in the pages of Abb6 Vertot, 
 the learned French historian of the Knights-Hospital- 
 lers, as follows : 
 
 \ViJ[-hin a few years of the occupation of Rhodes by 
 the Knights of St. John, the island was afflicted with 
 a dreadful visitation. A huge amphibious monster, 
 half crocodile and half serpent, able to live on land or 
 in water, made its home in a cavern at the foot of a hill 
 about two miles from Rhodes. It was a merciless 
 beast, and devoured sheep, cows, and horses; and often- 
 times the shepherds and cow-boys fell a prey to its 
 
 voracity. 
 
 " Oh ! when it seized on prey and plunder, 
 Its greedy jaws gaped wide asunder. 
 In a deep gulf of gloom and blood 
 In rows its teeth all jagged stood; 
 A sword-like tongue : and through the lashes 
 Of its small eyelids darted flashes!" 
 
 On the summit of the hill, below which this terrible 
 monster had made his resort, was a small chapel ded- 
 icated to St. Stephen, and the pilgrims to this shrine 
 frequently fell unawares into his clutches.
 
 82 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 "For like hell's serpent proud rebelling, 
 He watcheth at foot of Stephen's dwelling; 
 And should some pilgrim out of breath 
 
 But turn into the path forbidden, 
 The monster dragged him to his death 
 
 By rushing from his covert hidden." i 
 
 Many of the Knights, and those the bravest of their 
 Order, at different times, sallied out to try to kill him ; 
 but not one returned alive. The Grand Master at last 
 ordered that no other Knight should engage in so 
 hazardous an enterprise, nor undertake a task in which 
 it seemed impossible for man to succeed. All obeyed 
 his commands except one Knight of Provence, Dieu- 
 donn6 de Gozon, who, in spite of his chiefs prohibition, 
 and in face of the evil fate of his friends, formed in 
 secret the design of combating the monster, determined 
 to die in the attempt, or to effect the deliverance of the 
 island. 
 
 With this purpose in his mind, he retired to his own 
 Castle de Gozon, in Languedoc, and having previously 
 discovered, by an observation from a safe distance, that 
 the huge beast had no scales on his belly, he founded 
 on that fact his plan of attack. He caused a figure 
 of the monster to be made in wood and painted of pre- 
 cisely the same size and color of the dragon. He next 
 trained two 3 T oung wolf-dogs, and taught them, at his 
 call, to attack the belly of the monster, while he, at the 
 same time, arrayed in full armor and mounted on horse-
 
 THE ISLAND HOME. 33 
 
 back, pretended, on his part, with lance in hand, to 
 wound it in different parts. 
 
 " Two wolf-hounds took he, fierce of breed, 
 Huge, strong, and with the swiftest speed; 
 And where the paunch was bare and white 
 And least defended from their bite, 
 He bade his dogs direct their fury 
 Their teeth, as in the flesh, to bury. 
 At first his snorting charger reared 
 And started when the foe he near'd; 
 #*"" His savage dogs, too, shrunk in terror; 
 
 But soon he train' d them from their error. 
 
 This course he constantly pursued 
 
 Till three times was the moon renewed." 
 
 At the end of three months he returned to Rhodes, 
 and, without any communication with his chief, pro- 
 ceeded to the Chapel of St. Stephen, with his esquires, 
 hounds, and horse. Then, having commended himself 
 to Divine protection, he donned his coat of mail, took 
 lance in hand, encouraged his dogs and charger, and 
 rode alone towards the cavern of the monster. The 
 venomous brute, enraged at his defiance, rushed forth 
 with open mouth and flashing eyes. De Gozon, pre- 
 pared for the conflict, gave him a thrust with his lance 
 which goaded him to greater fury, but did not penetrate 
 his scales. He prepared to repeat his stroke, but his 
 horse, frightened at the cries and odor of the serpent, 
 refused to advance, whereon De Gozon disengaged him- 
 self from his saddle, and rushing on, sword in hand, 
 3
 
 34 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 accompanied by his staunch hounds, attacked the mon- 
 ster, and gave him many cuts without penetrating his 
 thick scales. The enraged beast at last threw him to 
 the ground with a stroke of his tail, whereon the two 
 wolf-hounds seized upon the belly of the monster, and 
 kept fast hold, in spite of all efforts to shake them 
 off. De Gozon, encouraged by this help, recovered 
 himself, and, encouraging his hounds, pushed his sword 
 up to its hilt in a spot undefended by scales, and made 
 a large wound, from which poured streams of blood. 
 
 " And ere his dogs their hold let go, 
 He started from the earth below; 
 And where the paunch was white and naked 
 His weapon's thirst he eager slaked: 
 Up to the hilt he plunged his sword, 
 And life-blood in black torrents pour'd." 
 
 The tidings of his victory and the death of the mon- 
 ster were quickly told in the town of Rhodes. The 
 inhabitants came in multitudes to meet him. Loud ac- 
 clamations welcomed the conqueror hero into the town, 
 and his companion Knights brought him in high triumph 
 to the portals of the palace of the Grand Master. 
 
 " A thousand voices from the crowd, 
 ' That is the dragon,' shout aloud, 
 'Which slaughter' d herdsmen, flocks, and cattle, 
 Until De Gozon won the battle.' " 
 
 The Grand Master, however, unmoved by the general 
 joy, to the surprise of all and to the indignation of
 
 THE ISLAND HOME. 35 
 
 many, cast upon De Gozon looks of the severest dis- 
 pleasure, and demanded of him, in stern tones, what 
 defence he could make for disobe} 7 ing his plain orders. 
 Without appearing to be moved by the prayers of 
 the Knights, or to hear the entreaties of the crowd, 
 he commanded that De Gozon should be conveyed to 
 the dungeon of the palace. The unhappy victor, 
 without word of remonstrance or complaint, silently 
 and bmissively obeyed ; -and thus passed in a moment 
 from the exuberant ovation of a popular triumph to 
 an accusation of dishonor less bearable than death. 
 The Grand Master summoned his council, which de- 
 creed the degradation of De Gozon from his rank, the 
 removal of his robes of knighthood, and his expulsion 
 from the Hospitallers. The humiliated Knight was 
 summoned to the presence of his chief to hear his 
 sentence declared in full council. His companions 
 again interceded for his pardon, but he at once pro 
 ceeded, in obedience to the sentence of his chief, 
 
 " To lay aside his robes ; then bent 
 To kiss the Master's hand and went" 
 
 The Grand Master recalled the repentant hero, re- 
 stored his robes, and re-admitted him to his rank, and 
 
 loaded him with tokens of his favor and regard. 
 
 
 
 "He cried, 'Embrace me, worthy son: 
 
 Thou now hast gained a fight more glorious' 
 The Cross by lowliness irf won ; 
 'Tia thine, since o'er thyself victorious.' "
 
 36 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 You ask : Is it true ? No ; it is only a jnst and beau- 
 tiful allegory, representing the duty of a true knight, 
 who should ever be a triumphant conqueror over evil. 
 No account, however, of the early history of the Sea- 
 Kiugs would be complete without an insertion of this 
 legend. The Abb6 Vertot, the chief chronicler of the 
 Knights-Hospitallers, mentions that the figure of a huge 
 dragon was sculptured on the walls of Rhodes, and that 
 a tomb, said to be that of De Gozon, bore the inscrip- 
 tion, "Ci-git le vainqueur de Dragon" "Here lies the 
 conqueror of the Dragon." Whether the legend was 
 made for the inscription, or the inscription for the 
 legend, it is now difficult to determine. 
 
 Count Heredia, a Knight of France, was selected 
 Grand Master, to succeed Raymond Beranger. He was 
 a true Sea- King, and aptly represented the duties de- 
 volving upon the members of his Order as the great 
 naval champions and captains in this period of the 
 world's history. The Papal court had now for seventy 
 years been located at Avignon, in France. Pope 
 Gregory IX., A. D. 1365, determined to return with his 
 Cardinals to Rome. His purposed voyage happened to 
 coincide with the time at which Count Heredia was 
 about to sail from Marseilles to assume the high duties 
 to which he had^ been elected, and he volunteered to 
 escort the Pope to his Italian dominions. Eight noble 
 galleys from the Rhodian fleet were assigned as the
 
 THE ISLAND HOME. 37 
 
 Papal convoy, under the personal command, of Heredia. 
 The noble Grand Master, wearing a long white, beard, 
 and dressed in the rich robes of knighthood, surrounded 
 by many of his commanders, distinguished for their 
 high birth and martial mien and bearing, acted as 
 helmsman. While crossing the Gulf of Lyons, which 
 is always more or less rough and stormy from the col- 
 lision of the two streams from the Gulfs of Lyons 
 and *Genoa, the ship is reported to have been in some 
 danger, on which Heredia himself assumed the helm, 
 and, trusting the safety of the person of the Pope to no 
 inferior hand, piloted the ship himself, and brought her 
 in safety to the port of Civita Vecchia. Never before 
 or since has vessel of Prelate, Prince, or Pope had a 
 more distinguished steersman. Nor was Gregory IX. 
 ungrateful for his services. In his triumphal entry into 
 Rome, the honor of bearing the Standard of the 
 Church, carried unfurled before the immediate person 
 of the Pope, was reserved for the Grand Master 
 Heredia, the Sea-King of the Mediterranean. 
 
 Soon after this august ceremony, Heredia took leave 
 of the Papal court, and proceeded on his own voy- 
 age. On approaching the shores of Greece, he fell 
 in with the fleet of Venice. The Admiral saluted his 
 flag with the accustomed honors, and hastened to pay 
 on board his vessel the homage of his personal re- 
 spect. He further urged Heredia, by flattering com-
 
 38 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 pliments to his prowess in war and by considerations of 
 policy, to join him in an attack he was then meditat- 
 ing upon Patras, an important maritime city in Greece. 
 The Grand Master allowed his own private affairs to 
 yield to a call of public duty, and consented to the pro- 
 posal. The combined fleets appeared before Patras. 
 The town, only defended by low ramparts and ill- 
 constructed walls, succumbed at ouee to their attack ; 
 but the Governor, a brave and gallant soldier, retired 
 with his troops into the citadel, a lofty and most impreg- 
 nable fortress. A siege was opened in strict accordance 
 with the existing rules of war. The attack and the de- 
 fence were for some days equally maintained. Many 
 brave men were slain on both sides. At last a 
 breach was made in the walls by the besiegers, and 
 Heredia, impatient of the delay, headed the assail- 
 ants, planted a ladder, and mounting first, sword in 
 hand, without waiting for his companions, jumped down 
 from the parapet upon the platform of the fort. Here 
 the Governor met him with an equal courage, and a 
 regular single hand-to-hand encounter was waged be- 
 tween them. Heredia, either stronger or more agile 
 than his antagonist, passed his sword through his 
 body with a fatal thrust. In the meanwhile his sol- 
 diers, uncertain of his fate, crowded over the parapet to 
 assist him, and, overcoming all resistance, put the garri- 
 son to the sword.
 
 THE ISLAND HOME. 89 
 
 Heredia, flattered by this success, and won over 
 by the specious professions and enthusiastic, though not 
 disinterested, praises of the Venetian Admiral, resolved 
 to remain with him till he had effected the conquest 
 of Greece. 
 
 Corinth was the first object of their arms. Its 
 siege was undertaken ; but at its very commence- 
 ment, while reconnoitring the forces of the Turks, 
 the Grand Master fell into an ambuscade, and was 
 carried off as a prisoner to the citadel. The Venetian 
 Admiral, with sincere friendship, offered to purchase 
 his freedom by the immediate resignation of the lately 
 conquered city of Patras ; and on this proposal being 
 rejected, he made yet more submissive proposals, con- 
 senting to pay a costly ransom, for which three Knights 
 should remain as hostages. Heredia refused to avail 
 himself of these terms, and used his authority to pre- 
 vent their acceptance. "Leave me," said the noble 
 leader to his companions, "to die in my chains. I 
 am a useless old man, who cannot live long; but you 
 are young, and are bound to retain your freedom, and 
 to devote yourself to the service of your Order." The 
 tears and expostulationa of his friends were alike in 
 vain ; he resignedly submitted to his fate. 
 
 For three years he remained a prisoner, until at 
 length he was ransomed by monies raised from his 
 own estates, and at last returned in honor and safety
 
 40 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 to Rhodes to exercise the functions of his exalted 
 office. These narratives of the courage and spirit of 
 Raymond Beranger, of the self-sacrifice and self-con- 
 quest of De Gozon, of the conscientious sense of duty 
 and disregard of personal sufferings of Heredia, may 
 serve as examples of the noble conduct which secured 
 for the Hospitallers the peaceful possession of their 
 island Home, and which obtained the approval, re- 
 spect, and grateful admiration of Christendom for the 
 bold and adventurous "Sea-Kings of the Mediter-
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MILITABY EXPLOITS. 
 
 'Bong Arthur saw, with startled eye, 
 The flower of clivalry march by, 
 The bulwark of the Christian creed, 
 The kingdom's shield in hour of need." 
 
 SCOTT, Bridal of Triemunn. 
 
 THE " Sea-Kings of the Mediterranean " at the close 
 of the thirteenth century were in a very peculiar posi- 
 tion. Their Order formed a powerful military con- 
 federacy, dispersed among and interlaced with all 
 European countries, so that at this time they counted 
 aa substantial factors in the game of politics. Their 
 alliance was sought by rival popes, jealous sovereigns, 
 and bellicose republics. While devoted to their special 
 task of maintaining against all adversaries a free and 
 open ocean for Christian traffic, they were also re- 
 quired to take part in royal quarrels, dynastic com- 
 plications, and weighty European enterprises. The 
 chief feature of this particular era was the remarkable 
 reaction from the fond but delusive hopes entertained 
 by the Crusaders of subduing Eastern climes to an 
 
 41
 
 42 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 obedience to the Cross. The followers of Mohammed 
 had now, in their turn, become the invaders, and the 
 rulers and populations of the East were inspired with 
 a mad desire to enforce on Christendom a universal 
 acceptance of the Koran and the Crescent. The Otto- 
 man Turks, under their famous Sultan Bajazet (sur- 
 named Yilderim, or Lightning, from the celerity of 
 his military movements), were the foremost promoters 
 of these retaliatory proceedings. Bajazet, the fourth 
 sovereign in succession from Othman, the founder of 
 his dynasty, had pursued a long career of unchecked 
 victory. Having wrested province after province from 
 the ruler of the Byzantine Empire at Constantinople, 
 he determined, at this time, to invade Hungary, and 
 publicly boasted, in his wild dream of a universal 
 empire, that he would capture Buda, march from thence 
 to Italy, depose the Pope, subordinate Rome to Mecca, 
 and feed his horse with oats on the very altar of St. 
 Peter's. 
 
 The Janizzaries were the, celebrated troops with 
 which the great Ottoman sultans of the thirteenth 
 and fourteenth centuries obtained their numerous vic- 
 tories. Their cruel custom was to kill the grown-up 
 men in the population of the Christian countries they 
 conquered, but to reserve the male children, that they 
 might be educated as Mohammedans, and be trained in 
 the hardiness and discipline necessary for the perfecting
 
 MILJTABY EXPLOITS 43 
 
 of the soldier. Cut off from all ties of country and 
 kin, rewarded with high pay, social privileges, and 
 ample opportunities of gratifying their personal ambi- 
 tion, encouraged to the indulgence of all worldly, 
 sensual, and violent passions, these troops formed a 
 military brotherhood thoroughly adapted to become 
 the unthinking instruments of their master's will, the 
 more remorseless executioners of imperial despotism 
 or of unrelenting fanaticism. They were called Janiz- 
 zaries, from two Turkish words Yeni Tscheri, or 
 new soldiers. The name was given them at their 
 first institution by a famous Dervish, or Mohammedan 
 prophet, who, standing in the front of their ranks, 
 stretched the sleeve of his official dress over the head 
 of the foremost soldier, and pronounced his benedic- 
 tion, or prediction of their destiny, in these words: 
 "Let them be called Janizzaries " Yeni Tscheri. 
 "May their countenance be ever bright! their hand 
 victorious! their sword keen ! May their spear always 
 hang over the heads of their enemies; and, wheresoever 
 they go, may they always return with a white* face!" 
 
 * ""\Yhite" and "black" face are common proverbial expressions of praise 
 or reproach. "Hie nrjer est, hunc tu, Romane, ca veto. "//or. Sat. i. 4. 
 See Creasy 's Ottoman Empire, vol. i., p. 21. London: 1858. 
 
 These troops at last assumed the authority of a Praetorian Guard, and in- 
 terfered with the dignity and appointments of the Supreme Pailer of tho 
 Ottoman Porte. Sultan Mahmoud, June 16, 182G, caused a massacre to be 
 made of 15,000 of then- number at Constantinople. They were finally abol- 
 ished by an Imperial firman in 1836. Cf. "Janizzary," in Townsend's 
 Manual of Dates.
 
 44 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 The uniform of these troops commemorated the incident 
 connected with their origin. They wore a cap of white 
 felt, like that of a Dervish, with a stripe of wool hang- 
 ing down behind, to represent the sleeve which had 
 been placed on their captain's head. They were armed 
 with iron maces, with which they made grievous car- 
 nage among their enemies. The Sea-Kings of the 
 Mediterranean were now to measure their strength 
 against these formidable opponents. The ancient chiv- 
 alry was now to meet in mortal fray with this newly- 
 created soldiery of the Paynim. 
 
 In 1394 A. D., Pope Boniface IX., deeply impressed 
 with a conviction of the dangers that threatened Chris- 
 tendom, invited all the princes of Europe to a combined 
 effort to resist the threatened attack of Bajazet upon 
 the kingdom of Hungary. A Christian league was 
 formed, by which Charles VI. of France, Philip Duke 
 of Burgundy, the Byzantine Emperor, the republics 
 of Venice and Genoa, and the Knights of St. John, 
 united to withstand the encroachments of the Ottoman. 
 Not one of the Crusades was undertaken with an army 
 more efficient in numbers, equipment, or warlike deter- 
 mination. The only fault was a too confident assurance 
 of strength and of certain success. The soldiery of 
 France, led by the young and brilliant Count de Nev- 
 ers, the son and heir of the Duke of Burgundy, were so 
 full of trust in themselves and their achievements, that
 
 MILITARY EXPLOITS. 45 
 
 they boasted, " If the sky should fall, they would hold 
 it up with their lances." 
 
 The two mighty hosts met in mortal conflict on the 
 24th of September, A. D. 1396, at Nicopolis, on the 
 Danube. The Count de Nevers and his generals 
 were at their midday meal, when the tidings reached 
 them of the approach of the Ottoman army. The 
 younger officers, with the men-at-arms, clamored with 
 hot hSte and with the impatience of an ill-regulated zeal, 
 to be led immediately against their foes. In vain the 
 soldier-like skill of Sigismund, and the experience of the 
 elder commanders, urged the adoption of scientific and 
 prudential operations. The splendidly-equipped French 
 cavalry rushed impetuously into the field. Their fu- 
 rious charge scattered, as chaff before the wind, the 
 worthless troops always placed in the van by the tactics 
 of Bajazet; but behind them the French captains 
 met more worthy foemen in a huge phalanx of Janiz- 
 zaries, who presented, in the serried ranks of their mas- 
 sive battalions, a firm and apparently impregnable bar- 
 rier to their advance. Nevers and his Knights rode 
 at once, in indiscriminate haste, amidst the ranks of 
 these brave soldiers. A desperate conflict ensued. 
 The iron maces of the Janizzaries rattled with too fatal 
 effect on the mailed armor of their opponents, while the 
 swords and charges of the Knights did terrible exe- 
 cution ; until at last this famous Eastern infantry, by
 
 46 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 whom defeat had hitherto been unknown, broke their 
 ranks, and fled in terror from the contest. 
 
 Timely succor was at hand. The Sultan, like an 
 accomplished general, had left nothing to chance. 
 Equally prepared for either alternative of defeat or 
 victory, he had drawn up his magnificent Eastern caval- 
 ry, the very strength and flower of his army, in support 
 of the Janizzaries ; and this routed infantry speedily 
 found, behind these horsemen, ready shelter and protec- 
 tion. Flushed by his second success, and stimulated to 
 renewed exertions by the hope of a complete conquest, 
 the Count Nevers. and his Knights dashed, with unhesi- 
 tating confidence and undiminished vigor, upon this 
 third army of the enemy, and, by the mad energy 
 of their onset, put to flight these choicest troops fight- 
 ing under the banner of the Infidel. The strength, 
 however, of man and horse had its limits; and when, 
 on the repulse of this third array, the bold warriors 
 of Count Nevers found yet a fourth army in reserve, 
 under the immediate command of the Sultan himself, 
 drawn up with marshalled rank, unbroken courage, and 
 yet larger numbers, they were compelled to confess that 
 the meteor of conquest had allured them too far. Sep- 
 arated from their own friends, and incapable, from 
 sheer exhaustion, of making further exertions, both 
 soldiers and steeds were unable to withstand the attack 
 of these fresh legions.
 
 MILITARY EXPLOITS. 47 
 
 " Anon the troop 
 
 Of horsemen, and the din of multitudes 
 Moving to mortal conflict, rang around. 
 The battle song, the clang of sword and shield, 
 "War-cries and tumult, strife, and hate, and rage, 
 Blasphemous prayer, confusion, agony, 
 Rout, and pursuit, and death, and over all 
 The shout of victory." * 
 
 This fourth mortal combat did not last long. Baj- 
 azet gained an easy triumph over a diminished, disor 
 ganized,"and dispirited foe. At this concluding crisis 
 of the battle the Mediterranean Knights, under their 
 brave Grand Master, Philibert de Naillac, greatly dis- 
 tinguished themselves. Supported by some German 
 battalions, which had not hitherto taken part in the en- 
 gagment, they stood firm, and sustained, with a resolu- 
 tion worthy of their fame, the onset of the victorious 
 squadron of the Sultan. Their assailants, as it hap- 
 pened, were the regiments of Janazzaries, who had 
 sallied, and now exerted themselves in the presence 
 of their sovereign to wipe away the disgrace of their 
 earlier repulse. In vain they renewed their attack. 
 The mailed warriors of Rhodes rode into their ranks, 
 threw them into confusion, and compelled them to 
 retreat, so that there appeared to be a chance of restor- 
 ing the fortunes of the day. At this critical moment 
 the Prince of Servia, a faithful alley of Bajazet, rushed 
 
 Southey, Don Roderick.
 
 48 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 to the rescue of the Janizzaries with a body of 5,000 
 fresh horsemen. This opportune reinforcement finally 
 decided the victory, and extinguished the last hope 
 of the Christian army. A general sauve qui peut* 
 became the order of the day. The fight was turned' 
 into a flight, though comparatively few escaped so expe- 
 ditious and so merciless an enemy. Among this more 
 fortunate number was the gallant Philibert de Naillac, 
 who by his courage and presence of mind secured 
 the safety of the royal Sigismund and himself. They 
 succeeded, under the friendly shadows of the declining 
 day, in reaching the Danube, and, securing a small 
 boat, threaded their dangerous and doleful way to 
 the rendezvous of the fleet. The King returned with 
 the Grand Master to Rhodes, and became for a time an 
 honored guest in the home of the Sea-Kings. Thus 
 ended this momentous collision of the forces of the 
 Eastern and Western world in the important battle 
 of Nicopolis. If it cannot be included among the de- 
 cisive battles of the world, it marks the halting-point of 
 Ottoman ambition. The victory was so dearly pur- 
 chased, that half-a-century elapsed before a sultan again 
 dared to meet in arms the chivalry of the West. 
 
 Bajazet, in a spirit of barbarian ferocity and of out- 
 raged pride, treated his prisoners with the utmost cruel- 
 
 * Let every one save himself who can.
 
 MILITARY EXPLOITS. 49 
 
 ty. " This has been," said he, " a bloody victory for 
 my people ; they shall be revenged. Let the Christian 
 clogs prepare to die." On the morrow after the battle, 
 the sun arose upon a fearful sight. The Sultan had his 
 vast army drawn up in a line, of which he, surrounded 
 by his viziers, generals, and councillors, occupied the 
 center, and then ordered the multitude of his prisoners 
 to be brought before him.* The procession was led 
 by thfree hundred Christian Knights, naked to their 
 shirts, their hands tied behind them, and with halters 
 round their necks. From these, drawn up in a triple 
 rank, he commanded, with the utmost refinement of 
 cruelty, the Count Nevers to make choice at his own 
 option of twenty-four to be the companions of his 
 own imprisonment and sad fortunes. The others of 
 that brave and noble company were ordered to instant 
 execution. Remonstrance, entreaties, bribes, guerdons 
 of rich ransom, were offered in vain. The despot had 
 spoken his will. That heroic band marched onward 
 to their doom with secret prayer, unflinching counte- 
 nance, and firm step, with a conscientious sense of duty 
 performed and of honor won, with 
 
 " stony air 
 Of mixed defiance and despair." f 
 
 Scarcely had they passed the imperial presence, when 
 at a preconcerted signal, given by the Sultan himself, 
 
 Geeasy's Ottoman Turks, vol. I, p. 62. t Giaour. 
 
 4
 
 50 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 they were set upon by the troops, and hewn to pieces in 
 om; indistinguishable slaughter. The long files of the 
 common soldiery followed in mournful silence, and were 
 all similarly cut down and destroyed by the scimitars 
 and bowstrings of the Turkish executioners or by the 
 . ponderous maces of the Janizzaries.* No shriek of 
 pain, nor cry for mercy, nor shout of execration moved 
 the soul, nor evoked the pity of the conqueror. For 
 five long hours did Bajazet sit upon his charger, amidst 
 the pomp of his Eastern camp, and witness with obdu- 
 rate heart, inexorable eye, and unmoved lip, the relent- 
 less outpouring of that deluge of human blood 
 
 " And where hia frown of hatred darkly feD, 
 Hope withering fled and Mercy righed farewell" t 
 
 He only relented of his sanguinary mood, when ap- 
 pealed to by some of his courtiers, on no worthier or 
 nobler motive than that, "it was unprofitable to slay 
 men who might be sold for slaves, or reserved for 
 ransom." Count Nevers and his twenty-four rescued 
 companions were detained at the court of Bajazet for 
 two years, and at the expiration of that time were 
 dismissed, in a fit of pride or of caprice, with the taunt- 
 ing command "that they should go and report to 
 France, Burgundy, and Europe the irresistible superior- 
 ity of the Sultan." 
 
 Creaks Ottoman Turks, voL L, p. 65. t Cortair.
 
 MILITARY EXPLOITS. 51 
 
 The pride of Bajazet was soon to be humbled. Tho 
 avenger was already on his path. The retribution did 
 not come from any of the sovereigns whose rights he 
 had invaded, nor from any prowess of insulted Chris- 
 tendom. It was, however, both sure and swift. An- 
 other mighty conqueror, like to himself in the multitude 
 of his hosts, the number of his victories, the morciloss- 
 ness of his cruelty, and in the insatiableness of his 
 ambition, was to be the instrument of his ruin. Ti- 
 mour, or Tamerlane, born only to the patrimony of a 
 petty chieftainship, had, by the wisdom of his policy 
 and the power of his arm, created for himself an empire 
 extensive as that of Bajazet. At this time he had 
 placed upon his own head, by the right of conquest, 
 the crowns of twenty-seven kings, and was sovereign 
 of Persia, India, and Tartary, so that the rich towns 
 of the first, the vast treasures of the second, from the 
 Indus to the Ganges, and the thick population of the 
 third, contributed to support his armies, and maintain 
 his sway. Timour held, with barbaric insolence, as an 
 article of his creed, " That as t^ere was but one God 
 who ruled in heaven, so there ought to be only one 
 sovereign on earth, and that Timour was he." The 
 regions which owned the sceptre of this great con- 
 queror were now conterminous with those ruled by 
 Bajazet, and "as Timour was impatient of an equal, 
 and Bajazet was ignorant of a superior,"* a small 
 
 * Gibbon's Decline and Fall of Roman Empire, chap. (15.
 
 52 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 pretext sufficed to evoke hostilities between them. 
 Each of these mighty chieftains was fully conscious 
 of the power of his rival, and made the greatest efforts 
 in anticipation of the coming contest for the supreme 
 government of the Eastern world. Bajazet collected an 
 army of 400,000 men, of whom 40,000 were his formida- 
 ble battalions of Janizzaries, 20,000 European mercena- 
 ries, armed men in mail with swords and halberdiers, 
 and the remainder troops, chiefly cavalry, contributed 
 by the nations subject to his rule. Timour mustered a 
 yet more numerous host, and was attended by a splen- 
 did line of elephants, with their gilded howdahs, which 
 were, however, brought rather as tokens of his imperial 
 estate and power than as useful auxiliaries in the battle. 
 The first omens of success were with Timour. Early 
 in the spring of 1402 A. D. he obtained possession, after 
 a protracted siege, of the strong fortress of Sivas in 
 Cappadocia. The cruelties of Timour on this occasion 
 equaled anything recorded of h'is rival. Enraged at the 
 vigorous opposition offered him, he put to death Or- 
 togul, the favorite son, of Bajazet, by whom the defence 
 of the fortress had been so gallantly conducted. His 
 fiercest hatred was reserved for the four thousand 
 Christian soldiers who formed a part of the garrison. 
 Their heads were tied down with cords to the thighs, 
 so as to bring the face between the legs to look towards 
 the back. Bound in this agonizing posture, they were
 
 MILITARY EXPLOITS. 53 
 
 thrown alive into graves, not filled up, but planked 
 over, in order that the torture of the victims might be 
 protracted as long as possible.* 
 
 "Man, whose heav'n-erected face 
 
 The smiles of love adorn; 
 Man's inhumanity to man 
 Makes countless thousands mourn." t 
 
 What improvements have been effected in our hap- 
 pier days, in which, under the ameliorating influences 
 of Christianity, these cruelties, almost too horrible to be 
 told, have been superseded by the loving ministrations 
 of the Red Cross Knights, and by the softened code 
 of war universally acknowledged, which requires every 
 kindness and consideration to be shown to a fallen foe ! 
 
 The tidings of the death of his favorite son, and 
 of these indignities to his troops, filled Bajazet with 
 the profoundest grief, and stimulated, beyond all 
 bounds, his thirst for vengeance. The reader will 
 remember how Hotspur proposes to keep alive the 
 hatred of Henry IV. : 
 
 "I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak 
 Kothing but Mortimer, and give it him 
 To keep his anger still in motion." J 
 
 So, it is said, the Sultan Bajazet, on his march one 
 morning, was struck with the tuneful voice of a 
 
 Creasy's Ottoman Empire, voL 1., p. 74. Jacob. Ottoman Empire, p. 31 8. 
 
 t Burns. 
 
 t King Henry IV, , Act L, BO. 5.
 
 54 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 shepherd-boy singing in the field ; and bade him to be 
 enlisted in his army, that he might day by day teach 
 him to nurse his wrath, by singing, 
 
 " Leave not Sivas to be taken, 
 And thy son to die forsaken." * 
 
 The two great Eastern potentates met at last in 
 fatal conflict, on Friday, the 28th day of July. Amidst 
 the heat of that midsummer's day was fought the 
 great battle of Angora, in which, in spite of the 
 exertions of Bajazet (and never had he displayed to 
 more advantage his skill as a leader, or his courage as 
 a warrior), the Emperor Timour gained a complete and 
 memorable victory. 
 
 Bajazet was now to drink to the dregs the cup of 
 humiliation. He was compelled to endure the very 
 acme of Eastern disgrace, and to witness his wives 
 waiting in menial service at the feasts and table of 
 the conqueror; and was made himself a public spectacle 
 of contumely to his own subjects and to his foes. The 
 story of his treatment is thus told :" Timour summoned 
 him before his throne, and said to him, " What wouldst 
 thou have done to me, if it had been my fortune to have 
 been placed in thy power, as thou art in mine?" 
 Bajazet replied, "I would have enclosed thee in a 
 cage of iron, and have carried thee up and down in my 
 
 * Creasy* s Ottoman Empire, vdi L, p. 75.
 
 MILITARY EXPLOITS. 55 
 
 kingdom." " Even so," said the Emperor, " it shall be 
 done to thee." And so he caused him to be shackled 
 in fetters of gold, and to be shut up in an iron cage of 
 lattice-work, in such sort that he might everywhere be. 
 seen; and so he was carried, wherever Timour went, 
 that he might be scoffed at and derided by his own 
 people.* 
 
 Bajazet did not long survive these disgraces. His 
 proud^spirit succumbed, and he died before the close of 
 the year A. D. 1402. 
 
 Some doubt has been expressed about the truth 
 of this story of the cage of Bajazet; but the evidence 
 of history tends to confirm the fact. The most probable 
 version is, that Bajazet attempted an escape, and thus 
 provoked a heavier restraint ; and that an iron cage, 
 conveyed on a wagon, was resorted to, "not as a 
 wanton insult, but as a rigorous precaution," f in the 
 frequent marches of his conqueror. 
 
 Timour, after the battle of Angora, progressed, with 
 the pomp of a military triumph, through Asia Minor, 
 and other portions of the territories wrested from 
 Bajazet, until he reached the fortress of Smyrna. 
 Here he came, in the plenitude of his power, in direct 
 collision with tfce "Sea-Kings of the Mediterranean." 
 
 * Du Bee's History of Jerusalem. London, 1592. P. 127. Knolle's IR* 
 tory of the Turks. 1610. P. 220. 
 t Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. 65.
 
 56 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 They had gone voluntarily, under a sense of duty, in 
 accordance with their engagements to pope and prince, 
 to assist in the wars designed for the resisting the 
 encroachments of Bajazet. But now Timour himself 
 sought them out, in his boasted determination not only 
 to expel the European from the soil of Asia, but to es- 
 tablish, in his own majestic person, an universal sover- 
 eignty. Smyrna was a strong fortress, defended wilh 
 bastions, redoubts, towers, bulwarks, fosses, trenches, 
 and all the accessories of a strong military post known 
 to the science of that period. It was, above all, held 
 by brave men, impressed with a sense of their responsi- 
 bilities as the foremost sentinels of Christendom, and 
 who knew how to die, but not to yield either to 
 empty menaces or to the actual onset of their foes. 
 This fortress was for many reasons a prize much coveted 
 by the conqueror. It would give him what his ambi- 
 tion most desired, a port on the Great Sea ; and its 
 harbor contained a fleet which, if once his, might ma- 
 terially assist him in his proposed assaults on Rhodes, 
 Venice, and Constantinople. In the most charming 
 period of the year in the Mediterranean, when the 
 most luxurious foliage, the choicest variety of flowers, 
 the richest fertility, the balmiest winds, made all nature 
 gay, on the second day of December, A. D. 1402, Ti- 
 mour appeared before the fortress. He at once, ac- 
 cording to his custom, summoned the governor to
 
 MILITARY EXPLOITS. 57 
 
 an immediate surrender. Chevelier William de Mine, 
 a bold and spirited Sea-King, to whom the custody of 
 the fortress was entrusted, entirety refused to listen to 
 his proposal. On this answer being known, Timour 
 gave the governor, as he was wont, three days for his 
 decision. On the first day he hoisted a white flag over 
 his imperial tent, intimating his willingness to spare 
 the lives of all, if they would yield at once to his 
 mercy:" On the second day he raised a red flag, an- 
 nouncing his willingness to spare the inhabitants, but 
 to slaythe garrison. On the third day he unfurled a 
 black flag, declaring his determination to kill without 
 distinction every soul in the fortress. On the morning 
 of the fourth day, Timour ordered an immediate as- 
 sault. His troops commenced the attack by endeavor- 
 ing to fill up the moats and ditches with fascines and 
 gabions, and to scale the ramparts with their ladders, 
 while their archers shot incessantly at the defenders 
 upon the walls. The besieged in their turn -poured 
 upon their foes every kind of missile which the art of 
 war had then adopted, boiling oil, seething pitch, 
 huge stones, 
 
 " So that beneath the burning wall 
 In reeking heaps th' assailants falL" * 
 
 The Knights, too, with their men-at-arms, made spirited 
 * Bowies' Siege of Acre.
 
 58 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 and unexpected sorties, and drove back the Tartars 
 in confusion to their encampments. The experience of 
 this failure in his first attack taught Timour that he 
 was now in the presence of men who were not af- 
 frighted at the mere shadow of his name, and against 
 whom the dashing, off-hand assault which he had so 
 often adopted with success, would not avail. Bold and 
 resolute as were his soldiers, they had now met their 
 equals, and could not hope for an easy victory against 
 the living ramparts of undaunted warriors opposed to 
 them. Timour resolved on another expedient. He 
 caused several huge wooden towers to be made and 
 placed on large wooden wheels or rollers. Each tower 
 was constructed to hold two hundred men, and was 
 divided into three stories or compartments. The low- 
 est or basement floor was filled with diggers and 
 miners, who with their tools worked under the safe pro- 
 tection of the tower, and sapped the walls. The upper 
 story was filled with archers to keep the beseiged at 
 a distance from the walls, while the middle compart- 
 ment was reserved for the heavy armed soldiers, who, 
 by means of a drawbridge constructed to let down from 
 the machine upon the walls, attacked the Knights in 
 hand-to-hand conflicts, and endeavored to gain the ram- 
 parts. This device of Timour was eventually success- 
 ful. The miners in the lower compartment did the
 
 MILITAEY EXPLOITS. 59 
 
 most mischief. Protected by their testudo f they soon 
 made gaps in the masonry of the walls, and, supporting 
 these openings for a time with pieces of timber, they 
 coated the temporary props with naptha, pitch, and 
 other inflammable materials, and, at a concerted signal, 
 set them on fire, when the supports quickly gave way 
 and the towers fell to the earth with a crash. With 
 shou^ of exultation at their success, the assailants 
 poured through the breaches, and, overcoming by their 
 numbers every obstacle, succeeded, after a stubborn 
 and sanguinary contest, in obtaining possession of the 
 fortress. The Knights paid in their deaths the ex- 
 pected penalty of resistance ; and the barbarous con- 
 queror, in accordance with custom, made a pyramid 
 of their heads. 
 
 This siege of Smyrna was the last of the victories 
 of Timonr. At its conclusion he returned, with the 
 slow steps of a royal progress, to Samarcand, his fa- 
 
 * Testudo, a tortoise. A warlike engine, roofed over with boards, and 
 sometimes with raw hides, under which, as a pent-house, the besiegers of 
 towns got up close to walls. It was sometimes a covering made by the sol- 
 diers with their shields. Virgil, JSneid, H.. , 441 st line, alludes to this use of 
 the shields of the soldiers at the siege of Troy: 
 
 " Danaosque ad tecta ruentes 
 
 Cernimus, obsessumque acta testudine limen." 
 
 "We see the Greeks rushing forward to the palace, and the portico be- 
 sieged by then: completed testudo." Livy gives an account of this military 
 formation, Book XLIV., c. 9.
 
 60 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 vorite capital, and there died within the space of two 
 years, A. D. 1404 ; and Europe was relieved of any 
 further fear of his contemplated Western conquests. 
 
 The Grand Master of Rhodes, the gallant Philibert 
 de Naillac, did his best to repair the loss of the strong 
 fortress of Smyrna. On the death of Timour, he sum- 
 moned his captains, and fitted out a fleet which success- 
 ful ly wrested from the Turks the fortress of Halicar- 
 nassus, on the mainland in Asia Minor. This he 
 fortified more strongly, and it proved henceforth to be a 
 safe harbor for the vessels of the Sea-Kings in their 
 frequent encounters for naval supremacy. It served 
 another and unlooked-for purpose, and became a verita- 
 ble city of refuge for all who fled from the tyranny 
 of their Moslem Masters. The unfortunate Christian 
 slave who could effect his escape from the dungeon, 
 galley, or mine, ever found within the walls of this 
 fortress a ready welcome and sure protection. As a 
 means of assisting these Christian bondsmen in their 
 flight, the garrison of this citadel kept a breed of dogs, 
 whom they trained to go out and seek for those who 
 might have sunk exhausted in the mountains. The 
 -instinct of these clogs was extraordinary. A story is 
 told of one which, by his marvellous sagacity, saved the 
 life of a Christian slave. The poor fellow, escaping 
 from the hands of his master, threw himself into an old 
 disused well, from which he could not lift himself on
 
 MILITARY EXPLOITS. 61 
 
 account of his bruised and broken limbs. The well 
 was dry, but the man would have died of hunger had 
 not a noble dog from the fortress brought him in his 
 mouth food given him for his own support, and dropped 
 it from his mouth into the well. At length it was 
 observed that the dog was growing thinner every day; 
 and his continued excursions always in one and the 
 same^lirection, at the same hour every day, induced the 
 soldiers to watch his movements, whereby the truth 
 was discovered, and the slave was rescued. 
 
 We have illustrated the " Sea-Kings " in their wars. 
 None of them, to their credit be it spoken, were of their 
 own seeking. In accordance with the requirements 
 of the times, and in obedience to their vows, they were 
 called to take part in the great battle of Nicopolis, in 
 repelling the encroachments and in resisting the am- 
 bitious desgins of the Ottoman Turks; and although 
 unsuccessful on that day so disastrous to Western chiv- 
 alry, they personally did their duty, and distinguished 
 themselves by their bold contest with the Janizzaries, 
 troops which had never before known repulse on the 
 battle-field. Though defeated by the multitudinous 
 hordes of Timour, yet, in their contest with his bat- 
 talions, they nobly resigned their fortress only with 
 their lives. They thus, in both their great wars, dis- 
 charged well the perilous services incumbent on them 
 aa the foremost sentinels of the Cross in Europe. For
 
 62 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 the next eighty years they met with no molestation 
 or annoyance, and engaged in no important internation- 
 al contest, either by sea or by land. They went on the 
 even tenor of their way as protectors of the commerce, 
 defenders of the rights, and champions of the faith 
 of Christendom. For the next eighty years the Knights 
 of St. John lived respected abroad, and secure at home 
 in their island fortress.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SUCCESSFUL DEFIANCE. 
 
 ^ " Where'er that mighty arm is seen, 
 
 The bravest be, or late hath been." 
 
 BYBON, Siege of Corintn. 
 
 On the death of the great conqueror Timour, the sons 
 of Bajazet successfully reclaimed the empire of their 
 father. The illustrious Sultan Mohammed II., the 
 fourth in succession from Bajazet, animated by the same 
 lust of power and by the same insatiate ambition of his 
 ancestor, and yet more fortunate than he in his un- 
 dertakings, laid siege to and captured the famous 
 capital of the Byzantine Empire, the celebrated city 
 of Constantinople, on Tuesday, May 29th, 1453. 
 This capture led to an attempt by the conqueror, 
 Mohammed II., to expel his hereditary foes, the Sea- 
 Kings of the Mediterranean, from their island home 
 at Rhodes. As Cato is said to have concluded every 
 speech to the senators of Rome, " Delenda est Cartha- 
 go" " Carthage must be destroyed " so Mohammed 
 II., had continually on his lips, " Constantinople first, 
 then Rhodes." A series of political events, the pa-
 
 64 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 triotism of Scanderbeg in inducing his compatriots to 
 rebel in Epiras; the frequent revolts of Huny.ides in 
 Hungary ; the determined enmity of the maritime re- 
 publics of Genoa and Venice, caused a delay in the 
 execution of his imperial designs; but never, in the 
 most distant battle-field, nor in the most secret council- 
 chamber, did he lose sight of the the second task he 
 had imposed on himself. 
 
 In the spring of A. D. 1480, Mohammed II., having 
 conquered his other enemies, found himself at liberty to 
 undertake his long-cherished design of extermination 
 against the Christian Brotherhood at Rhodes. The 
 Knights-Hospitallers had for their Grand Master at this 
 crisis a man of tried experience and of most heroic 
 determination, Peter D'Aubusson. He made his own 
 gunpowder, designed his own ships, and surpassed the 
 first engineers of his age in a practical knowledge of the 
 science of defensive war. Undeterred by the reputation 
 of his mighty foes, undaunted at the report of their 
 gigantic armaments, he resolutely devoted himself to 
 the solemn performance of his duty, and resolved, at 
 the hazard of his life, to maintain the freedom of his 
 island and the independence of his Order. His first act 
 was to write a spirited and moving address to all the 
 Houses of his Fraternity in Europe. " The enemy," he 
 said, " is at our gates. The proud Mohammed puts no 
 bounds to his ambitious projects. His power waxes
 
 SUCCESSFUL DEFIANCE. 65 
 
 every day more formidable. He has immense stores, 
 experienced generals, boundless treasures all are de- 
 signed against us. He has sworn our ruin. His troops 
 are already on the move. At the first approach of 
 spring his galle3*s will invade our coasts. We have no 
 help but our courage. We are lost if you come not 
 to our aid." This pathetic appeal was not made in 
 vain^ Charles de Montholon, Bertrand de Cluys, com- 
 manders of France ; Jean Daw, high-bailiff of Ger- 
 many ; Sir Marmaduke Lumley, an English chevalier ; 
 Anthony D'Aubusson, Viscount de Monteil, the Grand 
 Master's elder brother, with other brave and noble war- 
 riors in France and Germany, rallied at once to his 
 standard.* Many of the Knights in Rhodes also were 
 at this time bound to their chief by ties of personal 
 gratitude, as he had devoted large sums from his own 
 private revenues to pay their ransoms, and to deliver 
 them from slavery. 
 
 D.Aubusson's special care was devoted to the securi- 
 ty of his fortifications. These consisted of a lofty ram- 
 part, several feet in thickness, and strengthened by 
 large and deep trenches which encircled the whole 
 fortress. This continuous girdle of wall was further 
 protected at intervals by thirteen towers and by five 
 large bastions. The Knights and their men-at-arms 
 were entrusted with the guardianship of these walls, 
 
 Vartot, voL ii., p. 297.
 
 66 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 according to their different nations. The mole and 
 castle of Nicholas were committed to the custody of the 
 Germans ; and then, in succession, came the command- 
 ers with their men-at-arms according to this order: 
 England, Auvergne, Arragon, France, Provence, Italy, 
 Castile, and Portugal. Next to his walls, the Grand 
 Master took good account of, and made ample provision 
 for, his magazines, replenishing them with abundant 
 materials of warlike ammunition, and stores, and pro- 
 viding to the utmost of his power a plentiful commis- 
 sariat. His most painful task was the destruction by 
 his own soldiers of the beautiful summer-houses, gar- 
 dens, and pleasant holiday-making retreats abounding 
 in the picturesque environs of the city, that they might 
 not afford shelter and protection to the invader. 
 
 On Tuesday, May 23rd, A. D. 1480, the vast fleet of 
 Mohammed came in sight. It was commanded by 
 Palseologus Pacha, a member of the late Byzantine 
 royal family reigning at Constantinople, and (to his 
 shame be it said) an apostate, after the fall of his 
 dynasty, to Mohammedanism. The Turkish Admiral 
 had collected one hundred and sixty vessels of war, 
 and a crowd of transports, barks, and speornara. 
 Although the approach of this vast flotilla towards 
 the shores of Rhodes could not by any means have 
 attained to the splendor and magnificence of the great 
 naval spectacle presented by the wonderful passage, in
 
 SUCCESSFUL DEFIANCE. 67 
 
 our own days, of the allied English and French ar- 
 mies from Varna to Eupatoria at the commencement of 
 the Crimean war,* yet the sight must have been impos- 
 ing enough to make the heart of every Christian sol- 
 dier, who witnessed the -numerous vessels darkening the 
 waters, beat with renewed anxiety and with redoubled 
 ardor. The Turkish soldiers and sailors, rejoicing at the 
 successful termination of their voyage, exhibited their sat- 
 isfaction, as if they were celebrating a victory, rather 
 than preparing for a contest, by the thunder of ar- 
 tillery, and with loud strains of exhilarating music 
 
 " A flourish proud, 
 "Where mingled trump and clarion loud, 
 
 And fife and kettle-dram, 
 And sackbut deep, and psaltery, 
 And war-pipe, with discordant cry, 
 And cymbal, clattering to the sky, 
 Making wild music bold and high." f 
 
 Their landing was not unopposed. The fire of 
 * "The arrangements for the conveyance of the troops to their destination 
 are of the largest and most perfect character; and when all the transports 
 have united, they will display to the gaze of the enemy an armada of no less 
 than 600 vessels, covered and protected on every side by a fleet with a bat- 
 tery of 3,000 pieces of artillery, and manned by the bravest seamen in the 
 
 world All the vessels were drawn up in immense lines, with a 
 
 front extending over nine miles, and with an unknown depth, for the rigging 
 and sails of the distant transports belonging to the expedition were lost far 
 below the horizon; and after we had anchored, stragglers arrived every hour 
 for two or three days." The War. By W. H. RUSSELL. Boutledge: Jxm- 
 don, 1855. Pp. 15^, 159. 
 t Scott's Mamion, Canto IV., stanza 31.
 
 68 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 Forts St. Nicholas and St. Elmo, and of the ramparts 
 on the sea-face of the fortress, was directed upon the 
 ships. The men-at-arms and Turkopolieri, led by the 
 Knights, rushed breast-high into the water to repel 
 their invaders. Every effort was in vain. The Otto- 
 mans divided themselves into numerous bands and com- 
 panies ; while some engaged the attention of their 
 opponents, others, at a safer distance, secured the dis- 
 embarkation of their troops, horses, and artillery. 
 
 On the morrow after their landing, a herald ad- 
 vanced with solemn ceremonial to the gate of the 
 Stracla del Cavalieri, aiid summoned D'Aubusson to 
 surrender the town and fortress. His proposals were 
 rejected with scornful indignation. Palaeologus, upon 
 this refusal, commenced the siege in form. His chief 
 engineer, to whom he intrusted the whole conduct of 
 his plans, was a German, George Frepand, commonly 
 called " Master George." This man bad once been a 
 member of the Order of St. John; but had been dis- 
 missed the Fraternity for malpractices. He now, in 
 revenge, sought the ruin of his former comrades, and 
 returned to the island as the Commander-in-Chief of the 
 Ottoman artillery. By his advice Palseologus made the 
 Fort St. Nicholas, at the extremity of the northern arm 
 of the great mple protecting the harbor, the first object 
 of his attack. Frepand, to effect a practicable breach 
 in this tower, erected a battery of three brass bombards
 
 SUCCESSFUL DEFIANCE. 69 
 
 on the shore, close to a small chapel dedicated to St. 
 Anthony, scarcely distant 200 yards. D'Aubusson as- 
 signed the defence of this important post to an approved 
 soldier, the Commander Caretto, supported by a com- 
 pany of French and Spanish men-at-arms. They 
 mounted cannon to command the battery of their op- 
 ponents, and took precautions against an assault by 
 placing heavy planks, bristling with nails and iron 
 spikes, in the shallow fords near the tower. In the 
 meanwhile the entrenchments and early siege operations 
 of the besiegers were delayed and hindered by the fre- 
 quent skirmishes and gallant onsets of the Knights. 
 In one of these a brave officer of Auvergne, Chevalier 
 Murat (an ancestor, perhaps, of the famous horseman, 
 the beau sabreur of Napoleon L, Joachim Murat, King 
 of Naples), having advanced too far in the ardor of 
 fight, was slain ; and one of the Spahis, the Uhlans 
 of the Turkish cavalry, cut off his head, and carried 
 it away in barbaric triumph on the point of his spear. 
 Palaeologus and his engineer succeeded in their efforts, 
 and made a breach in the tower of St. Nicholas. The 
 9th day of June was fixed upon for the first attempt at 
 aft escalade, and for the assault upon the breach. Two 
 hours before daybreak he ordered his galleys and pon- 
 toons, laden with infantry, to advance towards the 
 tower. The vessels soon reached the mole. The sol- 
 diers jumped on shore, and, with loud and frantio
 
 TO KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 cries, in spite of the fire poured on them, pressed on- 
 wards to the assault. They advanced with their scal- 
 ing-ladders to the foot of the breach, and placing them 
 with the utmost intrepidity upon the heaps of rubbish 
 and stones brought down by the bombards, mounted 
 sword in hand with the utmost resolution. D'Aubus- 
 son, always the first when danger was at hand, had 
 joined his friends on the earliest note of alarm, and 
 now performed at once the duty of a commander and 
 of a soldier. The defenders, animated by his presence 
 and example, lined the breach, and made a living 
 rampart. While some upset the scaling-ladders, others 
 threw down huge masses of stone, and crushed the as- 
 sailants. The Turks were equally determined to win 
 these first honors of the siege. They replaced their lad- 
 ders, and, with grappling irons, and iron hooks fastened 
 to the end of long cords, tried to catch their oppo- 
 nents, pull them over the wall, and throttle them. At 
 last an element more potent than human wrath, decided 
 the strife. The fire-ships were brought to bear on the 
 Turkish vessels, and Palaeologus hastily retreated, re- 
 pulsed and beaten. 
 
 "His blaring galleys still distract his sight; 
 He tore his beard and, foaming, fled the fight" * 
 
 An incident, illustrating D'Aubusson's coolness and 
 courage, occurred on this occasion. On his losing his 
 * Byron's Corsair.
 
 SUCCESSFUL DEFIANCE. 71 
 
 helmet in the fight, Caretto entreated him not to endan- 
 ger his valuable life, but to seek a place of shelter, to 
 whom he replied : " The post of danger is the place of 
 honor, and of right belongs to me as chief. If I fall," 
 he added, with a pleasant smile, " you should the more 
 hope for yourself than fear for me." These last words 
 were said in reference to his chance of succeeding to his 
 office of Grand ]\ Easter. 
 
 The tower of St. Nicholas was greatly injured, and 
 was left by the defeated enemy in a most dilapidated 
 condition. D'Aubusson himself has recorded, iu a 
 letter sent to the Pope, the measures he took for the 
 repair of the mischief done to his works in this first ter- 
 rible contest. 
 
 " We," he writes,* " being anxious for the safety of 
 the tower, beholding its great and fearful ruin, strove to 
 prop up the remainder of the wall ; and since such 
 a course seemed most judicious after so great a down- 
 fall, we decided upon protecting, not the tower only, 
 but also the mole of St. Nicholas.. With the most vigi- 
 lant care, and with numberless expedients, a thousand 
 laborers worked day and night without intermission. 
 They dug a deep trench, and constructed a bulwark 
 with timber at the top of the mole, around the tower, 
 and in support of its foundations, and completed an im- 
 pregnable redoubt with great cost. There we place a 
 
 * Vertot, Book II., p. 311, 12.
 
 72 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 guard of our bravest warriors within the bulwark, and 
 supply them with stores and ammunition ; and on the 
 rampart we place bombards, which could sweep the 
 approaches in an attack." 
 
 Palaeologus Pacha abandoned for the present the 
 intention of another attack on Fort St. Nicholas, and 
 directed his efforts to a different part of the walls. He 
 erected his batteries on the eastern side of the town, 
 and poured a brisk and heavy cannonade upon a por- 
 tion of the wall bordering on the quarter or district 
 allotted to the Jews. This, as Frepand well knew, was 
 the weakest part of the fortifications. It was also 
 the most populous. Many of the houses were built 
 in close proximity to the walls, and an attack on this 
 quarter would produce the most misery, and impart the 
 greatest terror to the inhabitants. The battery con- 
 structed against this new point of attack was most for- 
 midable. It consisted of eight large siege guns named 
 basilisks, because ornamented with huge coiled ser- 
 pents, which threw immense blocks of stone eight or 
 nine inches in diameter. These heavy pieces soon 
 caused serious havoc to the old and crumbling ramparts 
 of this portion of the fortress. Never were the re- 
 sources of D'Aubusson more severely tried, and never 
 did he come out more triumphantly from an emergency. 
 He took in with a single glance the gravity of the situa- 
 tion. Without hesitation he pulled down all the houses
 
 SUCCESSFUL DEFIANCE. 73 
 
 bordering on the rampart, and dug upon the site where 
 they stood a large trench, and built over it a new 
 wall of brick. Then was witnessed the most curious 
 scene that happened during the siege. The whole pop- 
 ulation turned out to take their share in this stupen- 
 dous and pressing work. There was no cessation of la- 
 bor by night or by day. Jewisii maidens arrayed in 
 Eastern dress, Christian nuns and priests habited in the 
 costumes of their order, old men with tottering step, 
 youths and children, delighted to be employed, mixed 
 with and assisted the laborers and soldiers to the ut- 
 most of their power. So impressed was D'Aubusson 
 with the importance of the work, that he remained 
 all the night upon the spot, watching and superintend 
 ing the movements of that motley and agitated throng, 
 seated on his charger, and arrayed in his polished over- 
 coat of gilded mail, the sheen of which was seen by 
 all, as it burnt under the bright gleams of an eastern 
 moon. At the completion of this work, which under 
 other circumstances would have occupied as many days 
 as it now did hours, D'Aubusson, with a parental 
 care, removed the women, children, and aged men to 
 a safer quarter, altogether removed from the range of 
 this destructive battery. -He made also an attempt 
 to repay Palaeologus in his own coin. He instructed 
 his carpenters in the construction of a wooden machine, 
 which threw immense stones, and not only crushed the
 
 74 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 soldiers below the walls, but injured the trenches 
 and mines. The Knights and their men jocularly 
 named it " The Tribute," in allusion to the tribute 
 which the Sultan wished to impose on them, and which 
 they were willing to pay in no other mode than by 
 this engine. 
 
 In the meanwhile the artillerists of Palaeologus hav- 
 ing declared the breach in the walls of the Jews' 
 quarter to be practicable for an entrance by the troops, 
 the Turkish Commander-in-Chief came personally to 
 inspect the position before he gave the word for the 
 assault. How great was his astonishment and surprise 
 to see what had been done by the besieged in construct- 
 ing a new and formidable_ defence, and in removing 
 the population, so that his mighty basilisks had only 
 belched forth ineffectual fires, and he was again thwart- 
 ed in his plan and disappointed of his purpose. 
 
 Under these circumstances, Palaeologus, after the 
 fashion of an Eastern potentate, determined to destroy 
 his adversary by subtlety if he could not prevail by 
 force. Knowing well that D'Aubusson was the life 
 and soul of the defence, and that until he was re- 
 moved out of the way he could not hope for success, he 
 induced, by promises of a great reward, two men to 
 feign desertion to the enemy, that they might kill 
 the illustrious Grand Master by secret poison or by 
 open assassination. These men, received without suspi-
 
 SUCCESSFUL DEFIANCE. 75 
 
 cion by D'Aubusson, endeavored to corrupt and bribe 
 over his private secretary to their designs. He, with 
 a praiseworthy fidelity, revealed the plot to his master, 
 and the two traitors paid with their lives the just penal- 
 ty of their despicable conduct. 
 
 Neither was this the only treacherous act designed or 
 encouraged by Palaeologus. If he did not concoct, 
 he was certainly privy to a deeper scheme of un- 
 worthy dissimulation. He allowed Frepand, his chief 
 engineer, to go over to the enemy, that he might 
 discover and betray to him, by signals preconcerted 
 between them, the weak points in the fortifications. 
 D'Aubusson, however, on this occasion knew the man 
 he had to deal with too well to be deceived. He as- 
 sumed a friendly tone towards his visitor, but ap- 
 pointed six of his trustiest Knights to keep over him 
 strict watch and ward, and never to permit him to 
 be out of their sight. On his approaching a bastion 
 he was sternly asked what he wanted, and why he 
 came there-? After some days of trial, without any 
 overt act of treachery being perpetrated, D'Aubusson, 
 well assured of his skill as an artillerist, determined to 
 test his fidelity or to ascertain his falseness by entrust- 
 ing him with the charge of a cannon. He quickly 
 discovered that Frepand betrayed his confidence, and 
 endeavored to correspond with the enemy by the prear- 
 ranged manner of communication. He pointed his gun
 
 76 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 to the weaker part of the fortifications, and then there 
 invariably ensued an attack. So nefarious a treason 
 was quickly avenged by a righteous retribution. Mas- 
 ter George, after a speedy trial, expiated his crime 
 by the forfeiture of his life. 
 
 "The evil deed 
 Brings its requital as the doer's meed." 
 
 Palseologus, equally unsuccessful in his secret trea- 
 sons as in his open attacks, yet nothing daunted by the 
 failure of his purposes, determined, without relaxing his 
 hold on the Jewish quarter, to make one more grand 
 effort to obtain the much-coveted Fort of St. Nicholas. 
 If D'Aubusson had improved his means of defence, the 
 Turkish leader also had increased his facilities of attack. 
 He had employed the interval of time since his first 
 repulse in constructing a huge pontoon, or floating 
 bridge, by which his troops might pass as if on dry laud 
 across the narrow strip of water which separated his 
 camp from the tower of St. 'Nicholas. Some bold and 
 dexterous swimmers, during the dark hours of the 
 night, conveyed an anchor placed on a floating plat- 
 form, and fastened it under the water, close beside 
 the fort. They attached to the round ring of this an- 
 chor a strong hawser, or cable, the other end of which 
 was fastened to the bridge, so that by pulling at this 
 rope, they might tow the pontoon across, and place 
 it in the position required for the passage of the troops.
 
 SUCCESSFUL DEFIANCE. 77 
 
 Too sure and strict a watch, however, was kept at this 
 important post for any such operations to be arranged 
 far without notice and discovery. It so happened that 
 a lynx-eyed English sailor was on the look-out, Ger- 
 vaise Roger, and saw everything that was done. Some 
 time after the Turks had returned to the shore he 
 quietly loosed the rope, dropping it into the water, and 
 carrying off the anchor, presented it to the Grand Mas- 
 ter, in confirmation of his report, and received for his 
 vigilance a munificent reward. 
 
 The Turkish commanders resolved on this occasion 
 upon a night attack, in the hope of taking the garrison 
 by surprise. The arrangements, to secure success, were 
 made with greater care and larger preparation than 
 in the first attack. Palaeologus assumed the command, 
 accompanied by the Admiral-in-Chief of the galleys, 
 and by Merla-Bey, the son-in-law of the Sultan, Mo- 
 hammed II. The night of Thursday, the 13th of July, 
 was chosen for the attempt. About twelve o'clock 
 everything was in readiness. The floating-bridge, 
 towed into position by boats, in place of the loosened 
 cable, was found to answer its purpose. The Turkish 
 soldiers, in the highest spirits, and in perfect silence, 
 rapidly passed over, and, reaching the mole in silence, 
 attacked the fortress on all sides with the greatest im- 
 petuosity. But D'Aubusson himself was in command. 
 The discovery of the anchor was hint enough for
 
 78 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 him. He had, with timely caution, reinforced his men- 
 at-arms, and lined his walls with numerous arquebusiers 
 and several bombards, and now waited, with confident 
 self-reliance, the anticipated onset of his foes. On hear- 
 ing the grating of the bridge against the mole, and the 
 quick tramp of the soldiers, he gave the command to 
 fire; and, in spite of the darkness, numbers of the 
 enemy were wounded, and fell. The fight, however, 
 waxed hot. and obstinate. The bridge continually fur- 
 nished fresh troops to the assailants, who never fought 
 with more desperate valor. Many fixed their ladders 
 only to be cut .down and slain. The youthful Merla- 
 Bey set a noble example. Almost alone he gained a 
 footing on the rampart, and, protected in part by the 
 heaps of dead bodies, and covered with wounds, en- 
 tered into single combat with a Knight; and, while 
 he slew his adversary, fell himself dead by his side. At 
 the same time a not less furious fight was maintained 
 on the water. The fire ships of D'Aubusson floated 
 down and endangered the galleys that surrounded the 
 fort. Neither the shrieks of the rowers, the roar and 
 smoke of the cannons, the groans of the wounded, the 
 shouts of'tho living, nor the horrors of darkness, caused 
 any relaxation in the struggle of the combatants. All 
 desired to conquer or die. At last, the day dawned 
 and revealed the havoc made among the Paynim. The
 
 SUCCESSFUL DEFIANCE. 79 
 
 water in the harbor was covered with corpses, bows, 
 arrows, turbans, and fragments of burning ships. 
 
 The artillerymen in the fort and on the walls could 
 now see the bridge, and brought their guns to bear on 
 it, so that with the weight of the retreating crowd and 
 with the shot from the tower, it was soon broken and 
 destroyed. The Turks fled in confusion in spite of all 
 the promises and of all the threats of their commanders, 
 while the Knights made sorties, and rushed even into 
 the water to fight with their opponents. A monk 
 named Antony Fradin gained much notoriety in this 
 pursuit. Clad in his monk's robe, and armed with a 
 sword taken from a dead soldier, he rushed into the 
 sea up to his waist, and dealt destruction to the foe ; 
 
 " While groaning victims, and wild cries for life, 
 Proclaimed how well he did the work of strife." * 
 
 The loss of the. Turks in this renewed attack on Fort 
 Nicholas was estimated at 2,500 men. The Knights 
 had many wounded, but only twelve killed. Among 
 them were fourteen English Knights, with their suit- 
 able complement of esquires and men-at-arms, present 
 at the siege. Out of this number seven were slain. 
 
 Palseologus, after this defeat, was for three days 
 completely stunned and puzzled. Lost in a fit of 
 irresolution and abstraction, he knew not what to do. 
 He soon felt that the chief thing he had cause to dread 
 
 Corsair.
 
 80 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 was the fury of the Sultan* at the sacrifice of his 
 soldiers, and resolved to prosecute the siege with in- 
 creased vigor. He commanded a general bombardment 
 of the town, which was continued without cessation day 
 and night. He once again directed his more particular- 
 attention to the "Jews' Quarter," that portion of the 
 enciente where the original wall was most injured. 
 Here he filled up the great trench that D'Aubusson 
 had digged, and made it level with the ground. In the 
 meantime his artillerists declared that nine out of the 
 thirteen towers of the ramparts were considerably in- 
 jured, that several breaches were practicable for an as- 
 sault, and that the opening in the walls near the Jews' 
 quarter was wide enough for men on horseback to ride 
 into the fortress. Under these circumstances he de- 
 manded a conference with the Grand Master, to explain 
 to him the situation of affairs, in the hope that he 
 would, without further contest, accede to terms of 
 surrender. The request for an interview was granted. 
 The Pacha sent one of his chief officers as his ambassa- 
 
 *Sir E. Creasy (vol. i., p. 129, History of the Ottoman Turks) gives an 
 instance of the fury of the Sultan: "Mohammed, in his wrath, ordered 
 his defeated Admiral, Baltaoghli, to be impaled on the spot. The murmurs 
 and entreaties of the Janizzaries made him recall the atrocious command; 
 but he partly wreaked his wrath by inflicting personal chastisement on hia 
 brave but unsuccessful officer. Four slaves stretched the Admiral prostrate 
 to the ground, and Mohammed dealt him one hundred blows with his heavy 
 battle~macd"
 
 SUCCESSFUL DEFIANCE. 81 
 
 dor, while D'Aubusson deputed Antony Gualter, Cha- 
 tellan of Rhodes, to represent him. The Turkish 
 nuncio acknowledged the brave conduct of the be- 
 sieged, and at the same time pointed out the fruitless- 
 ness of any further resistance when his master had 
 such an overwhelming n-umber of soldiers, and had 
 made such effectual breaches in the walls and bastions, 
 and jyhen any further resistance would be a useless 
 sacrifice of human life, and a just pretext for the pillage 
 of the city, and for the slaughter of the garrison. 
 The Chatellan refused to listen to his proposals, and 
 briefly replied, "That brave men were better than 
 walls or bastions." 
 
 Palaeologus, exceedingly enraged at the rejection of 
 his terms, made an oath to put every soldier to the 
 sword. So great was his assurance of success that 
 he ordered a number of wooden stakes to be prepared 
 for impaling alive the Knights and their companions, 
 and promised to give the town up to the soldiers. In 
 order to distract the attention of D'Aubusson, and to 
 divide his forces, he ordered ladders and all things 
 necessary for an assault to be prepared in different 
 places. But the real attack was designed to be 
 against the rampart of the Jews' quarter, which had 
 been previously attempted, and had been so long ex- 
 posed to the cannonade. A furious bombardment, con- 
 tinued for twenty-four hours, was again carried on 
 6
 
 82 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 around the fortress, but especially against this doomed 
 portion of the town. -At last, on Thursday, July 27th, 
 at sunrise, the vast Turkish army, in good order and in 
 complete silence, advanced, and by a vigorous and rapid 
 onset killed the sentinels on the tower of the Jews' 
 quarter, making themselves masters of the fort without 
 any encounter. The Christian troops, through the de- 
 struction of the walls, had been compelled to hide 
 themselves behind the heaps of rubbish from the fire 
 of the cannons, and some of them had fallen asleep, 
 
 " Worn out with toil, and tired with changing blows." * 
 
 The Turks, proud of their success, planted their 
 standards on the rampart, while Paleeologus ordered 
 forward fresh troops to occupy the walls. Then was 
 the moment of the utmost peril to Rhodes. But effec- 
 tual help was at hand. D'Aubusson, made aware of 
 the danger, seized the sacred banner of the Order, and 
 turning to the brave Knights whom he kept near his 
 own person to help on occasions of emergency, " Now, 
 my friends, is the time to fight for our religion and for 
 Rhodes, or to find our sepulchres in her ruins." He 
 advanced at a rapid pace at the head of his body-guard, 
 and saw, to his intense surprise, a crowd of Turks fill- 
 ing the breach and rampart, and the platform below it. 
 Then was a sight not often seen. The besieged became 
 
 * Byron's Corsair.
 
 SUCCESSFUL DEFIANCE. 83 
 
 all at once the besiegers. As the houses and streets 
 occupied by the Knights were lower than the ramparts 
 and platforms, they could not reach the assailants. 
 They quickly seized some ladders which were fortu- 
 nately lying near the walls. D'Aubusson himself, 
 heedless of danger, was the first to mount, and his bold 
 companions, some on ladders, some by clambering over 
 the*uins, gained the summit of the rampart. The Turks 
 pushed back the Knights and their men-at-arms by 
 firing their arquebuses and arrows, and by hurling 
 great stones on them. All the valor and spirit of the 
 Hospitallers could not avail against so furious a resist- 
 ance, and many fell back wounded and dead. The 
 Grand Master was twice repulsed, and yet, in face of 
 the death with which he was threatened on all sides, 
 and without a thought of the two wounds he had al- 
 ready received, being bravely supported by his soldiers, 
 he gained a firm footing on the platform occupied by 
 his foes. From that moment the combat was fought on 
 more equal terms. The Knights pressed upon their op- 
 ponents, sword in hand. All was confusion. A gen- 
 eral melee ensued, in which each man fought the other 
 in a regular soldier's battle, such as Inkerman was 
 called. D'Aubusson greatly distinguished himself, and 
 cut down with his stalwart arm many of his foes. 
 
 " Sweeps his long arm that sahre's whirling sway, 
 Sheds fast atonement for its first delay." * 
 
 * Corsair.
 
 84 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 The victory began to declare in his favor. The 
 Turkish battalions wavered. The Pacha Palseologus 
 quickly perceived the weakness, and ordered his Janiz- 
 zaries to advance in support of the yielding legion. He 
 placed himself among them, to encourage the bold and 
 to punish the laggart. Quickly recognizing D'Aubus- 
 son in the fray, less by his splendid armor than by the 
 destruction everywhere caused by his presence, he stir- 
 red up his Janizzaries by the promise of a magnificent 
 reward to set upon him, and to avenge in his death the 
 slaughter of their companions. Twelve of his men 
 vowed to slay him or to perish "in the attempt. They 
 threw themselves impetuously into the melee, and made 
 their way against all antagonists to the spot where 
 D'Aubusson was fighting, and in spite of the rally of 
 the Knights to his assistance, inflicted on him five 
 severe wounds. D'Aubusson heeded them not in the 
 excitement of the battle, and continued to fight with 
 his usual ardor. His companions perceived the blood 
 streaming over his armor, and entreated him to retire. 
 "No," said the grand old man, in answer to the tender 
 entreaty ; " let me die here. I can never fall more 
 gloriously than in defence of my faith, my Order, and 
 my brothers." These heroic sentiments, with the sight 
 of his wounds and blood, kindled such a desire to re- 
 venge him, and so inflamed the ardor of the soldiery, 
 that they determined not to survive their chief, and
 
 SUCCESSFUL DEFIANCE. 85 
 
 rushed with renewed courage upon the thickest bat- 
 talions of their foes, and made such a dreadful carnage, 
 that the Turks, panic-struck at the fury of their blows, 
 took them for fresh troops, or perhaps, as the historian* 
 says, for beings more than mortal. They lost at once 
 their courage, judgment, and presence of mind. All 
 fled, and so great became the panic that they fought 
 wifh each other for a quicker and clearer passage to 
 escape by. The Knights took advantage of the gen- 
 eral consternation. Not content with the re-possession 
 of the wall, rampart, and platform, they sallied out in 
 pursuit of the retreating Ottomans. In vain did Palseo- 
 logus endeavor to reassure them. In spite of his exer- 
 tions their stampede increased. They even dragged 
 him along with them in the general rout, and he was 
 too happy in finding a safe asylum in his camp. He 
 gave orders for an immediate re-embarkation, and re- 
 turned to his imperial master overwhelmed with shame 
 and confusion. D'Aubusson, all covered with his own 
 blood, and with that of his enemies, was conveyed by 
 loving hearts and tender hands to his palace, where, 
 after a few weeks, he recovered, and was soon able to 
 go in solemn procession to the Cathedral of St. John, to 
 return public thanks to the God of battles for the res- 
 toration of his health, and for the unlocked for deliver- 
 ance from his enemies. 
 
 * Vertot, VoL II., p. 330.
 
 86 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 Such are the chief features of this successful defiance 
 by the Sea-Kings of the whole weight of the vast Otto- 
 man Empire. The proud threat of the Mohammedan 
 conqueror of the fair city of Constantinople was unful- 
 filled, the avowed object of his life and the darling aim 
 of his ambition were frustrated. 
 
 " Unwisely who provokes an abler foe, 
 Conquest still flies him, and he strives for woe." 
 
 From first to last, by night or day, by land or water, 
 by bombardment or escalade, the Ottoman attempt had 
 totally failed. The Turkish generals and soldiers were 
 foiled and beaten by the perseverance, valor, and con- 
 fidence in a righteous cause of D'Aubusson and his 
 companions. Europe, saved by their firmness and en- 
 couraged by their example, rang with the praises of the 
 ** Sea-Kings of the Mediterranean." 
 
 Mohammed II. did not long survive the defeat of his 
 fleet and army. The keen sense of his disappointment 
 shortened his life. In the feverish dreams of his sick- 
 bed the words, " Rhodes, Rhodes, Rhodes ! " were con- 
 tinually on his lips. He died Thursday, May 4th, A. D. 
 1481. The succession to his throne and power gave 
 rise to a stormy civil war between his two sons, Bajazet 
 and Zizim ; so that the fraternity of the Sea-Kings 
 breathed freely in the clear conviction that there would 
 be no second immediate invasion of their home, but 
 that the ambitious schemes of Mohammed II. were
 
 SUCCESSFUL DEFIANCE. 87 
 
 buried with him in his tomb. D'Aubusson, indeed, by 
 a singular coincidence, became the arbiter of the des- 
 tiny of these two sons of his great enemy and op- 
 pressor. Zizim, the younger brother, in his hour of 
 defeat, sought an asylum at Rhodes. The request was 
 granted, but it proved an evil boon, as it led to his 
 being kept, under various pretexts, a prisoner in Europe 
 unt^l- his death. Bajazet, in his turn, regarding the 
 Grand Master and his Fraternity with favor, as they 
 were the means of relieving him of the rivalry of his 
 brother, heaped upon them a guerdon of rich gifts and 
 royal munificence. 
 
 Among the presents given by Bajazet was one that 
 we should think it strange for a king to give, but 
 which was very differently estimated by all classes in 
 those days, viz., a relic. Pieces of the actual or true 
 cross on which our Saviour suffered, or small parts of 
 the bodies of persons supposed to be remarkable for their 
 sanctity, were treasured up as relics, and were supposed 
 by some persons to possess certain virtues for curing 
 diseases or warding off evil. Hairs from the head of 
 the Blessed Virgin Mary, links, or even filings, from 
 the chain with which St. Peter was bound, part of the 
 pillars tied to which St. Paul was scourged, or the finger, 
 foot, or nail of some early saint or martyr, were thu8 
 objects greatly coveted and sought after. It is wise to 
 pay honor where honor is due ; but adoration and re-
 
 88 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 spect to such relics as these is forbidden, as " a fond or 
 foolish thing, vainly invented, and repugnant to the 
 Word of God." Bajazet gave D'Aubusson, as the most 
 precious gift he could think of to show his gratitude for 
 his services, the hand of John the Baptist. This relic, 
 however, was enclosed in a magnificent casket of cy- 
 press-wood, lined with crimson velvet, and enriched 
 with diamonds, rubies, and numerous other precious 
 stones. 
 
 There is a legend connected with it, showing how 
 so curious a relic came into the possession of a Moham- 
 medan Sultan. The body of John Baptist, after his 
 beheadal by King Herod, is asserted to have been 
 buried at Sebast, where he died. St. Luke, it is said, 
 opened his tomb, and took away from the dead body 
 the right hand as being the most sacred part, because 
 at the Baptism of our Blessed Lord in the Jordan it 
 had touched His head. He took it to Antioch, and 
 placed it in the church which he founded in that city. 
 Here it remained until Constantino Porphyrogenitus 
 (born in the purple), Emperor of Constantinople, bribed 
 one of the monks to whose care it was intrusted to 
 steal it, and bring it to him at Constantinople. It was 
 placed with all honor in the Church of St. John in that 
 capital, and there it remained till the capture of that 
 city by Mohammed II. The Ottoman conqueror seized 
 it, and for the sake of the costly jewels on its case,
 
 SUCCESSFUL DEFIANCE. 89 
 
 placed it in the public treasury : from which it was 
 transferred by the Sultan Bajazet as a regal token of 
 his regard to D'Aubusson and his brotherhood. There 
 is more about this " hand of John Baptist " before the 
 end of the eventful history of " The Sea-Kings." 
 
 This present of Bajazet was not the only gift offered 
 to D'Aubusson. The Christian princes of Europe vied 
 with*" each other in heaping on him proofs of their admi- 
 ration and affection. Letters of congratulation and rich 
 rewards were sent by the sovereigns of France and 
 Germany. The Pope, Innocent VIII., raised him to 
 the dignity of a Cardinal of the Roman Church, and en- 
 titled him "The Buckler of Christianity." King Henry 
 VII., of England, sent him a letter written with his own 
 hand, and a gift of some high-bred English horses. 
 Thus full of years and honor D'Aubusson lived for 
 thirty-three years after his famous defence of Rhodes. 
 He died upwards of eighty years of age, on Friday, the 
 30th of June, A. D. 1503. Never was hero more univer- 
 sally lamented, nor graced with a more splendid burial. 
 His body lay in state, dressed in his robes of office, with 
 gloves of silk on his hands, and shoes of golden cloth 
 upon his feet, beneath a rich catafalque* of cloth of 
 gold. On his breast lay a crucifix of gold. At his right 
 * Catafalco, ItaL, "a temporary wooden structure decorated with paint- 
 ings, escutcheons, and feathers, and placed in the middle of the choir, or 
 church, for the greater honor of the bodies of persons of distinction, at theii 
 funerals."
 
 90 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 hand, upon a table, were the emblems of his Cardinal- 
 ship ; on his left were his arms, his lances, and his 
 sword, which he had used at the defence of the Jews' 
 rampart, still stained with the blood shed upon that 
 memorable day. Around the body stood seven 
 Knights, one of whom bare his Cardinal's hat, another 
 his Legate's cross, for he had been Ambassador or 
 Legate for the Pope on several occasions, a third the 
 standard of the Generalissimo of the Christian League, 
 of which he had been nominated the chief, and the 
 other four carried pennons of the arms of his family and 
 of the Fraternity. 
 
 The whole city was moved as their illustrious prince 
 was conveyed to the tomb. The Greek Patriarch and 
 all his clergy, the Archbishop of Rhodes and his priests, 
 two hundred citizens of Rhodes, dressed in mourning 
 and bearing lighted torches, led the sad procession. 
 After these came the Knights bearing his banners, 
 which they now trailed upon the ground. Next to 
 these was the body on the bier, borne upon the shoul- 
 ders of the Grand Crosses of the Order, none of an in- 
 ferior grade being admitted to this high privilege. 
 Then followed the Knights Companions in their richest 
 robes. As the revered body was lowed into its last 
 resting-place, the baton of his office and the golden 
 spurs of his Knighthood were broken by the heralds. 
 Thus revered in life and honored in death was Pierre
 
 SUCCESSFUL DEFIANCE. 91 
 
 D'Aubusson, the defiant opponent of the whole power 
 of the Ottomans, the gallant champion of his island 
 home in its hour of direst peril, and one of the noblest, 
 bravest, and greatest of the famous Sea-Kings of the 
 Mediterraneaa
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPARTURE. 
 
 "Mahommed's galleys come the sentinel 
 Rang from his steeple tow'r the 'larum bell." 
 
 FABEB'S Knights of St. John. 
 
 WITHIN twenty years of these splendid obsequies of 
 Pierre D'Aubusson, his island home was again invaded 
 by the turbaned hosts of the Moslem. The young 
 Ottoman Sultan Solyman, styled the Magnificent (from 
 the brilliancy of his victories, and from the splendor 
 with which he adorned the city of Constantinople), 
 the great-grandson of Mohammed II., believed himself 
 fated to be the avenger of the defeat of his ancestor, 
 and to be the destroyer of Rhodes. Shortly after his 
 accession to the throne he summoned his Divan, the 
 great Council of the Empire, to discuss the important 
 question of peace or war. The solemn meeting of the 
 Council was fixed for Thursday, the 13th of September, 
 A. D 1520. The morning of that eventful day dawned 
 upon a scene of stir and excitement in the capital of the 
 Sultan. A light breeze played upon the waters of 
 the Hellespont. The sun illuminated with its early
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPAETUBE. 
 
 rays the gilded domes and painted minarets situated 
 on its shores. The beautiful harbor of the Golden 
 Horn was gay with the caiques of the high officers 
 of the Serai and of their numerous attendants. The 
 court of the imperial palace was lined on three sides 
 with splendidly accoutred troups and Janizzaries, while 
 on the fourth side was gathered a grand company of 
 vizie^ pachas, generals, and secretaries in the varied 
 and rich robes of ceremony familiar to Eastern courts. 
 
 The Council Hall at Constantinople deserves a brief 
 description. It was a splendid chamber, with a vast 
 gilded cupola, adorned around its lower circumference 
 with gorgeous paintings. At its upper end was a 
 sofa covered with costly brocade, and placed on a dais 
 supported by four marble pedestals, and canopied with 
 curtains looped with ropes of fine pearls. In the wall 
 of this magnificent apartment was an orifice or window 
 fronted with a golden lattice, at which the Sultan could 
 sit and hear the debates of his ministers without being 
 seen. This noble room* was provided with four en- 
 trances: one at the upper end, called the " Gate of Fe- 
 licity," reserved for the exclusive use of the Sultan ; 
 another at the lower end formed the ordinary mode 
 of access. The door in one of its sides was named the 
 " Ambassadors' Gate," and was only opened to admit 
 the representatives from foreign countries, who sought 
 D'Ottason's Tableaus General de I' Empire Ottoman.
 
 94 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 audiences of or brought presents or tribute to the 
 Sultan ; while the other side door was called the " Gate 
 of the Condemned," as it was never used except for 
 the sad purpose of receiving those who had incurred the 
 displeasure of their imperial master, and who passed 
 through this door into a courtyard, within which was a 
 fountain and a small mosque, in which the unfortunate 
 victims made the last ablutions required by their re- 
 ligion, and said their last prayers previous to their 
 execution. Below the throne were rich sofas, with 
 handsomely adorned tables or desks before each, ar- 
 ranged in rows on either side for the use of the 
 members of the council. 
 
 Within this room the young Sultan, his cheek yet 
 fevered with the flush of successful conquest in his late 
 capture of Belgrade,* and his soul yet panting for 
 greater renown, in the wresting from the Christian Sea- 
 Kings their maritime dominion, now took his seat to 
 discuss with the noblest, wisest, and bravest of his 
 councillors the future policy of his reign. Amongst 
 those present on this august occasion were Mustapha 
 Pacha, married to the sister of the Sultan ; Curtogli, 
 a famous Corsair, Admiral of the Ottoman fleet ; Pacha 
 
 * Mohammed n. had been repulsed at Belgrade and at Rhodes. Belgrade 
 was captured by Solyman, August 20, 1520 ; and this conquest increased his 
 desire to wipe away, by the subjugation of Rhodes, the other great disaster 
 of the reign of his predecessor and great-grandfather, Mohammed LL
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPAKTUBE. 95 
 
 Achmet, the Captain-General of the Artillery ; the 
 chief Aga or Commander of the Janizzaries ; the three 
 Caziasters or first Judges in the land ; the Natoli 
 and Beglier Beys; Pacha Peri, a brave general, tutor to 
 the Sultan in his youth, and the second in command of 
 his armies; the Sheik Islam or head of the Mufti, the 
 religious teachers of Mohametanism ; and several other 
 pachas and viziers entrusted with the control of the 
 finances, the collection of tribute, or the government of 
 distant provinces. The debate was opened by the chief 
 of the Mufti: 
 
 " Go," said he, " most illustrious of thy race, more 
 distinguished than thy ancestors in grace of beauty, and 
 in fortune of war go, gain ineffable glory ; wipe away 
 the former dishonor to our arms. Conquer an island 
 which baffled the might of the illustrious Mohammed. 
 Thy late success over the infidel dogs is an omen of 
 future triumphs. The continued plaints of thy sub- 
 jects, who, whether as pilgrims to Mecca, or as seafarers 
 on the ocean, are the prey of these Sea-Kings of the 
 Mediterranean, demand their destruction at thy vic- 
 torious hands. Thy religion requires thee to remove 
 every obstacle in the path to the sacred shrine. We, 
 as the servants of the great Prophet, give thee promise 
 of success. Sultan, go up and prosper." 
 
 The next to address the Divan was an aged Pacha, 
 who served under Mohammed II., and took part in hia 
 unsuccessful expedition against Rhodes, A. D. 1480 :
 
 96 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 " Most illustrious Prince," said he, " thy servant is 
 but a dog in they sight that he should lift his voice in 
 council. However grievous it may be to hear without 
 the power to relieve the complaints of thy power, yet 
 discretion is often the best part of valor. Strife once 
 commenced, like water poured out, cannot be con- 
 trolled. May thine arm ever be victories, and thy face 
 white ; but there are no small difficulties to be over- 
 come. The walls of that detested island are strong, 
 and the brave men behind them are better than strong 
 ramparts. Their own valor,- the attachment and patriot- 
 ism of their people, the remembrance of their former 
 success, will animate their hearts, and make them for- 
 midable opponents and foemen. A little spark will 
 cause a great conflagration. An attack on Rhodes will 
 infallibly lead to a league of the Christian powers. 
 The sovereigns of Europe will combine against the 
 distinguished armies of your empire. The Soudan of 
 Egypt and the other tributaries lately conquered by 
 the might of your illustrious father, our late master, 
 Selim (may his shadow never grow less), will revolt 
 and lend their aid to thy foes. The obstacles to a 
 successful issue to thy expedition will be greater than 
 ever thy puissant arm can achieve. Be wise in time, 
 Sultan! Abstain from a conquest which will at the 
 .best be but a conquest to thy cost." 
 
 Mustapha Pacha, as brother-in-law of Solyman, cog-
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPARTURE. 97 
 
 nizant' of his secret wishes, and, as Commander-in- 
 Chief of the army, desirous himself of war, replied to 
 this speech with the adroitness of a courtier and the 
 spirit of a soldier. " Most illustrious sovereign and 
 lord ! The snows of age, however respected, oftet 
 accompany a heart too chilled to realize the strong 
 arm or to appreciate the unflinching resolution of the 
 young?"" Be not deterred, I pray thee, from thy noble 
 purpose by any ignoble considerations. Thine arm 
 has already been victorious. Thy fleets and armies 
 are numerous enough to cover the soil of this cursed 
 isle, and to eat up, as the ox licketh the herb of the 
 field, this handful of knights and soldiers. Nor is 
 there cause to fear the formation of a Christian league 
 or crusade against thy mightiness. These Christian 
 kings hate each other too much to unite in an ex- 
 pedition against thee. Surely thy late capture of Bel- 
 grade was a greater grief to this sceptred soldier, 
 Charles V., than any attack on these French knights 
 can be, and yet wagged he not tongue nor moved a 
 foot to impede thee. The voice of the Mufti is the will 
 of fate ! Thanks to the good sword of thy father 
 Selim (may his shadow never be less), thy empire 
 now is twice as large as that of thy great ancestor, 
 Mohammed II. ; and shall these few Christian rebels 
 continue to beard thy power, to capture thy ships, to 
 molest thy commerce, to interrupt thy path from one 
 7
 
 98 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 portion of thy dominions to another, to stop thy pil- 
 grims on their sacred mission, to provide a shelter for 
 thy fugitive slaves, to give encouragement to thy dis- 
 affected tributaries, and to throw dust on the insti- 
 tutions of Mohammed himself, thy great prophet and 
 precursor! The conquest of this Rhodes has become 
 a necessity for thine empire. It cannot be delayed. 
 Sultan, rise to the greatness of thine own thoughts, 
 to the emulation of thy father's fame, to the wiping 
 away a disgrace yet attached to our armies, and to the 
 just revenge of the injuries done unto thy people. The 
 recollection of past wrongs, the voice of religion, the 
 promised benediction of the Mufti, call thee to obey the 
 noble aspirations of thine own nature, and to revenge 
 thee of thine enemies ! " 
 
 This speech carried conviction to every heart. The 
 voice of the Divan declared for war. Solyman pre- 
 pared a mighty army, gathered from the numerous 
 tributary nations of his empire. He mustered 160,000 
 fighting men, and 60,000 Hungarian peasants for servile 
 works, as laborers in the trenches, or as hewers of wood 
 and drawers of water. He paid the utmost attention 
 to his train of artillery, and collected 66 guns of various 
 sizes and calibre. His fleet and transports made up a 
 flotilla of 400 vessels of all kinds. 
 
 The Sea-Kings were fully aware of the true position 
 of affairs. They well knew the increased power and
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPARTURE. 99 
 
 dominion of their hereditary foemen, which now pressed 
 and hemmed them in on every side. They could ex- 
 pect little or no help from the sovereigns of France and 
 Germany, now engaged in an unhappy internecine war- 
 fare among themselves. They did not, however, abate 
 one jot of heart or hope, but resolved to trust to their 
 own good swords and brave deeds for a second effectual 
 deliverance. Their Grand Master, the aged Caretto, 
 the last surviving captain in the former siege, had died 
 in the very year of Solyman's accession to the throne, 
 and a new chief, Villiers de Lisle Adam, had been 
 elected in his place, January 31, A. D. 1521. Equal to 
 their former great leader, Pierre D'Aubusson, in sol- 
 dierly experience, personal courage, and honest devo- 
 tion to duty, and superior to him in piety and prudence, 
 Lisle Adam proved himself to be be one raised up by a 
 kind providence for this great emergency, and to be 
 worthy of the confidence of his illustrious brotherhood, 
 as a chief well fitted to direct their councils and desti- 
 nies in this their day of renewed trial and disaster. 
 
 A singular series of mishaps befel Lisle Adam on his 
 voyage to assume the functions of his high office. 
 Three out of the four great elements of Nature, accord- 
 ing to the philosophy of that day, might have seemed 
 to the superstitious to have conspired for his destruc- 
 tion. First of all, a fire broke out in his ship as he was 
 off the coast of Nice, and burnt the sails and cordage,
 
 100 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 and at one time threatened to gain such mastery over 
 the vessel, that the soldiers and sailors on board pre- 
 pared to throw themselves into the sea that they might 
 swim to the shore, or to the galleys forming the convoy. 
 Lisle Adam, by his presence of mind, saved himself and 
 crew. Peremptorily forbidding any one to leave the 
 ship, he gave orders with such calmness and confidence, 
 that the fire was extinguished. His next peril was 
 by water: a violent storm nearly wrecked his ship. 
 The air, also, seemed equally adverse to him, as, during 
 the storm, lightning struck the ship, and, entering the 
 state cabin, struck his sword without injury to the 
 scabbard. Nor were these his least misfortunes ; for, 
 having put into Syracuse to refit, he heard that Cur- 
 togli, the Turkish Admiral, was lying off Cape Malea, 
 with a powerful fleet, to intercept him. With a happy 
 mixture of boldness and good fortune, he passed safely 
 through his cruisers during the night. 
 
 Lisle Adam, on his arrival at Rhodes, took every pre- 
 caution for the safety of the city. He carefully looked 
 after his walls, provisions, and magazines. He sent 
 trusty agents to buy corn and wheat in Sicily, then, 
 as of old, the great granery of the Mediterranean towns, 
 to purchase wine in Crete, and, the most important 
 task of all, to hire mercenaries, or to obtain volunteers 
 for his army. The Governor of Crete, though the 
 island was subject to the republic of Venice, through
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPARTURE. 101 
 
 fear of offending Solyman, issued a proclamation prohibit- 
 ing the inhabitants from rendering any assistance to the 
 Hospitallers; but Bozio, the agent commissioned by the 
 Grand Master, managed so well that he induced a mer- 
 chant, Bonaldi by name, to bring to Rhodes a cargo 
 of wine destined for Constantinople, hired 500 men, 
 whom he embarked on board his ship under the dis- 
 guiserof merchants and sailors, and persuaded a cele- 
 brated engineer, Gabriel Martenegro, to transfer his 
 service from the flag of the Venetian Republic to the 
 standard of St. John. When the Governor of Crete 
 discovered the trick that had been played on him, 
 and the evasion of his commands, he sent out two ships, 
 with orders to bring Martenegro back, dead or alive. 
 Bozio, finding himself to be hard pressed, escaped by 
 a stratagem. He took down his mast, furled his 
 sails, shipped his oars, and anchored close to the cliffs. 
 He then covered the ship's sides with cloths as near to 
 the color of the cliff as possible, and eventually escaped 
 after sunset. His danger was not yet over ; for he fell 
 in with the Ottoman fleet during the night, and only 
 passed through them in safety by his familiarity with 
 the Greek language, by his use of which the captains in 
 command supposed his ship to be one of the convoy - 
 under their protection. 
 
 Martenegro was received at Rhodes with the greatest 
 enthusiasm. He was admitted to the highest honors of
 
 102 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 the Order, and entrusted with the exclusive command 
 of the artillery, and with the superintendence of the 
 siege. He devoted himself at once to his task, and 
 increased the strength of the fortress by new rav- 
 elins, fresh openings in the walls, additional casemates, 
 improved scarps and curtains, and by a better arrange- 
 ment of the points of firing, rendering support to 
 each other throughout the circuit of the fortifica- 
 tions. Lisle Adam, assisted by his 'counsels and encour- 
 aged by his presence, continued his operations. He 
 reviewed his Knights, and found their number to be 
 600, with 4,500 squires and men-at-arms. To these 
 he allotted the charge of the different bastions and 
 ramparts, according to the old-established custom, 
 which assigned particular posts to the care of each sepa- 
 rate nation, and yet reserved from their number five 
 different companies, four of which, under trusty 
 Knights, were to meet any special emergency of at- 
 tack or defence as it might arise, and the fifth was 
 to act as his own body-guard a sort of forlorn 
 hope, to assist at posts of pre-eminent danger. The 
 standard of the Church and the banner of the Order 
 were placed in the hands of two French- knights, 
 while the chiefs own pennon was entrusted to the 
 custody of a young Englishman, Henry Hansel. Lisle 
 Adam further arranged the townsmen of Rhodes into 
 companies of pikeman and archers, and formed the 
 peasants into bands of laborers and pioneers.
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPARTURE. 103 
 
 The lists on either side being thus set, we may lift 
 the curtain, and exhibit the great drama of the fight to 
 be presented to our view. On Wednesday, the 26th of 
 June, the mighty armament of the Turks appeared 
 in full sight of the inhabitants of Rhodes. Curtogli, 
 the Admiral in command, deemed it prudent to avoid 
 the fortress, and to disembark his troops in a small 
 bay about six miles from the town. The Sea-Kings 
 wer*e two few m number to incur the risk of attack- 
 ing forces at that distance from their walls. The actual 
 landing was unopposed. The early incidents of the 
 contests were, however, decidedly adverse to the 
 Turks. The cavalry of the Knights, by their bold 
 and frequent charges, materially interrupted the first 
 preparation of the entrenchments and the moving from 
 the ships of the heavier pieces of ordnance ; and as 
 the Turkish soldiers were disposed to judge of the final 
 issue of events by the early auguries, the whole host be- 
 came dispirited and disinclined to proceed with the 
 war. Such, indeed, was their evil plight, from the fire 
 of the fortress, the determined onsets of the Knights, 
 the want of shelter and food, combined with a distrust 
 of their youthful commander, Pacha Mustapha, that 
 several Janizzary regiments broke into open mutiny, 
 and demanded to be led* homewards. The tidings of 
 this disastrous turn of affairs were conveyed to Soly- 
 man, who hastened to assume the command of his army
 
 104 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 in person, and to quell with his presence this spirit 
 of revolt. The arrival of the Snltan was announced by 
 the roar of artiller}', and by the clang of drum, gong, 
 cymbal, tambour, and other noisy instruments so pleas- 
 ant to the ears of Eastern soldiers. On the next day a 
 singular scene was exhibited in the Ottoman camp. 
 Solyman, surrounded by a magnificent array of his 
 splendidly-equipped officers, attended by his bodj-- 
 guard of Mamelukes, and accompanied by the utmost 
 display and lustre of military pomp, proceeded on his 
 charger to a gilded and curtained throne erected for his 
 use. He summoned before him the troops of whose 
 conduct he had reason to complain, and bade them 
 come without their arms or military accoutrements. 
 He then encircled them with the 15,000 new troops 
 which had accompanied him on his landing, and thus 
 addressed them, with a stern and displeased counte- 
 nance : 
 
 "I would that I could call you soldiers, for I would 
 not then have taken from you your arms. But I 
 cannot. You are only slaves slaves in fear, and 
 women in cowardice. Think you that your mere 
 presence on these shores will so terrify your foes that 
 they will lift their hands in entreaty, and come out 
 to you with their feet in irons? Know you not that we 
 fight the bravest heroes in Christendom, men of mettle, 
 trained from their youth in arms, bold and fierce aa
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPARTURE. 105 
 
 lions, and thirsty as tigers for Mohammedan blood, not 
 knowing how to yield the more courageous the more 
 they are attacked ? Suppose you, base and degenerate 
 slaves ! that you can possibly conquer, if you fly before 
 you have seen your enemy? as I hear you would 
 have done, had not the sea prevented you. But before 
 I tolerate such disgraceful conduct, I will inflict on you 
 a punishment so severe that the greatest cowards shall 
 henceforth he deterred from following your example! " 
 
 Scarcely had he finished this oration, when his armed 
 soldiers, in reply to a signal from him, drew their 
 swords, and pointed them at the breasts of their com- 
 panions as if they would slay them. The unhappy mu- 
 tineers, at the sight of the naked scimitars, threw them- 
 selves on their knees, and with earnest exclamations im- 
 plored the compassion of the Sultan. The pachas and 
 viziers also approached the throne, entreated for mercy, 
 and offered to pledge their lives that the imperial 
 clemency would not be bestowed in vain, but that 
 the mutineers, if pardoned, would atone for their of- 
 fence with their blood. Then said the Sultan, " I 
 grant their lives to your entreaties. Let them go 
 and show their repentance on the bastions and bodies 
 of their foes." 
 
 The presence of Solyman imparted greater energy 
 and system to the attack. He took up his quarters 
 on the north side of the town, in a central position, not
 
 106 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 far from St. Stephen's Hill. The whole month of July 
 was devoted to strictly siege operations, in making 
 entrenchments, cutting ditches, erecting batteries for 
 the cannon, and more particularly in constructing two 
 great mounds, or " cavaliers," as they were called, 
 made of earth and rubbish, strong enough to carry 
 large guns, and high enough to dominate over the walls 
 and ramparts of the fortress. One of these mounds 
 was placed opposite the bastion of Italy, in the quarter 
 occupied by the troops of Pacha Peri ; and the other 
 was located between the bastions of Spain and Au- 
 vergne, in the encampment of Pacha Achmet. The 
 peasants of Hungary and of the provinces assisted 
 in the preparation of these works, and, as they were 
 constructed within the reach of the guns of the fortress, 
 no little carnage was wrought among them. Solyman 
 took no heed of this, 
 
 " Nor does he pause with horrent brow to rate, 
 "What millions die that Cassar may be great" * 
 
 The only damage done during this month to the be- 
 sieged was the destruction of the elevated cupola of the 
 Cathedral-church of St. John, which had hitherto 
 served as an excellent post of observation. 
 
 The month of September inaugurated an unceasing 
 succession of onsets and assaults, gallantly made, but 
 successfully resisted. The first serious assault was 
 Campbell, Pleasures of Hope.
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPARTURE. 107 
 
 made in the early part of the month on the English 
 bastion. A portion of this had fallen down from the 
 explosion of a mine. The Turks, in their first onset, 
 gained the breach and planted their ladders, hoping to 
 effect an entrance to the bastion. The Knights, having 
 recovered the surprise occasioned by the suddenness of 
 the explosion, swarmed over the bastion and charged 
 with # a- grand fusillade from arquebus and grenade. 
 Lisle Adam was in St. John's Church at his devotions, 
 but hearing the noise of the explosion, just as the priest 
 commenced the Psalm, " Deus, in adjutorium meum 
 intende," " Lord, be Thou my helper," he exclaimed, 
 " I accept the omen ; " and then, addressing his body- 
 guard, he said, " Come, sirs, we must exchange the 
 service of our praises for the sacrifice of our lives." 
 
 " He said: and on the rampart heights arrayed 
 His trusty warriors, firm but undismayed; 
 Firm-paced and slow a horrid front they form, 
 Still as the breeze, but dreadful as the storm." * 
 
 The energy of the attack of Lisle Adam and of his 
 brave warriors was attested by the retreat of his oppo- 
 nents. Pacha Mustapha, who saw from the trenches 
 the sudden flight and consternation of his soldiers, 
 rushed forward, sword in hand, and, in his passion, 
 cut down the foremost fugitives, and tried to impress 
 upon the others that they had no more safety in 
 flight than in the breach. The fight was renewed 
 * Campbell, Pleasures of Hope.
 
 108 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 under the immediate advance of Mustapha. Both 
 parties seemed equally determined. Fire and sword 
 did their sanguinary work. Man contended with man, 
 and the worse and weaker soldier fell a victim to the 
 poignard of his adversary. The Turks at last, over- 
 powered by the bullets, grenades, stones, and liquid 
 fire of their opponents, turned their backs and fled. 
 This fearful encounter cost Solyman 3,000 men. The 
 Sea-Kings suffered rather in the quality than in the 
 number of their slain, and had to lament on this 
 occasion the deaths of Chevalier D'Argillemont, the 
 chief in command of the galleys, of a brave captain of 
 artillery, and of the youthful and devoted Henry 
 Mansel, the brave standard-bearer to Lisle Adam. 
 
 The Turkish generals, regardless of human life, and 
 only anxious to please their imperial master by securing 
 the capture of the fortress, renewed these assaults day 
 by day at this period of the siege. The next great at- 
 tack was made by Pacha Peri on the bastion and ram- 
 part entrusted to the charge and custody of the Knights 
 of Italy. This veteran commander, the most experi- 
 enced of the Sultan's generals, who had led his troops 
 to victory in many a campaign, and who, in spite 
 of his years, was as active and zealous in his sovereign's 
 cause as any of his younger companions, combined pru- 
 dence and precaution with his courage. He concealed 
 a large body of soldiers behind the " cavalier," or large
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPARTURE. 109 
 
 mound which had been erected in the encampment, and 
 led them to an assault at daybreak on Friday, the 13th 
 day of September. The advance of his veteran soldiers 
 was so rapid that he surprised and killed the sentinels, 
 and obtained a footing on the bastion. 
 
 " The storm prevails: the bastion yields away; 
 Bursts the wild cry of horror and dismay." * 
 
 Btttf the Knights of Italy, though surprised, were 
 no craven defenders of their post. Enraged at the 
 presence of their enemies, they rushed upon them 
 with the utmost impetuosity. The fight was long and 
 desperate. Peri continually sent forward fresh troops, 
 and while he issued his orders a cannon-ball killed, by 
 his side, the Governor of Negropont, a young pacha of 
 tried valor, and an especial favorite of the Sultan. 
 Burning to avenge his death, Peri led on his veterans in 
 person. Meanwhile Lisle Adam, being informed of the 
 attack, had come with his chosen company of Knights 
 and men-at-arms to support the defenders of the bas- 
 tion : " Come," said he to his friends ; " drive we back 
 these Paynim ; we have no cause to fear men whom we 
 make to fear us every day." At the same time he 
 suited his action to the word, and rushed forward 
 against the .be, pike in hand. The chivalry of Italy, 
 animated by the presence of their chief, performed 
 prodigies of valor, and drove back the veterans of Peri 
 * Campbell, Pleasures of Hope.
 
 110 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 in confusion from the walls. The victory was dearly 
 purchased by the loss of many of their nation, but 
 Rhodes was saved for that day by their valor and 
 intrepidity. 
 
 The bastion and rampart committed to the special 
 charge of the English soldiery had already been the 
 scene of the severest conflict hitherto endured in the 
 siege, but now they were called upon to resist a far 
 more formidable and organized attack. 
 
 Mustapha Pacha, the Commander-in-Chief, whose 
 camp fronted the English wall, determined for a second 
 time to avail himself of the breach made in this part of 
 the defences by the explosion of the mine, and obtain 
 by it an entrance to the fortress. He took Pacha 
 Achmet, who occupied the post next to himself in the 
 leaguer round the city, into his councils, and prepared 
 with him a concerted plan of operations. The two 
 generals agreed that the Grand Vizier Mustapha should 
 assail the English wall, and that at the same time 
 Achmet should on his part attack the neighboring bas- 
 tions of Spain and Auvergne, opposite his quarters. 
 The 17th day of September was chosen for carrying out 
 these combined operations. Mustapha selected five of 
 his bravest battalions for this duty. Placing himself at 
 their head, he issued from the protection of his trenches, 
 mounted the heaps of rubbish caused by the ruined 
 part of the bastion, gained for the second time the
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPARTURE. Ill 
 
 ascent of the breach, and, in spite of all the grenades 
 and arrows of the besieged, reached the ramparts. 
 They could not, however, hold their advantage : a com- 
 pany of English soldiers, under the command of Sir 
 John Buch,* rushed from the platform of the rampart, 
 and, supported by Prejan, the Grand Prior of St. 
 Giles, and by a gallant German Knight, Christopher 
 Valdfier, and their squires and men-at-arms, made so 
 furious a charge, that the Turks fled panic-stricken from 
 the post. Mustapha, more brave as a soldier than suc- 
 cessful as a commander, exerted himself to the utmost. 
 He threw himself into the midst of the melee, slew a 
 Knight with his own sword, and if the soldiers had 
 equaled their leader in spirit and determination, the re- 
 sult of the conflict might have been different* This 
 success of the English Knights was dearly purchased : 
 Sir John Buch, Christopher Valdner, and other brave 
 commanders were numbered among the dead. 
 
 The Pacha Achmet was equally unsuccessful. The 
 troops selected for the assault found a large body of 
 Spaniards awaiting them, and were met with a murder- 
 ous fire from the large guns of the fortress, under which 
 they reeled, and fled to the cover of their trenches. 
 The loss of the Turks in these combined attacks ex- 
 ceeded 3,000 soldiers. 
 
 The Sultan, alarmed at this slaughter of his troops, 
 
 Porter's Knight of Malta, vol. i., p. 457. Vertot, vol. u., p. 483.
 
 112 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 and irritated at the slow progress of his generals, sum* 
 moned a grand council of war. Various plans were 
 proposed ; when at last Mustapha, who had so strongly 
 advocated the war, and who was proportionally the 
 most vexed at its ill success, animated alike by dis- 
 appointment at his last failure, and by his desire for 
 an opportunity of retrieving his disasters by a glorious 
 success, rose in the council, and thus expressed his 
 opinion : 
 
 "" It appears to me," he said, " that we carry on this 
 war just in the way our enemies would most wish. 
 Our generosity makes their forces equal to ours. We 
 attack one post at a time, and so give these Chris- 
 tian Knights the opportunity of concentrating all their 
 strength on one point of defence. If we gave, as we 
 might easily do, since our army environs the whole 
 fortress, the assault in many places at once, and at- 
 tacked the numerous breaches we have made at one 
 and the same time, then would the besieged be pre- 
 vented from rendering, as they now do, mutual aid and 
 assistance to each other ; and our fair standards of the 
 Crescent would soon float over its walls in triumph, in 
 the place of the hated symbol of the Cross." 
 
 Solyman highly approved of the suggestion, and at 
 once named Tuesday, the 24th of September, as the 
 day for a general assault. A proclamation was made 
 throughout the camp. "To-morrow is the assault
 
 DEFEAT AXD DEPAETUBE. 113 
 
 The stones of the fortress and the soil of the land are 
 the Sultan's , the lives and goods of the inhabitants are 
 the soldiers'." This promise of pillage was given to 
 encourage the army. Preparation was made for the 
 assault by a general continuous bombardment of the 
 town and fortress, for the space of two days and 
 nights. The batteries were more particularly pointed 
 at thePEnglish, Spanish, and Italian bastions, which 
 had been the theatres of the preceding assaults, and 
 where the breaches in the walls seemed the most 
 practicable. The night before the assault Lisle Adam 
 went round in person to every post on the whole circuit 
 of the walls,' and, with a few manly and spirited words 
 of counsel and encouragement, exhorted them to resist 
 to the utmost the meditated attack. Nor were his 
 words in vain. The chevaliers and esquires assured 
 him, by their bright countenances and their burning 
 words, that his confidence in their courage and deter- 
 mination would not be betrayed nor misplaced. 
 
 At dawn on the appointed day the whole artillery 
 of the Turks belched forth a general salute, partly to 
 distract the attention of the besieged, and partly to 
 cover with its cloud of smoke the advancing battalions. 
 The attack was made simultaneously on four separate 
 points : the English, Spanish, and Italian bastions, and 
 on the platform and wall held by the Knights of 
 Provence. The Sultan was a witness of the battle 
 8
 
 114 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 from a lofty scaffold, erected on St. Stephen's Hill, from 
 which he was able to discern the whole movement of 
 his troops. On that day he looked down upon a sight 
 fit to make angels weep ; and yet on a spectacle too 
 often renewed since by the pride, ambition, or inhuman- 
 ity of man. The cannon of the fortress opened on the 
 thick throng of the Turks, and mowed great gaps in 
 their ranks. Their progress is not hindered. Intent 
 only on their prey, and heedless of danger, they heard, 
 but noted not, 
 
 " The death-shot hissing from afar, 
 The shock, the shout, the groan of war," * 
 
 but rushed onward to the assault with undaunted reso- 
 lution. They omitted no effort to gain their object. 
 Their bravest Janizzaries mounted the breaches, and 
 contended with their iron maces in hand-to-hand en- 
 counters with the Knights, while their arquebusiers 
 fired at any foeman not engaged in the melee, 
 
 " And, forming far in dusky rows, 
 A thousand archers bend their bows." t 
 
 The Knights on their part showed the greatest intre- 
 pidity, and their men-at-arms, arquebusiers, or bowmen 
 incredible firmness. The battle raged round the bas- 
 tions of Auvergne, Spain and Italy. But the English 
 post became for the third time the arena of the blood- 
 iest and fiercest fight in all that eventful day. This 
 
 Byron, Giaour. t Bowles, Siege of Acre,
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPARTURE. 115 
 
 bastion was at once the weakest, the most fiercely as- 
 sailed, and the most desperately defended. The Eng- 
 lish garrison resorted to every known method of re- 
 sistance. They threw down in obstinate hand-to-hand 
 combats the scaling-ladders of the assailants, rolled 
 down on them huge masses of stone, fired on them 
 with crossbow and arquebus, poured on them boiling oil 
 and flaming grenade. Lisle Adam was found, as was 
 his wont, in this chief post of danger. His presence 
 imparted new courage to the defenders, while their an- 
 tagonists proved themselves the bravest of the brave 
 men in that mighty host. In the midst of the conflict, 
 in their desire to gain the bastion so hotly contested, 
 they brought lofty cranes on wheels to the foot of the 
 walls, on which huge baskets were suspended, by which 
 the soldiers of the Sultan tried to throw themselves 1 
 upon the seething mass of their foes upon the ram- 
 parts, only to miss their purpose and to fall, bloody 
 and maimed corpses, to the bottom of the ramparts. 
 The Turks at last gave ground, on which an Aga, 
 much beloved by the soldiers, led them back again to 
 the attack. He succeeded once more in mounting the 
 breach, and in placing a standard on its summit, when 
 a shot from an arquebus killed him on the spot. His 
 death, instead of daunting the ardor of his men, in- 
 flamed them with a desire for vengeance. 
 
 " Low murmuring sounds along their banners fly: 
 
 Revenge or death, the watchword and reply." * 
 
 * Campbell, Pleasures of Hope.
 
 116 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 They rushed madly on their opponents, content to die 
 if they killed an enemy. All their impetuosity could 
 not avail. An equal enthusiasm animated the be- 
 sieged, and at last their perseverance and bull-dog en- 
 durance were rewarded in the rout and retreat of the 
 Turks from their wall. 
 
 In the meantime, other conflicts of an equally vital 
 and exciting character were being waged round the 
 posts of the French, Spanish, and Italian quarters. 
 On all sides the most spirited contests, marked by the 
 most unforgiving slaughter, prevailed. The courage 
 of the garrison was shared in and supported by the 
 loyalty and enthusiasm of the townsmen and inhabi- 
 tants. The priests, and women, even, took part in the 
 contest. It is related that one woman, on her husband 
 being slain, arrayed herself in the helmet and tunic 
 stained with his blood, and, armed with his sword, 
 rushed into the thickest of the melee, and having re- 
 venged her husband by the death of more than one of 
 his foes, died herself from the wounds received in the 
 fight. Against such sentiments and such enthusiasm 
 there was no chance of success ; and, after witnessing 
 for six long hours the noble efforts of his soldiers, and 
 the still nobler resistance of their opponents, the Sul- 
 tan himself gave the signal for the general retreat of his 
 forces. Thus the vast army of 100,000 men, which 
 had moved onward in the morning decked out with all
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPARTURE. 117 
 
 the pomp and splendor of Eastern chivalry, under a 
 certain conviction that they should that day take pos- 
 session of Rhodes, defended merely by its broken walls, 
 half-ruined-bastions, and gaping breaches occupied by a 
 handful of wearied soldiers, found to its cost that its 
 labor was in vain, and that really brave men never 
 knew when they were beaten, nor how to yield. 
 
 Thprage of Solyman at this most unexpected disap- 
 pointment knew no bounds. On the morning subse- 
 quent to this disastrous repulse he summoned before 
 him his unfortunate Grand-Vizier Mustapha, and, with 
 the uncontrolled caprice of an Eastern despot, con- 
 demned him to instant impalement. The army was 
 drawn out to witness the punishment of their chief, 
 who could not execute the orders of his master. In 
 vain did Mustapha appeal, by his youth and by his 
 nearness of blood, to the mercy of the Sultan. He 
 turned a deaf ear to his supplications. Pacha Peri, 
 presuming on his former influence with the Sultan in 
 his boyhood, also ventured to entreat his compassion 
 and forbearance. Solyman, more angry that any one 
 in his court should be bold enough to thwart his will, 
 and perhaps jealous of the interference of Peri, ordered 
 him also to be impaled* with his friend. The other 
 
 * Impalement was formerly a common Turkish punishment. The victim 
 was fastened to a stake, which was run through his body, and so left to die a 
 horrible lingering death. Lord Byron gives this fearful description of it:
 
 118 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 pachas present, in consternation at this new edict of 
 wrath, devoutly prostrated themselves at the feet of 
 their master, and implored him to forego his purpose. 
 Solyrnan, moved by their entreaties, recovered himself 
 from his passion, and granted his two generals their 
 lives. He dismissed both from their commands, com- 
 pelled Mustapha to return to Constantinople, and nomi- 
 nated the Pacha Achmet to be in his stead the Com- 
 inander-in-Chief. 
 
 Pacha Achmet, induced by a sense of professional 
 honor, and fully persuaded that he ought, according to 
 the laws of engineering tactics, to have been successful 
 in his attempt against the bastion held by the Knights 
 of Spain and Auvergne, induced the Sultan to consent 
 to his trying one more assault against this devoted post. 
 On Sunday, the 29th of September, he re-opened a gen- 
 eral bombardment, and then led an assault on the seri- 
 ously damaged rampart in the immediate front of his 
 own quarters. The scenes already described were 
 again renewed. The utmost possible resistance was 
 
 "To-morrow, yea, to-morrow's evening sun, 
 "Will sinking see impalement's pangs begun; 
 And, rising with the wonted blush of morn, 
 Behold how well or ill those pangs are borne 
 Of torments this the longest and the worst, 
 Which adds all other agony to thirst, 
 That day by day Death still forbears to slake, 
 "While famished vultures flit around the stake." 
 
 Corsair, Canto II., stanza 9.
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPARTURE. 119 
 
 made. The Knights and the bravest Janizzaries met 
 in deadly conflict on the breach. The same mur- 
 derous efforts for the victory were on both sides 
 persevered in. The final result was the same. The 
 forces of Achrnet failed against the fiery courage of the 
 champions of Spain. In this contest the brave Mar- 
 tenegro, who had so well and nobly conducted the ope- 
 ratkfii of the siege, was wounded in his eye by an 
 arquebus ball; and the heroic Lisle Adam added for 
 some weeks to his other duties the superintendence of 
 the artillery, and the actual direction of the defence. 
 He domiciled himself in this Spanish bastion, as the 
 point of most imminent peril ; and at one time acting as 
 a soldier, at another as an artillerist, and never under 
 any circumstances .omitting the onerous duties of Com- 
 mander-in-Chief. he was first and foremost in every 
 alarm, attack, and post of danger. 
 
 The month of September, which had witnessed so 
 many attempts to take the fortress, and so many re- 
 pulses from its walls, had now drawn to a close. Both 
 besiegers and besieged were equally wearied and ex- 
 hausted. The general assault on the 24th of Septem- 
 ber, so gallantly made and so successfully resisted, was 
 the real turning-point and crisis of the siege. During 
 the months of October and November inactivity pre- 
 vailed both in the camp and in the city. Achmet 
 Pacha adopted a new course of tactics. The siege was
 
 120 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 turned into a blockade. Mines and countermines, sub- 
 terranean galleries discovered and mined by the foe, 
 were the only actual hostilities. Sorties from within 
 and escalades from without were abandoned, as it were 
 by a tacit understanding and consent. The Sultan, in 
 proof of his determination to persevere and to wait the 
 issues of the blockade, caused a wooden house to be 
 built for himself, and sought to protect his troops from 
 the rains that fall in the late autumn on the coast of 
 the Mediterranean. This resolution of the Sultan was 
 the last thing that Lisle Adam could have wished or 
 have expected. He had fully hoped that, according to 
 his custom, Solyman would have abandoned the expedi- 
 tion and re-embarked his troops at the conclusion of the 
 summer. But now he well knew that there was only 
 one chance left him of success, and that was relief from 
 the efforts of members of the Order dispersed through- 
 out the countries of Christendom. Nor were these 
 hopes entirely unfounded. 
 
 Though neither pope nor prince were found through 
 all the breadth of Europe to hold out a helping hand to 
 save this great bulwark of the Christian faith, yet was 
 the Brotherhood true to itself. Three different con- 
 voys of vessels were dispatched from France, Spain, 
 and England with forces and ammunition for the gal- 
 lant heroes in Rhodes, but not one succeeded in reach- 
 ing the port of their destination. The French ships
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPASTURE. 121 
 
 were scattered by a tempest; the Spanish were cap- 
 tured by the Turks, after a stubborn resistance, off 
 Rhodes ; and the English vessels, under the command 
 of the gallant and experienced mariner Sir Thomas 
 Newport, were shipwrecked off the coast of Corsica ; so 
 Lisle Adam, in addition to his trials in the endurance 
 of the siege, had to bear the burden of that hope de- 
 fercct, which nraketh even the heart of the brave man 
 sick. 
 
 In the meanwhile Achmet Pacha gradually tightened 
 his hold upon the fortress. He had advanced his mines 
 aud galleries so far within the fortress that Lisle Adam 
 was compelled to pull down houses and churches that 
 he might the more effectually defeat his plans and frus- 
 trate his preparations. The engineering operations of 
 the two armies came at this time into such close contact 
 in their subterranean arrangement, that often they were 
 only separated by a thin partition of earth-work. The 
 impatience of Solyman could not stand these desultory 
 proceedings of his scientific general ; and in obedience 
 to the imperial command, Achmet once more, on the 
 last day of November, gave orders for a second general 
 assault. After a cannonade through the preceding night 
 from all his batteries, the troops at daybreak advanced 
 to the attack. It was unexpected by the garrison ; yet, 
 at the sound of the bells, which were rung to announce 
 the approach of the Turks, Martenegro, who had now
 
 122 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 partially recovered from his wound, led the Knights and 
 their men-at-arms to the rescue, and with the assistance 
 of the inhabitants of the town, animated by rage or des- 
 pair, drove back their assailants on every side. Their 
 success also on this occasion was promoted by a very 
 heavy rain, which fell in torrents, and rendered useless 
 for a time the Turkish entrenchments. 
 
 Pacha Achmet, in spite of this repulse, fully con- 
 vinced that the battered fortress, however brave its de- 
 fenders might be, could not possibly hold out much 
 longer, induced the Sultan to give him leave to propose 
 terms of capitulation. For this purpose he caused a 
 quantity of arrows to be shot into the town, calling 
 upon the townsmen to accept the terms which the Sul- 
 tan was willing to offer. Nor were these missives 
 without effect. The inhabitants, for some time deeply 
 sensitive of the hardships of their situation, now met 
 together to request the Archbishop of Rhodes and the 
 Greek Patriarch to eu treat Lisle Adam to come to 
 terms with the enemy. In the meanwhile the Grand 
 Master instituted a strict inquiry into the true condition 
 of the fortress, and was assured on authoritative evi- 
 dence that its walls, ramparts, and bastions were totter- 
 ing to their foundations, and that his stock of powder 
 was almost exhausted. Under these circumstances, the 
 decision of his council was, that the time had come in 
 which negotiations for peace should be commenced.
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPARTURE. 123 
 
 On the morning of Tuesday, the 10th of December, 
 the Grand Sultan made the first effort towards peace, 
 by unfurling a white flag on his entrenchments. This 
 was answered by a like signal from the ramparts. Two 
 Ottoman officers of rank, attended by their suite, ap- 
 proached the walls, and were met by the Prior of St. 
 Giles and the General Martenegro, the Moltke of the 
 siee, as representatives of Lisle Adam. A letter was 
 presented by the Ottoman captains from their lord. 
 Within a few hours, after due deliberation, an answer 
 was returned by a Knight, Antony Grolee, and by a 
 Judge Perruchi, both of whom were acquainted with 
 the language of the Ottoman court. While these ne- 
 gotiations were in progress, an emeute of a singular 
 character occured in the town. That portion of the 
 Rhodian inhabitants who had been remarked for their 
 prudent care of their persons during the siege, now 
 gathered with clamorous shouts before the palace of 
 Lisle Adam, and complained of being handed over to a 
 foreign yoke, declaring their willingness to lose their 
 lives in war rather than to accept the proposed capitu- 
 lation. Lisle Adam expressed his personal sympathy 
 with their wishes, asserted that their sentiments coin- 
 cided entirely with his own, and hinted that even yet 
 an opportunity might be afforded them of proving 
 against the battalions of the enemy their new-fledged 
 valor. Nor were his surmises long unfulfilled. Soly-
 
 124 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 man, with .'ill the caprice of an Eastern despot, because 
 his proposals were not immediately complied with, 
 broke off the negotiation, and prepared for a third 
 general immediate assault. Lisle Adam at once sum- 
 moned to his help his late war-disposed petitioners, and 
 on one refusing to fight, handed him over to the pro- 
 vost-marshal for immediate execution. 
 
 This final general assault, made on Tuesday, Decem- 
 ber 17th, like all the preceding ones, was succesfully 
 resisted and repulsed. The Turks, in spite of the 
 crumbling walls and greatly reduced numbers, were 
 driven from the walls by their heroic defenders. On 
 the following morning, December 18th, the Grand Mas- 
 ter, in compliance with an earnest address from the 
 townsmen, presented by the Lathi Archbishop and by 
 the Greek Patriarch, and from his own conviction that 
 further resistance would only result in a needless effu- 
 sion of human blood in a cause which was beyond 
 human help, sent two ambassadors from himself, and 
 two representatives of the inhabitants, to the camp of 
 Solyman to announce his willingness to accept terms of 
 surrender. The conditions required by Lisle Adam, 
 and granted by Solyman, secured to the inhabitants of 
 Rhodes the continued free exercise of their religion, the 
 preservation of their city, churches, and houses, from 
 injury or pillage, the exemption of their children from 
 Ottoman military service, the free passage of the
 
 DEFEAT AND DEPARTURE. 125 
 
 Knights and soldiers from the fortress, the reservation 
 of their fleet, with its armaments and provisions, the 
 permission to take with them their property and as 
 many of the townsmen as should wish to accompany 
 them. These proposals savored so little of the ' woe to 
 the conquered ! ' the common lot of the defeated, and 
 were so different from the usual stern alternatives of 
 th Koran or the sword enforced by the Ottoman 
 sultans on their foes, that even in their surrender the 
 Sea-Kings secured tokens of their triumph. At all 
 events they caused the Sultan, for the sake of obtaining 
 their fortress, to forego all the characteristics of his 
 creed. Conditions of peace so contrary to the sacred 
 traditions of his house and empire might well be consid- 
 ered as terms of an honorable capitulation, rather than 
 as tokens of a veritable conquest. 
 
 Such, then, was the termination of the second siege 
 of Rhodes. It forms an episode in human history for 
 which mankind itself is the better. The fact that a 
 handful of European warriors could, for six long 
 months, under the heat of a semi-eastern sun and the 
 deluge of a semi-tropical autumnal rain, with crumbling 
 walls and breached fortifications, withstand the collected 
 might of the most powerful military power then exist- 
 ing in the earth, must influence for good all succeed- 
 ing generations. The heart of the youth who hears 
 about these glorious results, which could only have
 
 126 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 been attained by a supreme sense of duty, undeviating 
 obedience to authority, ardent love of liberty, and 
 hatred of tyranny, a solemn conviction of deep respon- 
 sibility, a loving devotion to the teachings of the Cross, 
 will beat with a purer glow, as heresolves, if opportu- 
 nity should occur, to emulate their conduct, and to 
 imitate their example. The silver trumpet which 
 sounded out a farewell salutation as Lisle Adam and 
 his noble companions proceeded for the last time from 
 their ramparts to their fleet, is still preserved among 
 the treasured relics of the Order.* With the last tones 
 of its clarion notes the reputation, riches, and glory of 
 Rhodes sank for ever in a dark relapse on the departure 
 from its shores of the "Sea-Kings of the Mediterra- 
 
 * This silver trumpet is preserved (with other relics of the Order) under a 
 glass case in the armory of the Palace of the English Governors of Malta.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WANDERINGS. 
 
 *""" 
 
 ' ' So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed, 
 And yet anon repairs hia drooping head." 
 
 MILTON, Lycidas, 168. 
 
 LISLE ADAM, for the sake of a good omen, fixed on 
 January 1st, A. D. 1523, as the day of his final em- 
 barkation. That New Year's day saw as sad and 
 touching a sight as the world ever witnessed. Never 
 did a more mournful or more varied procession pass 
 out of the gates of a city. In it were to be seen 
 men, women, and children of every age, rank, and 
 condition : the tottering grandsire, the babe at the 
 breast, the stalwart father of the household, surrounded 
 by his wife and little ones. Here, mingled in one 
 continuous throng, were soldiers clad in their panoply 
 of mail, Asiatic merchants with flowing robes and costly 
 turbans, Greek sailors in striped shirts and gay-col- 
 ored caps, serge-dressed monks, cassocked priests, 
 white-coifed nuns from Europe, dark-colored slaves 
 with long unkempt hair and ancles bound in fetters. 
 Here, too, was many a litter borne on men's shoulders, 
 
 127
 
 128 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 conveying a wounded knight or soldier to the berth 
 prepared for him, and many ,a rude wagon, dragged by 
 mule or ox, carrying the household goods of the 
 wealthier citizens to the ships, while the hand-truck or 
 goat-carriage helped to move the poor man's chattels. 
 In the hinder part of the procession a train of priests, 
 arrayed in their rich officiating vestments, bore on their 
 shoulders, in gilded reliquaries uplifted on costly biers, 
 the sacred treasures of the Church of St. John, among 
 which were the Image of the Virgin of Philermos,* and 
 the gift of the Sultan Bajazet, the right hand of John 
 Baptist. As the day began to wane, Lisle Adam, at- 
 tended by the small company of Knights, the survivors 
 of the late stubborn conflict, and followed by a guard 
 of squires and men-at-arms in their coat armor, and 
 
 * Sir George Bowyer, in the Tablet of May 23d, 1868 (No. 1467), and Dr. 
 Paolo Pullicino, Canon of the Church at Malta, in a little book published hi 
 the year 1868, have given a minute account of this image. It was made of 
 wood, and is said to have been painted by St Luke. It was ornamented 
 with all kinds of rich jewels, and encased in a most costly tabernacle. It 
 was originally brought by a gentleman from Jerusalem to Ehodes, in which 
 place many wonders were reported of it. Many of these are related by Sir 
 George Bowyer and by Canon Pullicino. They, however, omit one narra- 
 tive gravely recorded in the Martyrologium of the Order of St. John, con- 
 tained in the Public Registry of Malta, viz., "that on one occasion, on the 
 approach of the image, evil spirits, in the shape of frogs, leapt out from the 
 stomach of a sick woman who had not tasted of any other food for twelve 
 months." Although this is omitted by the two learned historians of the 
 Madonna of Philermos, yet it is a fair specimen of the wonders attributed 
 to this image in their respective narratives.
 
 WANDERINGS. 129 
 
 equipped with sword, or pike, or battle-axe, left his 
 palace, entered for the last time the Cathedral of St. 
 John to invoke a blessing on his voyage, and thence, 
 amidst the tolling of all the bells of the city, and the 
 flourish of many trumpets, marched through the Strada 
 dei Citvalieri, lined on both sides with the mansions of 
 the k;ingues, under the picturesque arch of the Cos- 
 quino gate, along the great mole leading to the tower 
 of St. Nicholas, and there entered his state barge, and 
 was rowed to the carrack or great galley in waiting for 
 him. In that last hour of departure, in the breaking-up 
 of families, in the separation of friends, in the dividing 
 forever those who had been hitherto associated in the 
 strongest ties of blood, country, and religion, there were 
 
 " Hurryings to and fro, 
 And gathering tears, and tokens of distress, 
 And sad and sudden partings, such as press 
 The life from out young hearts, and choking sighs." * 
 
 Every heart was weighed down with sad recollections 
 of the past, and with gloomiest anticipations for the 
 future. Behind them was the fortressed city, with its 
 pleasant environs of olive-groves, orchards, gardens, and 
 perpetual streams, which they had loved so well and 
 suffered so much to save. Before them were the perils 
 of the sea, the search for a distant and as yet unknown 
 resting-place, the uncertainty of ever finding a haven of 
 
 * Byron's Childe Harold. 
 
 9
 
 130 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 r , or a voice of welcome. No sooner was the 
 Grand Master on board than the signal was given for 
 leaving the harbor, and he put to sea, accompanied by 
 fifty vessels of various kinds, carracks, galleys, galiots, 
 brigantines, and feluccas. Never, in all the chequered 
 circumstances of his eventful life, had Lisle Adam 
 greater need of high resolve and firm faith than at this 
 moment. He had now, if it were possible, a mightier 
 task to achieve than the repulse of the Ottoman army. 
 To his care and counsels was committed at this moment 
 the preservation of that wonderful Brotherhood which, 
 deriving strength from all Christian countries, and yet 
 owing allegiance to none, had been for centuries, under 
 a superintending Providence, the 
 
 "Bulwark of the Christian creed, 
 Fair Europe's shield in hour of need." 
 
 While the sovereigns of Christendom, forgetful of 
 their higher duties, were at this period quarreling 
 among themselves on puny and petty questions of 
 dynastic ambition, the Sea-Kings of the Mediterranean 
 were, in their expulsion from their island home at 
 Rhodes, mindful of the sacred obligations imposed on 
 them by their original institution. Lisle Adam, in all 
 his plans and projects, was ever deeply impressed with a 
 sense of the responsibilities imposed upon him as the 
 foremost of Christian Knights. The record of his noble 
 conduct and patriotic exertions may be an Iliad of
 
 WANDERINGS. 131 
 
 woes, but his efforts, after a lengthened course of trial 
 and disaster, were crowned with an eventual success. 
 
 The fleet that now carried within its wooden cham- 
 bers this precious freight of the heroes of our story was 
 in a very crank and unseaworthy condition. It had 
 been necessarily prepared in haste, and was ill-found 
 anjt-badly provisioned. It wanted, too, its proper com- 
 plement of rowers, as the Sultan had either released 
 or taken to his own use the slaves from all garts of his 
 dominions who had been in the service of the Order 
 for this work. The vessels were for the most part 
 overcrowded with passengers and overladen with the 
 goods and chattels carried off from the town and 
 fortress. Lisle Adam decided on bending his course, in 
 the first distance, to Crete, an island about 200 miles 
 distant, under the government of the republic of 
 Venice. Before he could reach the port a violent 
 slorm arose, and caused much damage to his ships. 
 Many vessels were dismasted, others were wrecked and 
 all hands .lost, and the remainder reached Crete only by 
 making a sacrifice of the bales and goods with which 
 they were overfreighted. 
 
 The Venetian Governor of Crete, Paul Justinien, 
 acted like a brave and compassionate man. He not 
 only complied with the request of Lisle Adam to 
 land and refit, but exerted himself to supply the wants 
 and to alleviate the sufferings of the unhappy refugees,
 
 132 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 and, with a chivalrous courtesy worthy of his high posi- 
 tion, received the Grand Master on his landing with all 
 the accustomed salutes and honors. Lisle Adam re- 
 mained in this friendly asylum for three months. His 
 first care was to superintend the disembarkation of 
 his much-tried and afflicted followers: and what a 
 weight of human woe was then revealed ! There were 
 not only the wounded Knights and soldiers to de- 
 mand the tender ministrations of his services, but the 
 greater part of his people were in a most miserable 
 plight; the large majority being ill from scarcity of 
 food and badness of provisions, while some, through the 
 loss of their goods in the storm, were half naked, 
 and without even a change of linen. Lisle Adam 
 devoted himself to the relief of their wants, and, as- 
 sisted by the charity and good-will of the inhabitants of 
 Crete, provided to the utmost for their comfort and 
 accommodation. During his sojourn in Crete he was 
 joined by an additional number of his friends. Among 
 these were the members of the Fraternity in com- 
 mand of Lango, Syma, and the other petty dependen- 
 cies of Rhodes, to whom he had sent orders to abandon 
 their posts, and the Archbishop of Rhodes, Leonard 
 Balestino, dismissed by the Sultan from his high 
 office in the island. 
 
 In the month of April, after the vernal equinox 
 was past, Lisle Adam resumed his wanderings, and
 
 WANDERINGS. 133 
 
 named Messina, in Sicily, as the next place of ren- 
 dezvous. With a noble disinterestedness, and with a 
 characteristic disregard of his own personal comfort, he 
 sent his sick and wounded in his own carrack, under 
 the care and pilotage of an English Knight-commander, 
 Sir Thomas Weston; while he emharked in one of 
 the small galleys which, being unfitted for the bolder 
 passage across the sea, was compelled to proceed 
 from harbor to harbor along the coast. On his arrival 
 at Messina, .at the beginning of May, two pleasant inci- 
 dents occurred to mitigate his anxiety. In the first 
 place, he found a letter awaiting him from Pope Adrian 
 VI., inviting him to his court, and offering the city 
 of Viterbo, a few miles from Rome, as a temporary 
 home for himself and 'followers. The Pope still more 
 encouraged him by expressing a hope that arrangements 
 might be made by which another independent seat and 
 sovereignty might be found for his noble Brotherhood, 
 so that they might be enabled to resume their ancient 
 vocation, in fronting the Moslem, and in vindicating the 
 honors of the Christian faith and flag in a manner 
 worthy of the former fame of the Sea-Kings of the 
 Mediterranean. In the next place, the reception ac- 
 corded him by the numerous Knights assembled at 
 Messina was peculiarly gratifying. They received him 
 on his arrival with the most loyal and affectionate devo- 
 tion. As he disembarked from his- shattered vessel,
 
 134 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 they met him bareheaded, and preceded him, two and 
 two, in solemn procession through the streets, amidst 
 the acclamations of the people, to the palace allotted to 
 his use, where they renewed, in his presence, within the 
 council-chamber, their vows and protestations of obedi- 
 ence, and proved that, though they had lost for a time 
 their home, yet they had no intention of abandoning 
 the duties of Brotherhood, or of withholding from their 
 chief in this hour of humiliation their former tokens of 
 homage, allegiance, and fidelity. 
 
 The sufferings of Lisle Adam, however, were not yet 
 at an end. Weakened by severe privations, hard fare, 
 and unavoidable overcrowding, his people were fit sub- 
 jects for disease. Shortly after his disembarkation at 
 Messina, a fatal pestilence broke out and claimed a 
 holocaust of victims. Lisle Adam at once determined 
 to depart, and conveyed his fleet, crews, and people to 
 the beautiful bay of Baise, in which he obtained leave 
 to land, and was soon relieved from anxiety by the 
 rapid recovery of his numerous invalids. Within a few 
 days he resumed his voyage, and reached Civita 
 Vecchia, the nearest port alike to Viterbo and to Rome, 
 in safety. 
 
 Here he made arrangements for a temporary sojourn 
 of his followers, until he could learn from Pope 
 Adrian's own lips his ultimate pleasure and will con- 
 cerning them. The tidings of his arrival were soon
 
 WANDERINGS. 135 
 
 conveyed to the supreme Pontiff, when an early day 
 was named for his admission to an audience. A most 
 splendid reception was accorded him. His great- 
 nephew, Anne de Montmorency, a marshal of France, 
 met him with a superb cortege at some distance from 
 the city. When he approached the walls of Rome, the 
 Master of the Ceremonies to the Papal Court, with the 
 Swiss Guard and some cavalry soldiers, attended him ; 
 and, just within the gates, the gilded and red coaches 
 of the Cardinals and of the Due de Sesse, the ambassa- 
 dor of Charles V., joined the procession, and accompan- 
 ied him to the Vatican. The whole city was en fete. 
 As he passed over the bridge across the Tiber, at the 
 foot of the Castle St. Angelo, a salute of artillery 
 was fired. On his entrance to the hall of audience, 
 Adrian VI., although very ill, advanced some steps 
 to meet him, and when he would have stooped to 
 kiss his foot, raised him up, and embraced him tenderly. 
 He then made him sit in the very centre of the Cardi- 
 nals, and after assuring him that he would do all he 
 could for a fraternity so useful and dear to Christen- 
 dom, called him "The Hero of Rhodes, and the De- 
 fender of the Faith." 
 
 Pope Adrian VI. died within a few days of this 
 interview, on Monday, September 14th, 1523. His suc- 
 cessor, Clement VII., as soon as the ceremonies of his 
 election and enthronement were over, sent for Lisle
 
 136 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 Adam, and assured him of the continuance of the favors 
 shown to him by his predecessor. His interviews with 
 the new Pope, however, were no longer merely compli- 
 mentary, but were devoted to a solution of the difficul- 
 ties of his position, as seeking a permanent home within 
 the compass of the Mediterranean, for resuscitation of 
 the Institution over which he ruled. Clement VII., at 
 the suggestion of Andre Vendrimiano, Archbishop of 
 Corfu, proposed the choice of three islands, Cerigo, 
 Elba, or Malta. To the first Lisle Adam objected, 
 as, Cerigo being under the government of Venice, its 
 cession might expose that republic to the enmity and 
 resentment of Solyman ; the second he declined, be- 
 cause Elba was part of the kingdom of Spain, and 
 the possession of that island might render the Brother- 
 hood too subservient to the influence of one single Euro- 
 pean sovereign, and so endanger their accustomed 
 neutrality and independence ; the third offer, more 
 specially recommended by the Pope, was accepted and 
 approved by the Grand Master, on the condition that 
 the Emperor Charles V., the Suzerain of Malta, would 
 include in his grant a surrender of the full and ex- 
 clusive sovereignty of the island. Lisle Adam, with 
 Clement's approval, sent eight commissioners to inspect 
 and to make a report upon Malta, and an embassy 
 of three Knights, including the Prior of St. Giles, 
 Martenegro, and Bosie, three of the heroes of the late
 
 WANDERINGS. 137 
 
 siege, to arrange with the Emperor Charles V. the 
 terms for the transfer of the island. In the meanwhile 
 the Grand Master and his train of followers located 
 themselves at Viterbo, a city in the Papal States, there 
 to await the issues of these different negotiations. 
 
 The wheels of diplomacy moved but slowly ; and 
 after a twelvemonth of waiting, Lisle Adam, wearied 
 with th"e delays and difficulties in his path, determined 
 to seek, in a personal interview with the Etnporer, 
 the final settlement of the pending arrangements. A 
 complimentary request, made to him at this time by the 
 Regent of France, the mother of Francis I., confirmed 
 him in this resolution. The beautiful Duchess D'Alen- 
 con, sister of Francis, resolved to go to Madrid, to 
 appeal in her own person to the magnanimity of 
 Charles V. to release her gallant but unfortunate 
 brother, then a prisoner of war in his capital ; and Lisle 
 Adam was entreated to come to Marseilles with his 
 carrack and galleys, and to convoy this spirited lady 
 in her loving and romantic errand. His chivalry was 
 not appealed to in vain. The royal wish conveyed to 
 him corresponded with his previously-formed intention. 
 He set sail from Civita Vecchia, and reached Marseilles 
 in the middle of June, A. D. 1525;* and, having re- 
 
 * The battle of Pavia was fought on Saturday, February 2oth, 1525. 
 Francis I., at its close, is said to have made the memorable but melancholy 
 declaration, "I have lost all but honor I "
 
 138 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 ceived the fair Duchess, accompanied by a splendid 
 suite, on board his flag-ship, piloted her in safety to 
 Spain. 
 
 We are now to see the present hero of our story in 
 a new character, worthy of his high position as a Sea- 
 King of the Mediterranean. He was no longer the 
 brave defender of a fortress, or the gallant chief of a 
 military Order, but appeared as the companion of 
 kings, the Nestor of politics, the arbiter in a degree 
 of the destinies of Europe. Charles V. received him 
 with particular distinction, and paid him those honors 
 with which a brave man delights to show his regard for 
 the brave. He lodged him in his own palace, admitted 
 him to his council, and made him sit on the same dias as 
 himself; 
 
 " Courted and caressed, 
 High plac'd in hall, a welcome guest" * 
 
 He conferred on him a still greater mark of his es- 
 teem, and employed his mediation for the peaceful set- 
 tlement of the complications of Europe. With all his 
 respect and gratitude to his imperial host, Lisle Adam 
 did not forget that he was a Knight of France, and 
 that, as such, his allegiance was due to his own sov- 
 ereign lord, even though a captive. He obtained leave, 
 therefore, to pay his devoirs to Francis I., and so far in- 
 gratiated himself in his favor, that he consulted him on 
 
 * Soott'fl Minstrel.
 
 WANDERINGS. 139 
 
 his affairs, and placed himself in his haud. Lisle Adam, 
 thus trusted by both monarchs, was enabled to bring 
 them to a reconciliation. Within a few weeks of his 
 coming to Madrid, Francis I. obtained his deliverance, 
 and a restoration to his kingdom. An interesting an- 
 ecdote illustrates the intimacy of the intercourse with 
 which the two sovereigns honored Lisle Adam. As 
 Francis I. and Charles V. were walking in the gardens 
 of the palace they came to a gate, at the entrance to 
 which each refused to advance, and courteously sought 
 to give precedence to the other. The Emperor turned 
 suddenly, and bade Lisle Adam settle the dispute. " I 
 would to God," said the veteran chief, " that your 
 Majesties might never differ on a more important mat- 
 ter ; but, Sire," addressing his own sovereign, " I think 
 the very first prince in Christendom may be allowed, in 
 his own palace, to pay any honor he pleases to the 
 greatest king in Europe." This reply, so courtier-like 
 and appropriate, contented both sovereigns, and put 
 them in good humor with themselves, and with each 
 other.* Lisle Adam, on his departure from Madrid, 
 might have entered at once on the possession of Malta, 
 but he did not think that the time had yet arrived for 
 
 * There is a somewhat similar story told of a later French king and an 
 English ambassador. The Earl of Stair waited for Louis XIV. to enter first 
 into liis carriage. The king bade the earl to enter himself first, who instant- 
 ly obeyed; whereon the king declared that he was the best bred man in Eu- 
 rope.
 
 140 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 so open and decided a renunciation of his former home. 
 He yet entertained secret hopes of being restored to 
 Rhodes, either by the treacherous betrayal of the is- 
 land' to his troops, or by the union of the sovereigns of 
 Europe in one coraman Christian league for the forcible 
 expulsion of its Moslem conquerors. Buoyed up with 
 these hopes he determined to" visit Francis I., now re- 
 stored to his throne, and also to wait in person on 
 Henry VIII., that he might invoke his sympathy and 
 co-operation, and protest against the spoliation of his 
 Fraternity, which seemed at this time to be contem- 
 plated in England. For these purposes he again sailed 
 to Marseilles, and thence, after paying his homage to 
 Francis at Paris, reached London in February, A. D. 
 1527. The Grand Master, during his sojourn in Eng- 
 land, took up his abode at the Grand Priory of his 
 Order, St. John's, Clerkenwell. 
 
 A few days after his arrival he proceeded to pay his 
 visit of ceremony to Henry VIII., then resident in his 
 palace at Westminster. Seldom had a more splendid 
 cavalcade passed through the streets of London. Many 
 great lords connected with the Court, with their foot- 
 "men, yeomen of the guard, beefeaters, and halberdiers, 
 were sent by the King to do honor to his illustrious 
 visitor. Then came a long array of Knights, who at- 
 tended, as in duty bound, on their heroic chief on this 
 memorable occasion. The Grand Prior of England, Sir
 
 WANDERINGS. 141 
 
 William Western, the Prior of Clerkenwell, several 
 grand crosses and commanders, mounted on horseback 
 and habited in the robes of the Order, waited on by a 
 long train of esquires and men-at-arms, and accompanied 
 by trumpeters, who occasionally sounded forth a salute, 
 preceded the Grand Master. Last of all rode Lisle 
 Adarn^himself, with his gray hairs, noble mien, and 
 
 P 
 
 martial bearing, the observed of all observers. Never 
 did citizen raise his cap, nor his nosier apprentice lift 
 his voice, in welcome of a worthier visitor to Old Eng- 
 land. Henry VIII. and no monarch in Europe could 
 be more courtly and gracious than he, when it pleased 
 him received his guest with every consideration of 
 respect. His nature was chivalrous enough to appre- 
 ciate noble heroism, and to admire deeds of valor; and 
 he now congratulated his guest on his conduct, declar- 
 ing that he was more to be envied for his defence of 
 Rhodes than for the conquest of a province. Henry 
 VIII. admitted him to many subsequent interviews, 
 encouraged his designs by a large supply of cannon and 
 ammunition, and presented him, on the eve of his de- 
 parture, with a mazar bowl, enriched with gold and 
 precious stones, as a final proof of his esteem. 
 
 Shortly after his safe return to Viterbo, Lisle Adam 
 experienced a severe disappointment of his fondly- 
 cherished hopes. Instead of the cessation of personal 
 ambition and the withdrawal of dynastic differences be-
 
 142 . KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 tween the powers of Europe, he had the mortification 
 of hearing of a renewal of war between the Emperor 
 Charles V. and the Pope Clement VII., which led to 
 the cruel devastation of Rome by the Imperial general, 
 the Grand Constable Bourbon. This melancholy and 
 unexpected event at last brought conviction to the 
 mind of the Grand Master that if he was in his lifetime 
 to see his beloved Fraternity replaced in a new home, 
 where they might again exercise a sovereign indepen- 
 dent authority and devote themselves in renewed 
 strength and ardor to their former onerous and honora- 
 ble duties as the foremost soldiers of Christendom, then 
 the occupation of Malta was the only course left open 
 for his adoption and acceptance. 
 
 Once satisfied of the wisdom and necessity of this 
 policy, Lisle Adam set himself seriously to the task 
 of bringing the long-standing negotiations to a success- 
 ful termination. He summoned a Grand Council of the 
 Order to meet in Viterbo in the spring of A. D. 1529. 
 The unanimous voice of the Council approved the 
 island of Malta as the future home of the Hospitallers, 
 if it could be obtained with the full acknowledgment of 
 their sovereign and exclusive possession. Charles V. 
 acquiesced in these conditions, and conferred, by a 
 grant signed March 24, 1530, the sovereignty of the 
 island of Malta on Lisle Adam and his successors, on 
 the single condition of presenting to the Imperial
 
 WANDEBINGS. 148 
 
 Viceroy in Sicily a falcon on every return of All Souls' 
 Day, November 2nd. 
 
 Thus Lisle Adam, after many perils successfully es- 
 caped, many exertions courageously carried out, many 
 rewards and honors righteously won, found at last a 
 safe and permanent home, to which he removed his 
 band of faithful Knights, and the remnant of his 
 Rhodfan followers who yet survived the dangers of 
 their melancholy exodus and the strange vicissitudes of 
 their wanderings. His closing years, neither robed in 
 sadness nor clouded with obscurity, were graced with 
 the brighter glory of the declining sun. With the 
 chief wish of his heart gratified: with the inward 
 conviction that his new island home was admirably 
 fitted, by its creeks, bays and harbors, for the resumption 
 by his Fraternity of their high vocation as opponents of 
 the Crescent : with a life prolonged .to see the well-laid 
 foundations of the prosperity of his people, Lisle Adam 
 may have departed in peace, in a sure anticipation of 
 the future triumphs of the Order he loved so much and 
 ruled so well. The wisdom of his choice in the se- 
 lection of his final asylum has been amply vindicated. 
 Succeeding generations have witnessed, in the gallant 
 exploits, noble achievements, and glorious victories of 
 his descendants, the best credentials of their rightful 
 claim to the inheritance of his fame, and to the main- 
 tenance of his sceptre, as one of the greatest of the 
 "Sea-Kings of the Mediterranean."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 FAME AND HEKOISM. 
 
 " There is something of pride in the perilous hour, 
 Whate'er be the shape in which Death may lower; 
 For Fame is there to say who bleeds, 
 And Honor's eye on daring deeds." 
 
 BYRON, Siege of Corinth. 
 
 LlSLE ADAM and his successors, mindful of their 
 duties as the franc-tireurs of the ocean, devoted them- 
 selves with the utmost assiduity in their new home 
 to the resuscitation and improvement of their navy. 
 Animated by a remembrance of their wrongs, by an in- 
 tense hatred of the Crescent, and, it must in candor- 
 bo added, by an insatiable thirst for. booty, the Hos- 
 pitallers of St. John so multiplied their vessels during 
 the first forty years of their occupation of Malta, that 
 they had again become a source of annoyance and 
 terror to the Turkish fleets. Never had they possessed 
 a more undoubted maritime supremacy in the palmiest 
 days of their glory at Rhodes, and never had they num- 
 bered at any previous time among the members of their 
 Order so many zealous, able, and experienced sea- 
 144
 
 FAME AND HEROISM. 145 
 
 captains. One of the most famous of these was the 
 Commander De Romegas. A sailor from his youth, he 
 knew every bay, creek, current, and wind of the 
 great ocean which encircled his Sea-King home, and 
 was as bold in daring as he was rich in experience. 
 Romegas, while coasting in his galley along the shore 
 of Sicily, in the spring, 1563, fell in with an enormous 
 ship-of-war, commanded by Ysyf Cominey, a famous 
 Ottoman admiral, notorious for his cruelties to his 
 Christian prisoners. His vessel carried 200 sailors and 
 250 fighting men. Although Romegas was inferior 
 alike in the size of his ship and in the number of his 
 crew, he determined to try and capture his opponent. 
 The two vessels fired at each other with their cannon 
 for some time, when a few men were killed and 
 wounded, and damage was done to spars and rigging. 
 Romegas after a while boldly rowed against his ad- 
 versary, and having dashed against her side with a 
 crash, seized hold with a tight embrace of his grappling- 
 irons. The combat now raged with the intensest fury. 
 The crews pushed, and smote, and assaulted each other 
 with pike, spontoon, sword, and halberd. The victory 
 was long in doubt, when Romegas, supported by his 
 officers, made a desperate leap on board his antago- 
 nist, and, sword in hand, established his hold on the 
 forecastle of the ship. Cominey flew to the post of 
 danger, and being wounded in a personal encounter 
 10
 
 146 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 by Romegas, fell down into the hold of the rowers. 
 These slaves, in bitter retaliation for the cruelties in- 
 flicted on them, seized and passed him on with vio- 
 lent blows from one bench to another till he fell 
 down dead. The conqueror released eighty Christian 
 slaves found among the rowing-crew, supplied their 
 places with as many Turkish sailors, and conveyed 
 his prize across the Malta channel, to the harbor of 
 Valetta. 
 
 Within x a few weeks De Romegas was again at sea, 
 and achieved a more notable victory. Accompanied by 
 a second galley, under the command of his lieutenant, 
 Chevalier de la Motte, he met off Scarpenta, an island 
 between Crete and Rhodes, with another huge Turkish 
 vessel, a veritable floating castle compared with his 
 own little galleys. Incensed by the presence of his foe- 
 men, and ignorant alike of prudence or of fear, he 
 resolved to attack. On a near examination of his 
 antagonist, he found the ship to be so large, and so well 
 provided with artillery and musketeers, that his only 
 chance was the superiority of his guns, and the greater 
 speed of his ships. He sent a boat to order his lieuten- 
 ant, La Motte, to conform to his tactics, and to advance 
 on one side, fire, and then retreat to a safe distance 
 to reload, while he did the same on the other side. 
 A profound calm favored these manoeuvres. The two 
 galleys drew near, discharged their cannon, and then,
 
 FAME AND HEROISM. 147 
 
 by their superior swiftness, moved out of reach and 
 range of the enemy. 
 
 This artillery combat lasted some hours, when at 
 last, without any attempt at boarding or close com 
 bat, the huge ship struck its colors to the two little gal- 
 leys. Romegas and La Motte quickly manned theii 
 boats^and mounted her deck and received the swords* 
 of ner admiral and officers. They were no less as 
 tonished than delighted with their victory. The prize 
 was rich beyond their expectations. It was laden with 
 much costly merchandise and with nearly 600 slaves 
 from Egypt and Mauritania, destined for the market at 
 Constantinople. It (had also on board an illustrious 
 ruler, a Sangiac by rank, on his route from Cairo to pay 
 his allegiance to the Sultan Solyman. The triumph 
 of ^omegas was the greater, as this ship was com- 
 manded by Rais Ygli, a gallant captain of the Imperial 
 Ottoman navy, who had never yet known a defeat 
 at sea, and who had with him a veteran crew of sailors 
 and soldiers accustomed to naval conflict. Scarcely, 
 however, had the Christian commanders realized the 
 certainty of their success, before the conquered floating 
 castle began to founder from the great injuries inflicted 
 on her by the cannonade, and thus an unexpected testi- 
 mony was afforded to the valor of its defenders in hold- 
 ing out to the last extremity. The victors were able 
 with difficulty to save the lives of Ygli and his
 
 148 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 people, and, with their. two vessels dangerously over- 
 crowded, hastened homewards. They thus lost their 
 reward, except the ransom to be obtained for the re- 
 lease of the captive ruler of Cairo, and of Rais Ygli. 
 
 One other naval fight and victory of Romegas 
 eclipsed all his former exploits. In the next summer, 
 A. D, 1564, he was ordered to join, with his two galleys, 
 the five other vessels of the Order sailing under the flag 
 of the Admiral of the fleet, Chevalier Guion. The 
 united squadron, while sailing quietly along between 
 Zante and Cephalonia, fell in with the largest vessel in 
 the Turkish navy. This great caracca was the prop- 
 erty of Kuster Aga, the chief Chamberlain of Solyman. 
 Many ladies of the seraglio, and persons of influence at 
 the Ottoman court, had a share in its venture. It was 
 commanded by the Rais Bairam-Ogli, and armed with 
 twenty large cannon, with several others of smaller 
 calibre. It was manned by a picked crew, and pro- 
 tected, in addition to its artillerists, by two hundred 
 chosen Janizzaries. Admiral Guion, on his part,, being 
 in command of so numerous a fleet, imagined in the 
 first instance that the vessel, large as it was, would 
 . offer no resistance, and fired an unshotted cannon 
 across its bows as a summons to surrender. 
 
 "A flash is seen; the ball beyond their bow 
 Booms harmless, hissing to the deep below." 
 
 * Corsair.
 
 FAME AND HEEOISM. 149 
 
 Bairam-Ogli, in answer to this salute, proudly flew 
 all his colors, and replied with a broadside, aimed at the 
 Admiral's ship, as a proof of his courage and determina- 
 tion. Guion and Romegas, convinced that they must 
 either fight or allow the enemy to escape, arranged a 
 precise order of battle. They agreed that the two ves- 
 sels bearing their own flags should first advance on 
 either side, and approach as near as they could with 
 -safety, and fire their cannon; and then, while they re- 
 tired to reload, the two next vessels under their respec- 
 tive flags should in like manner advance, fire their 
 broadsides, and retire ; and their places should be sup.- 
 plied after a similar manner by the three remaining 
 ships. Thus the seven vessels were to take part in the 
 fight, and to fire by relays in as rapid a succession as 
 they could. This well-designed plan was at first frus- 
 trated by the jealous rivaly of the two Admirals. Each, 
 alike impetuous in courage, and impressed with a con- 
 tempt of the enemy, only thought of obtaining single- 
 handed the exclusive glory of the victory. Guion, 
 instead of acting on the plan agreed upon, came at once 
 to close quarters, and placed his galley under the poop 
 of his opponents. By this bold but imprudent manoeu- 
 vre his vessel waa placed at the greatest disadvantage. 
 The Turkish Janizzaries, from the superior height of 
 their ship, were enabled to use their firearms with the 
 utmost effect, and enveloped the flag-ship in a sheet of
 
 150 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 flame, crushing the crew with masses of stone, and 
 killing them with their musketry. The cannon, too, 
 discharged point-blank,* did great damage, so that the 
 Admiral-in-Chief was quickly compelled to retire from 
 the unequal contest. Romegas, on the other side, came 
 also after the example of his chief at once to close quar- 
 ters, and attempted to board, with his usual intrepidity ; 
 but a large gun, fired point-blank, broke the stays of 
 his vessel, and at one stroke killed or disabled twenty- 
 two of his crew ; others, to avoid the shot, leapt into 
 the water, and caused him to retire most reluctantly to 
 a safe distance. The two next galleys in the line, wit- 
 nessing the disasters of their consorts, took up their 
 positions as originally appointed, on either side of their 
 huge opponent: and, discharging their cannon at a dis- 
 tance, at the same moment, poured so effective a fire 
 that they killed or wounded many of the Janizzaries. 
 The three remaining gallejs in their turn advanced and 
 delivered their broadsides, and though they inflicted 
 loss on their enemies, yet they also received injuries .at 
 their hands. 
 
 As these three last galleys retired, Guion and Rome- 
 gas were again ready for the attack: Taught by the 
 experience of their former failure, and compelled to 
 respect the bravery of their foe, they put aside all per- 
 
 * Point-blank, directly, as an arrow is shot to the point-blank, or white 
 mark
 
 FAME AND HEROISM. 151 
 
 sonal feeling, and resorted to their original tactics. For 
 five long hours did the seven galleys, in their successive 
 turns, advance and retreat after firing on their antago- 
 nist. During that period the combat was persevered in 
 with uncertain results. The resolute Turkish soldiers 
 knew the value of their cargo, and the power of its 
 courtly owners to repay with rich rewards their obsti- 
 nat"resistance ; and, conscious that the galleys of the 
 Sea-Kings, in spite of their continuance of the contest, 
 had been severely wounded, refused to yield. At last 
 a perceptible slackening was manifested in the fire of 
 the Turks, and the seven galleys of the united squad- 
 ron, boldly placing themselves in close quarters on both 
 the sides, poop, and forecastle of their giant antagonist, 
 effected a boarding in several places. Bairara-Ogli, 
 finding that a resistance any further prolonged would 
 be useless, hauled down his colors in token of surren- 
 der. So fierce and determined had been the contest of 
 the Turks, that the conquerors paid dearly for their 
 success in the deaths of 120 of their companions, 
 among whom were some of the noblest names and of 
 the best blood in their Order. The loss of the con- 
 quered only amounted to eighty slain. 
 
 This important capture of so rich and well-pro- 
 tected" a prize created no small stir at Constantinople. 
 The same imperious ruler, Solyman the Magnificent, 
 whom we have seen in his youth as the conqueror of
 
 152 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 Rhodes, still sat on the Ottoman throne. The interval 
 of forty years had neither chilled his blood, moderated 
 his ambition, nor mollified his hatred of his former tradi- 
 tionary foes. He had heard, with the utmost anger, of 
 the revival of the power of the Sea-Kings of the Medi- 
 terranean, and of their continued depredations on his 
 ships and subjects ; and now, stirred up by the exasper- 
 ation and remonstrances of his habitual attendants, he 
 was led to regard this last bold enterprise of the 
 capture of Bairam-Ogli as a personal insult to himself 
 and to his court. The cup of his indignation was full, 
 and he swore a right royal oath, by his own head, 
 that he would destroy and exterminate the whole de- 
 tested Brotherhood. 
 
 Nor was he long in deciding upon his schemes. 
 Supported by the unanimous voice of his Divan ; im- 
 pelled to his design by the expostulations of his Mufti, 
 who urged him as a good Mussulman, by his veneration 
 for the Prophet, to secure for his subjects a safe access * 
 to the sacred shrines at Mecca and Medina, the tomb 
 and birthplace of Mahomet; encouraged by the zeal 
 and willingness of his generals to undertake the war ; 
 and more especially persuaded by the glowing prospects 
 
 * The Mufti, in his speech in the Divan preparatory to the war, stated 
 that during the five years preceding the great capture of Bairam-Ogli' s car- 
 rack, the loss of the Turks had amounted to fifty vessels of war, besides 
 smaller merchant vessels innumerable. Vertot, Book XII., voL iii, p. 425.
 
 FAME AND HEROISM. 153 
 
 of success, and the splendid promises of help, both by 
 troops and ships, made him by Dragut, a famous 
 chieftain of Tripoli, in Africa, renowned at once for his 
 naval exploits and for his numerous engagements with 
 the navies of Malta, Solyman determined that the ensu- 
 ing spring should see the destruction of his ancient foes, 
 and the total expulsion of the Christian Sea-Kings from 
 the 4ibme of their adoption. The Sultan, probably 
 through increasing age and infirmities, and by reason of 
 the greater length of the voyage, did not undertake, as 
 in his last conflict with the Hospitallers, the personal 
 command of the expedition; but entrusted its superin- 
 tendence and direction to his two Pachas, Piali and 
 Mustapha. The first had the charge of the fleet, and 
 the second of the army. Pacha Piali's history affords 
 an example of Eastern romance. Solyman, on his 
 retreat from Hungary, found him as an infant bound up 
 in swaddling clothes, and left by his frightened parents 
 on the sock of a ploughshare. Pleased with his 
 smiling upon him, he ordered the babe to be taken and 
 cared for, and educated in his seraglio. Piali repaid 
 his kindness by becoming one of the most famous Otto- 
 man admirals. Some five years previously, in A. D. 
 1500, he obtained a great naval victory over a Christian 
 fleet, under the command of the Venetian Admiral 
 Doria, and was rewarded with the hand of a daughter 
 of the Sultan ; and now, in the full energy of his man*
 
 154 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 hood, and in the blossom of his success, he was ap- 
 pointed .chief in supreme command of the Ottoman fleet 
 designed for the conquest of Malta. Pacha Mustapha, 
 on the other hand, was a contemporary in years of 
 his imperial master, and was passing, like him into 
 the sere and yellow autumn of life. He was the 
 general of whom we have already read as the unsuc- 
 cessful invader of Rhodes. He had, since that event, 
 learned experience in many a tented field, and still at 
 the age of sixty-five years, retained the favor and confi- 
 dence of the Sultan, who made him the Commander-in- 
 Chief of his army. These two able viziers carried out, 
 with the utmost alacrity and hearty will, the intentions 
 of their sovereign. They collected ships or soldiers 
 from Alexandria,' Rhodes, the coasts of Asia Minor, the 
 various seaports of Africa, Greece, and the Black Sea, 
 and from all quarters of the huge Turkish Empire, so 
 that by the spring of A. D. 1565, 30,000 chosen troops, 
 and 150 vessels, with a large fleet of transports, were 
 prepared to accomplish the will of the Sultan. 
 
 These important preparations were neither unknown 
 to, nor unmarked by, those against whom they were 
 prepared. It has frequently been observed that Divine 
 Providence raises up great men fitted for great occa- 
 sions. No one could be better adapted to meet the 
 exigencies of the present crisis than the heroic man who 
 at this time presided over the destinies of the Knights
 
 FAME AND HEROISM. 155 
 
 of Malta. John de Valette", equal to his famous prede- 
 cessor, D'Aubusson, in his lofty courage, and to Lisle 
 Adam in his spirit of devotion, surpassed them both 
 in the fervor of his enthusiasm, and in his undeviat- 
 ing trust in a Divine protection. As a personal witness 
 of all the circumstances of the final siege of Rhodes, he 
 was fully conscious of the magnitude of the peril, 
 and ol: the puissance and perseverance of his foe ; yet he 
 never gave place for a moment to idle fears, nor to a 
 doubt of his power to make an effectual resistance. 
 He succeeded in hiring, chiefly by the means of Count 
 Toledo, the Viceroy of Charles V. in Sicily, 2,000 mer- 
 cenaries, and sent trusty messengers to all the Houses 
 of his Fraternity in the different countries of Europe to 
 excite the sympathy and to demand the presence and 
 assistance of his knightly companions. By vast exer- 
 tions he collected, by the spring of A. D. 1565, an army 
 of 700 knights, and 8,000 men-at-arms. To these he 
 allotted the different posts of his fortress according 
 to their nationalities. The Spanish Chevalier Garzer- 
 anvos, with fifty knights and 500 soldiers, was en- 
 trusted with the custody of St. Angelo. The Borgo 
 itself, containing the palace of the Grand Master, 
 and the residences of the " Langues," was defended by 
 the chivalry of France, Provence, and Auvergne. The 
 space of rampart from the Borgo to St. Michael's 
 was answered for by the chevaliers of Germany, Portu-
 
 156 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 gal, and Arragon. Monte and his Italians were respon- 
 sible for the castle on Point Sanglea. The experienced 
 and resolute De Romegas was charged with the defence 
 of the entrance to the Great Harbor ; while the defence 
 of the Port of the Galleys was committed to a Castilian 
 engineer, Gurial, who erected a battery of nine guns to 
 defend the chain thrown across the entrance from San- 
 glea to St. Angelo. The important star-shaped fort sit- 
 uated at St. Elmo, the furthermost extremity of Mount 
 Sceberras, was committed to the charge of two valiant 
 veteran officers, D'Eguerras, Bailiff of Negropont, and 
 Broglio, a Knight of Piedmont. Chevalier Copier, of 
 the " nation " Auvergne, with 200 cavalry and 600 
 Turkopoliers, were appointed to watch the landing of 
 the enemy, and to act as skirmishers, or as a corps 
 of observation.* 
 
 On the morning of Friday, May 18th, a gun fired 
 
 * An inspection of the diagram prefixed to the next chapter will best ex- 
 plain these positions. The chief feature of the scene of the contest to be 
 recorded in this chapter was the bold promontory of Mount Scebarras, A 
 long tongue of land dividing the two harbors called the Great and Quaran- 
 tine Harbors, from Marsa Muscetto Harbor. This promontory is now the 
 site of the city of Valetta, but was at this time a bare rock, with the star- 
 fort of St. Elmo at its extremity. The Great Harbor is on the east side, 
 parcelled out into separate bays or creeks by two other rocky peninsulas, 
 which were the scenes of the contest recorded in the succeeding chapter. 
 They are now occupied by the large towns of Vittoriosa, Sanglea, Cospicua, 
 and Burmola. Notabile, since called Citta Vecchia, is in the center of the 
 island, about six miles from Valetta.
 
 FAME AND HEROISM. 157 
 
 from St. Elmo announced the appearance of the great 
 Ottoman armament. A strong gregale*- wind was 
 blowing, and the sea was exceedingly rough. The 
 Knights then witnessed a sight which, under other 
 circumstances, would have excited all their sympathy 
 and admiration, as sailors and Sea-Kings: the whole 
 magnificent fleet of the Turks, after passing St. Elmo, 
 tacked, and sailed before the breeze along the coast 
 to the small island of Filfola,f on the southeast side, 
 where they obtained shelter in the Bay of Magiarra. 
 An incident occurred during its brief stay here which 
 illustrates the heroism of the Hospitallers. A party of 
 Janizzaries having landed during the night, concealed 
 themselves in the hollows of the rocks, and at dawn 
 fell suddenly upon a knight named Riviera, who was on 
 the watch with a small escort. The brave hero was 
 conveyed as a prisoner to Piali's ship, and was put 
 to the torture to elicit from him information about 
 the fortress, but all that he could be made to say 
 amidst his agony was this, " If they wanted to attack 
 
 Eight winds are recognized at Malta, and are opposed to each other in 
 these four separate pairs: Notina, S., and Tramontana, N.; Lebeche, S. 
 W., and Gregale, N. E. ; Levant, E., and Ponente, W. ; Syrocco, S. E., and 
 Mistrale, N. W. 
 
 t Filfola. From an Arabic word, felfel, a pepper-seed ; meaning that tha 
 island is as small as a pepper-corn. It is only a habitation for birds.
 
 158 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 the weakest part they must begin with the bastion 
 of Arragon." 
 
 " Still in his stern and self -conceited mien, 
 A conqueror's more than captive's air is seen." * 
 
 On the same evening the wind changed, and the 
 whole fleet, lighted by lanterns at their mast-heads, re- 
 traced their course, and entered the Marsa Sirocco Har- 
 bor. The disembarkation commenced at dawn. In the 
 later part of the day Pachas Mustapha and Piali, ac- 
 companied by their suites and escorts, rode as far as 
 the Mount Corrodino, a hill about a mile and a-half 
 from Valetta, from which they could see the Borgo, 
 fortress, and harbors stretched before them as a map. 
 They brought with them Riviera heavily ironed, and 
 required him to name the various posts and fortifica- 
 tions. On his pointing to the bastion of Arragon, 
 which he had described as the weakest part, Pacha 
 Mustapha, observing its deep ditches, lofty walls, and 
 strong casemates, struck Riviera with a cane, and or- 
 dered him, in his rage, to be hewed in pieces by his 
 soldiers. This self-sacrifice of Riviera is to this day 
 commemorated by his figure being painted among the 
 most worthy heroes of the Order in the clerestory of 
 St. John's Cathedral at Valetta. 
 
 " Vulgar minds 
 
 Refuse or crouch beneath their load ; the brave 
 Bear theirs without repining." * 
 Thomson.
 
 FAME AND HEEOISM. 159 
 
 On the next day, Saturday, May 21st, a grand coun- 
 cil of war was held, at which it was resolved that 
 the first step should be the capture of St. Elmo. The 
 Turks, by the help of oxen taken from the villagers, 
 dragged their cannon to the promontory of Sceberras, 
 commenced their lines, and set up an immense frame- 
 work which they had brought from Constantinople, in 
 huge* separate pieces of timber, for the more speedy 
 preparation of the batteries. The Turkish engineers at 
 first contented themselves with weakening, with their 
 heavy basilisks and field-pieces, the external defences 
 of the fort, or with repulsing the frequent sorties and 
 attacks of the besieged. The arrival of Dragut, with 
 his auxiliary army, about the first week in June, im- 
 parted new life and vigor to the operations. Pacha 
 Piali was laid on one side, and confined to his ship, by 
 a severe wound received in a skirmish, and Mustapha, 
 according to the orders received from the Sultan, en- 
 trusted to his experienced and energetic ally the 
 chief direction of the siege. Dragut was worthy of this 
 confidence. The sou of an Algerine chieftain, who for 
 his own safety acknowledged the suzerainty of and paid 
 tribute to the Sultan, and was yet supreme in his 
 own dominions, he had been from his youth a rover 
 on the seas. He had seen, too, many vicissitudes of 
 fortune, having been often a victor in the fight, and yet 
 doomed to know the worst bondage of the rowing-
 
 160 , KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 bench. On one occasion the Admiral of the Venetian 
 fleet, Doria, took him prisoner, and chained him among 
 the rowers of his galley, where he toiled amongst the 
 slaves for many a weary month, until he was released 
 in consequence of an attack threatened by the Ottoman 
 Admiral, Barbarossa, if his release had not been con- 
 ceded. These changes of fortune, and his heroic en- 
 durance of them, had wonderfully increased his power 
 over his troops. Like the Corsair described by Lord 
 Byron, Canto VIII, 
 
 "His name appals the fiercest of his crew, 
 And tints each swarthy cheek with sallower hue; 
 Still sways their souls with that commauding art 
 That dazzles, leads, yet chills the vulgar heart." 
 
 Dragut condemned the proposal to attack St. Elmo, 
 but, as that step had been decided on, stirred up Mus- 
 tapha to a greater animation in the conduct of the 
 siege. He advanced the batteries nearer to the fort, 
 erected a new entrenchment, supplied with four guns, 
 on the further side of the Marsa Muscetto Harbor, 
 on the point still known by his name, and made other 
 arrangements to increase the efficiency of the attack. 
 While these operations were in progress, the fort had 
 nearly been taken by a coup de main. Some Turkish 
 artillerymen, surprised at daybreak one morning to find 
 that their approach to one of the outer works was 
 not met by the usual show of resistance, crept cautious-
 
 FAME AND HEEOISM. 161 
 
 ly forward, and, mounting on each others' shoulders 
 as a ladder, looked into the interior, and saw all the 
 sentinels lying down fast asleep. They returned quiet- 
 ly to their trenches, and reported to their commander, 
 who immediately despatched troops with scaling-lad- 
 ders. The Turks obtained possession of the outpost 
 without being discovered, killed some of the soldiers, 
 and fiut the rest into such a panic that many threw 
 themselves off the walls into the deep trenches and 
 were killed by the fall. The Turks rushed across a 
 narrow bridge leading from the outpost to the fort, but 
 the alarm had been given, and their course was success- 
 fully opposed by the Knights. 
 
 The combat became general. The Turks, reinforced 
 by fresh troops, made good their occupation of the out- 
 post, and so crowded upon and drove back the garri- 
 son, that they reached the very entrance of the fort 
 itself. Here, however, they became so exposed to the 
 fire of the musketeers, the point-blank range of the 
 cannon, and to the massive stones hurled from the 
 walls, that they were compelled to return, foiled, baf- 
 fled, and disappointed of their hope. The combat thus 
 commenced by an accident at sunrise, became in its 
 Drogress so important and hotly contested, that it cost 
 the Turks the lives of a thousand men, while the 
 Knights lost twenty of their Brethren and a hundred 
 soldiers. A touching anecdote, illustrating the chival- 
 11
 
 162 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 rous temper of our heroes, is connected with this epi- 
 sode in the siege. A Frenchman, the Chevalier de 
 Bridievs, having been wounded by a musket ball, when 
 one of his companions came to remove him from the 
 spot where he had fallen, entreated that he would 
 not for his sake relinquish his post of duty. " Consider 
 me," said he, "as one already dead. My wound is 
 mortal. Go and help your Brethren in their need." 
 De Bridiers had just strength enough to drag himself 
 to the chapel, and was found lying dead before the 
 altar. 
 
 The additionl means of attack inaugurated by Dragut 
 were hastened to their completion under his own daily 
 energetic and personal inspection. On Wednesday, the 
 18th of June, the new entrenchment on Point Dragut, 
 the huge basilisks on Mount Sceberras, and the guns 
 placed in position on the ravelin or outpost gained in 
 their coup de main by the Turks, opened on the de- 
 voted Fort of St. Elmo. Their united fire caused such 
 a destruction of the external defences, and such 
 breaches in the walls, that Mustapha and Dragut deter- 
 mined on an immediate general assault. Tidings to 
 this effect were proclaimed throughout the camp, and 
 Saturday, the 16th of June, was named as the day 
 of the attack. The gallant defenders of St. Elmo 
 had kept up their communication with Valetta and 
 their brethren in the Borgo and St. Angelo. They had
 
 FAME AND HEROISM. 163 
 
 thus been enabled during the night to remove their sick 
 and wounded, and to receive fresh relays of command- 
 ers and soldiers, with supplies of ammunition and pro- 
 visions. So unselfish was their conduct, and so lively 
 the sense of obligation to their vows prevalent among 
 the members of the Order, that although they knew 
 that certain death was the penalty of joining the forlorn 
 hope*in St. Elmo, yet so many volunteered for the haz- 
 ardous though honorable service, that Valette's chief 
 difficulty was to decide whom he could make choice of. 
 Where every one thus deemed the post of danger to be 
 the post of honor, a universal determination prevailed 
 that every man would do his duty even to the sacrifice 
 of his life. 
 
 The dawn of June 16th was ushered in by the boom- 
 ing of a single gun. It was the signal for a general 
 assault. Scarcely had its echoes ceased before the 
 Turkish host moved forward to the exhilarating sounds 
 of cymbals and other instruments of military music. 
 
 " War music, bursting out from time to time, 
 With gong and tymbalon's tremendous chime." * 
 
 Four thousand arquebusiers were told off, in the first 
 place, to shoot at any soldier who might show himself 
 on the walls. The bold advance of the troops ap- 
 pointed for the assault, and their rapid ascent of the 
 breach to come to close encounter with their foes, soon 
 
 * Lalla Rookh, Canto II., sub fine.
 
 164 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KING3. 
 
 superseded this office of the sharpshooters. They 
 ceased their fire, lest friend and foe should be involved 
 in one indistinguishable slaughter. Then commenced a 
 very agony of contention. Christian and Turk, having 
 exchanged shots with each other, and having shattered' 
 their swords and broken their pikes in the fury of 
 the melee, seized each other by the body and tried, at 
 the point of the poignard, which had the claim to be 
 the stronger. The Knights, too, had prepared in ex- 
 pectation of this assault a special weapon of offence. 
 They cast down upon their assailants large iron circular 
 hollow hoops filled with liquid fire, which being of a 
 considerable diameter," enclosed three or four soldiers at 
 a time in their fiery embrace, burning their limbs, and 
 setting on fire their long flowing cotton robes and silken 
 turbans. They threw also small earthenware globes 
 filled with fire, which had a train attached to them, 
 something after the manner of a modern fusee, and 
 which exploded with a terrible effect in the thick of the 
 troops, and caused much detriment to the besiegers. 
 Hour after hour rolled by, and the conflict was con- 
 tinued without the Turks gaining or the Christians 
 losing an inch of ground. 
 
 While this main attack was thus obstinately con- 
 tested at the extremity of Mount Sceberras, a minor as- 
 sault was made on another and different part of the for- 
 tification. This fort was on one side washed by the sea.
 
 FAME AND HEROISM. 165 
 
 " Its varying circle did combine 
 Bulwark and bartizan and line, 
 And bastion, tower, and vantage coign- 
 Above the booming ocean leant 
 The far projecting battlement." 
 
 Thirty Turkish sailors, seeing from their galleys a 
 rampart on the sea-face which they imagined to be 
 feebly defended through its guards being summoned to 
 take part in resistance to the general assault, bound 
 themselves by an oath to get possession of it. They 
 lauded from a large boat, and with the aid of their lad- 
 ders climbed up the face of the rock. This rock, how- 
 ever, was within reach of the cannon of St. Angelo, and 
 Valette forthwith fired a well-directed shot which 
 killed several of the sailors, and caused the remainder 
 to desist from their undertaking. The Grand Master 
 and his companions occupied a most unenviable and 
 tantalizing position during this conflict of their brethren 
 and friends. They were near enough to hear the very 
 shouts of the combatants, the thunder of the cannon, 
 the volleys of the musketry, and all the confused and 
 multiplied noises of the battle. They could tell by the 
 sounds the various alternations of the fight, and to 
 which side befel the temporary success or temporary 
 disaster ; but they were impotent to help, and except 
 on this one solitary occasion, were unable to lend any 
 decisive aid or co-operation. At the expiration of six 
 * Marmion, Canto VL
 
 166 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KTSGS. 
 
 hours, the Knights, though they were most of them 
 wounded, burnt by the heat of the noonday sun, and 
 worn out by fatigue, had the happiness of hearing 
 the trumpet sounding a retreat, and of seeing their 
 enemies abandon their attack. The might of the Mos- 
 lem recoiled in wonder and perplexity from that rock- 
 hewn, sea-washed fortress, defeated and driven back by 
 the stern prowess and unflinching courage of the Sea- 
 Kings of the Mediterranean. The termination of the 
 combat was announced to their companions in the Bor- 
 go by the shouts of the victors, and the air brought 
 back to them the echoes of their sympathetic accla- 
 mations and rejoicings. Three thousand Turks fell 
 in this great struggle, while three hundred men-at-arms 
 and seventeen Knights was the price of victory to 
 the conquerors. 
 
 On the following day, June 17th, a council of war 
 was held by Mustapha and Dragut. The Algerine Ad- 
 miral insisted that no surrender of Fort St. Elmo can 
 be looked for so long as fresh troops could be sent 
 by Valette for the reinforcement of its garrison. For 
 the future prevention of any such communication, he 
 summoned his fleet of galleys to set a close watch upon 
 the short space of coast between St. Elmo and the 
 Great Harbor, lined the cliff with marksmen, under 
 strict orders to keep an unerring watch, and erected 
 a new battery close to the margin of the sea and able to
 
 FAME AND HEROISM. 167 
 
 rake with its fire the entrance to the harbor. While, 
 however, in the act of tracing the exact position for his 
 new entrenchment, a cannon ball fired from St. Angelo 
 killed his chief engineer by his side and wounded him 
 severely in his right ear. He fell suddenly, and blood 
 flowed rapidly from his nose and mouth. Mustapha 
 Pacha, who was with him, ordered that a cloak should 
 be tlarbwn over him to conceal his wound from the 
 soldiers, and that he should be borne to his tent ; and 
 thus, as we shall see, Dragut received his death-wound 
 in the act of suggesting measures which secured a 
 victory in which he had no participation. 
 
 After an interval of five days' rest, Mustapha Pacha, 
 well assured that those active and energetic plans of his 
 colleague had prevented any introduction of fresh 
 troops into St. Elmo, determined, on Friday the 22nd 
 of June, to lead his army to another general assault. 
 Confident, however, as he felt of victory, he learnt to 
 his cost that the victory was not on that day to be won. 
 Three several times did his bravest Janizzaries mount 
 to the assault, and three separate times were they 
 driven back by the impregnable living barriers of the 
 resolute defenders of the fortress. The Knights, how- 
 ever, knew too well that without renewed help from 
 their chief there must be an end to their exertions, and 
 they were one and all resolved what that end should be 
 a hard fight and honorable death in combat with the
 
 168 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 foe. At nightfall on this eventful day they determined 
 to make one last effort to communicate with Valette, to 
 state to him their intentions and to receive his orders. 
 They entrusted a letter to a strong swimmer, who clev- 
 erly escaped the many dangers of his perilous and 
 spirited attempt, and reached St. Angelo in safety. 
 
 Valette and his companions could not resist so urgent 
 and pathetic an appeal from friends so dear and brave. 
 He determined to hope against hope, and without de- 
 lay, under cover of the night, attempted to reach St. 
 Elmo, to remove or to reinforce its garrison. He des- 
 patched five large transports filled with his bravest and 
 trustiest commanders and soldiers. His intention was 
 quickly discovered. The new battery designed by 
 Dragut sounded out the loud note of warning. The 
 whole cliff was at once alive with the musketry of 
 the arquebusiers. The guns of the cordon of ships 
 opened upon his crews, and so great was the opposition 
 to his venture, that his transports were driven back 
 with their noble enterprise unaccomplished. The at- 
 tempt at rescue, and its failure, were quickly known at 
 St. Elmo, and the Sea-Kings, defenders of the fort, 
 acknowledged to each other that their last days on 
 earth were numbered. They determined to spend 
 them like Christian men. Seldom has a more solemn 
 and affecting scene been recorded in the long annals of 
 human history. These last survivors of a band of
 
 FAME AND HEROISM. 169 
 
 heroes, wounded in limb, scarred in face, wan and pale 
 with days of care and nights of watching, met for 
 the last time for the sacred offices of religion in a small 
 but picturesque vaulted chapel within the fort. Aban- 
 doning all expectation of deliverance, surrendering 
 every hope of life, they prepared themselves with calm 
 confidence for their mournful but inevitable fate. Mu- 
 tually "confessing their faults, and saluting each other 
 with sad and affectionate embraces, they communicated 
 together in the office of the mass, and interchanged 
 their vows to accept no conditions of surrender, but to 
 die together in defence of their Faith and Order. At 
 the conclusion of that touching ceremony, there was yet 
 another duty almost more affecting to be fulfilled. 
 Many in this band of surviving warriors were so blinded 
 or otherwise injured by their wounds that they could 
 not walk by themselves. Others were so weak that 
 they could only be moved on chairs or litters, yet all 
 these insisted on being so placed that they might take a 
 part, however small, in this last final defence of their 
 citadel ; and it was the trying task of the uninjured to 
 convey their sick companions to the breach, that each 
 might there meet his end in harness, and lie down 
 at the last on his bed of honor. 
 
 " Though few their numbers, theirs the strife 
 That neither spares nor speaks for life." * 
 
 Byron, Giaour.
 
 170 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 With the morning's early dawn of Saturday, June 
 23rd, the Turkish host again rushed to the assault with 
 a reckless impetuosity which betokened an assurance of 
 victory. The Christian band of heroes, too reduced in 
 numbers to maintain the outworks, awaited the attack 
 in a collected body at the breach. Each and all de- 
 fended themselves with a marvelous courage only in- 
 spired by a contempt of life and a wish for death. Some 
 opposed their foes by hurling on them masses of stone, 
 with jets and circlets of fire. Others rushed forward 
 into the serried ranks of the masses, as if assured of an- 
 other victory. Others, who could not stand or walk, 
 fired with their muskets, while some whose powder 
 failed obtained a supply from the pouches of their slain 
 companions. At last, after a contest sustained against 
 immensely disproportionate numbers for the almost in- 
 credible space of four hours, the defenders found them- 
 selves reduced to the small band of sixty persons. But 
 even this little company, inflamed with a despair of life, 
 made tfyeir enemies fear them. Chevalier La Mirande, 
 the chief commander of the Knights of Spain, the high- 
 est officer left in the fort, who had distinguished himself 
 throughout the whole protracted siege, seeing that the 
 breach was about to be forced, rallied his soldiers, and 
 encouraged them to exert themselves, and to prolong 
 the defence. They, in obedience to his wish,
 
 FAME AND HEROISM. 171 
 
 " Within a narrower ring compressed, beset, 
 Hopeless, not heartless, strive and struggle yet. 
 Ah! now they fight in firmest file no more, 
 Hemm'd in, cut off, cleft down, and trampled o'er; 
 But each strikes singly, silently, and home, 
 And sinks outwearied rather than o'ercome; 
 His last faint quittance rendering with his breath, 
 Till the blade glimmers in the grasp of death." * 
 
 Bacha Mustapha, finding the breach so nobly held by 
 the small band of surviving warriors, and dreading the 
 effects of their furious courage, recalled by sound of 
 trumpet his men from the attack, and thus paid a final 
 compliment to the heroism of his opponents. It might 
 have been supposed that the Ottoman leader, overcome 
 by the manliness of his foe, might have offered such 
 terms as honorable men could have accepted. No such 
 thoughts entered into his mind. The purpose of his 
 temporary cessation of the conflict was soon apparent. 
 He had withdrawn his troops for no chivalrous purpose, 
 but that he might place his marksmen on every ravelin, 
 bastion, rampart, and coign of vantage he had gained, 
 so that his arquebusiers at a safe distance might fire upon 
 their prey. Many of the survivors thus fell under the 
 distant fire of their enemy. At the hour of eleven, 
 five hours after the commencement of this last struggle, 
 the Turkish host again renewed the attack, with frantic 
 cries of gratified hatred and revenge. La Miraude, 
 D'Eguerras, and their few remaining soldiers, over- 
 * Corsair.
 
 172 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 whelmed with the multitude of their assailants, died 
 boldly at their posts; and that terrible final assault was 
 only ended by the want of combatants, and by the death 
 in the breach of the last Christian soldier.* 
 
 This dearly-bought triumph was celebrated by the 
 Moslem with firing of cannon, the loud fanfarons of the 
 trumpet, and the tumultuous acclamations of the host. 
 Pacha Mustapha sent some officers of high rank to an- 
 nounce to Dragut the capture of the fort. They found 
 the chieftain in the last agony of death. A momentary 
 gleam of satisfaction on his countenance, and the raising 
 of his hands towards heaven, as in token of gratitude, 
 were the only signs he gave of his conciousness of the 
 glad tidings brought to him, and then with one sigh ex- 
 pired. This possession of St. Elmo, the weakest, most 
 isolated, and unprotected of the forts of Malta, was 
 dearly purchased, by the wound of Piali, the death of 
 Dragut, who had the wisest head and the boldest heart 
 of all in that mighty host, and in the loss of 8,000 of the 
 best soldiers of the Sultan. The Knights and their men- 
 at-arms who perished in the conflict were numbered at 
 1,300. These brave men died nobly in the performance 
 
 * Tliis fearful assault only came to an end for want of combatants, and 
 by the death of the very last Knight. Such are the words of Yertot, the 
 historian of the Order, Lib. XII., siib fine. Some accounts state that a few 
 soldiers escaped by swimming to Fort St. Angelo, and that nine were cap- 
 tured by the galleys set to watch the coast from St. Elmo to the Great Har- 
 bor. The narrative of Vertot seems most worthy of credit
 
 FAME AND HEROISM. 173 
 
 of their duty. Their heroic resolution and disinterested 
 self-sacrifice secured the safety of their island and the 
 eventual defeat of the Ottoman expedition. They en- 
 couraged their companions to an emulation of their 
 virtues, and have left to the end of all time a memorable 
 example of patient suffering, of high-souled patriotism, 
 an<5 of the rewards and honors ever rendered to a stead- 
 fast perseverance in the known path of duty. 
 
 " How blest are they who sink to rest, 
 With all their country's wishes blest! " * 
 
 Many sad reprisals accompanied the termination of 
 this first act in the drama of which Malta was now the 
 scene. Pacha Mustapha is reported to have gashed the 
 bodies of the Knights in the form of a cross, and to have 
 fastened them headless upon wooden crosses nailed to 
 heavy planks, and so to have floated them into the 
 Great Harbor, to be seen by Valette and his Brother- 
 hood. 
 
 " "With barb'rous blows they gash the dead, 
 And lop th' already lifeless head." f 
 
 The Grand Master is said, in his turn, under an ex- 
 asperation at witnessing these cruelties, to have mur- 
 dered his Turkish prisoners and to have fired their heads 
 from his cannon into the Moslem entrenchments on 
 Mount Sceberras. The dictates of charity suggest a 
 hope that there is no trutli in these stories, so revolting 
 
 Colling. t Byron, Siege of Corinth.
 
 174 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 alike to humanity and civilization. There is more 
 reason to believe the saying attributed to Mustapha a3 
 he stood in saddened triumph on the ramparts so dearly 
 gained, and as he probably called to mind the hard-won 
 possession of Rhodes, " How much will the parent cost, 
 when the child which is so little, has lost me so many 
 brave soldiers ! " What greater compliment could be 
 paid than this melancholy panegyric of the conqueror to 
 the heroism of the " Sea-Kings of the Mediterranean " ?
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 *~ VALOR AND VICTORY. 
 
 " My good blade carves the casques of men, 
 
 My tough lance thrusteth sure ; 
 My strength is as the strength of ten, 
 Because my heart is pure." 
 
 Sir Galahad TENNYSOH. 
 
 THE fall of St. Elmo changed the whole tactics of the 
 siege. John de la Valette called together at once a 
 council of his friends, and addressed them in language 
 worthy of a Christian soldier. " They who have died 
 so nobly at St. Elmo have attained to that which a good 
 knight should most long for, a glorious death in behalf 
 of his faith and country. If need be, we will imitate 
 their example. But there is no cause for despair. The 
 number of the enemy is diminished. Their army loses 
 day by day from disease. Their commissariat and am- 
 munition are being exhausted. The capture of St. 
 Elmo will help them but little in their attack on our 
 forts. We may expect reinforcements from Sicily and 
 Europe, against which they will make no effectual re- 
 sistance." This address of their leader was received 
 
 175
 
 176 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 with enthusiasm, and the members of the Brotherhood 
 renewed their mutual vows to defend their home with 
 their lives. Valette did not only deal in brave words, 
 but performed bold acts of defiance and defence. He 
 called in a portion of n.s troops from Notabile, appointed 
 four Knights, with the title "Captains of Succor," to 
 render help wherever it might be most needed ; united 
 the two sides of the fortress by a floating bridge thrown 
 across the Port of the Galleys ; and commanded his sol- 
 diers to grant no quarter, partly in reprisal for the 
 cruelties exercised at St. Elmo, and partly in precaution, 
 lest the provisions laid up in store should fail. Valette 
 was further strengthened by the timely arrival, in this 
 crisis, of 250 gallant soldiers from Sicily, who made up 
 to some slight extent for his losses at St. Elmo, and en- 
 couraged him and his brave companions in the hope of 
 further European assistance. Among these new-comers 
 were two English cavaliers, whose names have been re- 
 corded as Sir John Smith and Edward Stanley.* 
 
 * These were not the only Britons present at the siege. Sir Oliver Starkey. 
 private secretary to Valette, and present throughout all the events recorded 
 in these chapters, \vas an Englishman. He survived his noble friend and 
 patron, and wrote this epitaph for his tomb : * 
 
 "Hie Aske Lybiseque pavor, tutelaque quondam 
 
 Europae, edomitis sacra per anna Getis 
 Primus in hac alma quam condidit urbe sepultus 
 Valette aeterno dignus honore jacet." 
 
 " The terror of Asia and Africa, the shield of Europe, the conqueror of th
 
 VALOR AND VICTORY. 177 
 
 Pacha Mustapha, fully conscious of the peril of his 
 situation, and fearful alike of the failure of his own re- 
 sources at that distance from his counCry, and of the re- 
 inforcements promised by the Viceroy of Sicily to his 
 opponents, was anxious, on his part, without procrasti- 
 nation or delay, to commence further operations. He 
 marked out a line of trenches completely round the two 
 great fingers of land occupied by the main fortress 
 of his opponents, and, because he could not dig into the 
 rock, protected them with parapets of earth and stone. 
 He compelled his slaves and sailors to plant his six- 
 ty-six great siege pieces in nine different batteries, in a 
 continuous chain, from Corrodino, by Burmolt and 
 St. Margaret's Hill, to Bighi. By the advice of his en- 
 gineers he chose the Castle of St. Michael, at the 
 extremity of Point Sanglea, and the proximate bastion 
 of Castile, as the first points of his attack. To assist in 
 the reduction of the fort of St Michael, he placed 
 two batteries opposite to it ; one on the upper cliff 
 of the Mount Sceberras, the promontory between the 
 two harbors ; and the other below, on the margin of the 
 water. For the possession of the bastion he depended 
 on his batteries on the steeps of Corrodino and Bur- 
 Turks, Valette, worthy of eternal fame, was the first buried in thia famous 
 city, which he built." 
 
 Sir Oliver Starkey is buried by the side of Valette, in the catacombs of St 
 John's Con-Cathedral Church, in the city of Valetta, 
 
 12
 
 178 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 mola. He resorted to another expedient worthy of 
 particular mention. He made a smooth road of 
 planks,* and, by the assistance of the crews, soldiers, 
 and slave-rowers, under the lash of their severe task- 
 masters, hauled eighty galleys for nearly two miles, 
 across the neck of laud which separated the ports ; and 
 thus obtained, without breaking through the chains and 
 palisades guarding its entrance, a perfectly safe access 
 for his vessels into the Great Harbor, and the important 
 aid of the co-operation of his galleys in his contem- 
 plated attacks on the sea-defences at the fortress at 
 Point Sanglea. Valette obtained early information of 
 this latter design in a somewhat remarkable manner. 
 One day a Knight named Saroguerra, in the command 
 of Fort St. Michael, observed a man, clad in the rich 
 dress of a superior officer of the Turkish army, making 
 signs to him as if anxious to join him. He reported the 
 matter to Valette, and asked his leave to venture across 
 the harbor, attended by his esquire, to inquire what was 
 meant. In the meanwhile the Turkish sentinel had ob- 
 served the signals, and had communicated with -his cap- 
 tain, who suspecting treachery, sent a band of soldiers 
 to bring the man in as a prisoner. On perceiving their 
 
 * A similar expedient was adopted by Mohammed II. at the siege of Con- 
 stantinople. He made " a smooth road of planks along the five miles of land 
 which intervened between the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, and a large 
 division of the Turkish galleys was hauled along it, and safely launched in 
 the harbor." Creasy' 8 History of the Ottoman Empire, vol. L, p. 130.
 
 Malta. Page 176.
 
 VALOE AND VICTORY. 179 
 
 approach he jumped into the water, and commenced 
 swimming across, when three Maltese sailors immediate- 
 ly dived off Sarognerra's boat to his assistance, and, 
 with their aid, in spite of the shots of the Turks, he 
 reached in safety the opposite bank. On being brought 
 before the Grand Master he told his romantic history. 
 
 " My^name is Lascaris. I was born a Greek, of a 
 noble Christian family. I was captured as a boy at the 
 siege of Patras. On account of my noble birth I was 
 educated with care, and trained as a Janizzary, in 
 which corps I am now a spahi or captain. I have, how- 
 ever, never forgotten nor forgiven the wrongs done to 
 my parents and my country. I have always deter- 
 mined, if opportunity permitted, to return to the faith 
 of my fathers and of my baptism. If you will accept 
 me into your ranks, I will fight by your side, and serve 
 you with fidelity as long as I live." Valette received 
 him after this speech with open arms, admitted him to 
 the order of knighthood, and found him a brave soldier 
 and wise counsellor throughout the remainder of the 
 siege. In consequence of the important tidings which 
 La&caris brought, Valette adopted additional methods 
 of defence. He strengthened the ramparts of St. 
 Michael's Fort, barricaded the entrance of the Port 
 of the Galleys by a strong chain stretched from St. An- 
 gelo to Sanglea, and protected with a battery on either 
 side; and constructed a huge stockade of masts, an-
 
 180 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 chors, and massive beams, bristling with long iron 
 spikes, from Sanglea Point to the Point of Corrodino, to 
 prevent all approach of the vessels to the foot of his 
 walls and fortifications. These vast defensive opera- 
 tions, conducted with the greatest secrecy, and only 
 worked at during the hours of darkness, were after 
 nine nights effectually completed. 
 
 This huge stockade gave rise to the first actual 
 conflict in this second stage of the siege. Mustapha, 
 enraged at finding his projects thus anticipated, and the 
 purpose of his vast effort in bringing his galleys into the 
 Great Harbor rendered comparatively useless, deter- 
 mined to remove this formidable impediment. He or- 
 dered the best swimmers in his fleet to arm themselves 
 with hatchets, and to remove during the night this ob- 
 stacle to his mauoevres. The noise of their blows 
 and strokes soon made their movements known to 
 the besieged. The guns of St. Michael's Fort, and the 
 fire from the bastion, opened upon them, but they could 
 not be made to reach so low a level. The Maltese 
 sailors, on this being known, leapt at once naked into 
 the water,. with their bhort swords in their mouths, and 
 attacked the hatchet-men with the utmost impetuosity. 
 This singular episode in naval warfare this unique 
 contest of naked men in the water by moonlight 
 lasted but a short time. The hatchet-men, after a brief 
 but desperate struggle, were obliged to } r ield to the
 
 VALOR AND VICTOEY. 181 
 
 skill and superior swimming of their opponents, and the 
 stockade was saved. 
 
 Mustapha attempted on the following night to affect, 
 by cunning, what he had failed to do by force. He 
 again sent his swimmers in the darkness to fasten 
 strong ropes and cables to the stockade, in the hope of 
 destroying it piecemeal by tearing away separate por- 
 tions of it without noise and without discovery. The 
 watchfulness of the sentinels quickly gave the alarm, 
 and the Maltese swimmers again challenged their oppo- 
 nents, and cut away the ropes and cables with swords 
 and knives. 
 
 Four full weeks bad now passed since the fall of St. 
 Elmo, and towards the end of July Mustapha opened 
 fire from his batteries in the first general bombardment 
 of the fortress. From all the neighboring heights, Cor- 
 rodino, Burmola, St. Margaret," and Calcara, one inter- 
 mittent circle of fire blazed around the forts and town. 
 Some damage was done to the walls, but not enough, in 
 Mustapha's opinion, to justify an immediate assault. 
 In this position of affairs, the Turkish camp and gen- 
 eral were greatl}' enlivened and encouraged by the arri- 
 val of a powerful ally. Hassein, the young ruler of 
 Algiers, son of the famous Corsair Barbarossa, and son- 
 in-law of Dragut, sailed into Marsa Muscetto Harbor 
 with a contingent of 2,500 veteran troops, who had by 
 their valor in many a hard-fought naval battle earned
 
 182 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 for themselves the honorable appellation of " the brave 
 Algerines." Both they and their youthful leader were 
 inflamed with the most .vehement desire to wrest from 
 their rivals the supreme dominion in the Mediterranean, 
 and more especially to avenge the death of Dragut. 
 Hassein, shortly after his disembarkation, entreated 
 Mustapha to grant him permission to make an assault 
 upon the fortress, and confidently assured him of the 
 certainty of his success. The Pacha complied with his 
 request, and entrusted him with 4,000 soldiers of the 
 Sultan in addition to his own Algerines. Hassein ar- 
 ranged for a twofold attack. He appointed Canelissa, 
 his chief Admiral, to conduct the marine troops against 
 Fort St. Michael, while he himself led an assault 
 from the mainland against the other extremity of 
 Sanglea, the bastion of Castile. 
 
 No circumstance nor ceremony was omitted which 
 could give dignity to this occasion, or increase the confi- 
 dence or indignation of the soldiers. The vessels con- 
 veyed across the neck of Mount Sceberras were now for 
 the first time brought into use. This fleet of eighty 
 galleys moved at the break of dawn from its moorings, 
 and made ready for its part in the conflict. Its ad- 
 vance was conducted with all the solemnity of a 
 religious procession, as if the warriors on board were 
 about to perform an act of pious duty in avenging 
 on their enemies the loss of their chief. A long low
 
 VALOR AND VICTOBY. 183 
 
 barge was rowed first, which conveyed a large company 
 of Mufti and Marabouts, Mahometan ministers of relig- 
 ion. These men, arrayed in their rich sacred robes, 
 were divided into two lines of several ranks along each 
 side of the vessel. With loud alternate voices they 
 chanted their prayers and invocations for a blessing 
 on tfee" standards of their countrymen, or read from the 
 Koran imprecations on the Christians. On the cessa- 
 tion of these litanies there next arose from all parts 
 of that splendid armament a mighty swell of military 
 music. Drums, cymbals, fifes, and trumpets joined in 
 the loud alarum, and stirred with inspiriting strains the 
 hearts of the assailants. Then arose the wild shout 
 of the soldiers : 
 
 " Vengeance was the word: 
 From man to man and rank to rank it passed, 
 By every heart enforced, by every voice 
 Sent forth in loud defiance of the foe." * 
 
 Canelissa, in the first place, drove his foremost gal- 
 leys, with all the collected strength of his rowers, 
 against the stockade between Sanglea and Corrodino, as 
 if the might of his will must command and enforce a 
 passage. His effort was in vain. He next endeavored 
 to turn this stockade to his advantage, and, by plank- 
 ing it over with boards and beams, to use it as a bridge 
 by which he might lead his soldiers to the foot of 
 the ramparts. This device, though, cleverly designed, 
 * Klwderick, 714.
 
 184 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 and courageously attempted, was also unsuccessful. 
 The boards were too short to reach the required dis- 
 tance, and the chevaux de frise were so unevenly made 
 that they could uot be balanced, and, in addition to 
 this, the troops were exposed to so fierce a fusillade 
 that no hardihood could stand against it. Canelissa, 
 however, as if inspired by the very breath of the battle, 
 had discovered, with an eagle glance, that there was 
 a space between the fort and stockade at which it 
 was possible to obtain a footing for himself and troops. 
 He boldly advanced to the spot, effected a landing with 
 a body of his Algerines, and then, either in a spirit 
 of vain glory or presumptuous courage, or in a moment 
 of infatuation, ordered his boats to retreat, and to 
 leave him and his men upon the shore. The African 
 Corsairs, thoroughly habituated to this mode of war- 
 fare, and animated by the presence and example of 
 their chief, with their scimitars in the one hand, and 
 their scaling ladders in the other*exerted themselves to 
 the utmost to climb the ramparts. The contest in 
 this close conflict with their adversaries was long 
 and sanguinary, 
 
 " The crags are red they've clambered o'er, 
 The rock-weed 'a dripping -with their gore; " 
 
 but in the end the mad fury of the Algerines overcame 
 
 all resistance, and for a time they were masters of the 
 
 * Moore's Fire Worshipers.
 
 VALOR AND VICTORY. 185 
 
 lower platform of the fort, and planted their standards 
 in triumph on the wall of St. Michael's. 
 
 Pacha Mustapha, who had anxiously watched the 
 progress of his ally, despatched ten galleys laden with 
 fresh troops to his assistance. These boats never 
 reached their destination. By some mismanagement 
 they-were steered within point-blank range of the can- 
 non of St. Angelo, and the commander of that fort, by a 
 well-directed discharge of his guns, sank the larger part 
 of the vessels, and destroyed their crews. This incident 
 imparted encouragement to the Knights, and struck dis- 
 may into the hearts of their opponents. The gallant 
 Monte, the commander of Fort St. Michael, being 
 strengthened by the presence of Valette, and of some 
 of his Captains of Succors, with their soldiers, turned 
 upon Canelissa and his Algerines with redoubled deter- 
 mination, and, after a severe struggle, drove them head- 
 long from the platform. The chieftain, who was fore- 
 most in the attack, was the first in flight. Afraid of 
 falling into the hands of adversaries who gave no quar- 
 ter, he retreated with the utmost precipitation, and 
 leaped into the water to save his life. The Algerines 
 followed in pell-mell confusion. Each strove in his 
 panic to outstrip his companion in the quickness of his 
 flight. Without boats, shelter, or means of resistance, 
 they were slain by the sharp knives and poignards of 
 the Maltese swimmers, who pursued them in the water,
 
 186 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 or were destroyed by the arrows of the cross-bowmen, 
 or shot by the musketry from the ramparts. In vain 
 did they plead for mercy, and clasp, in their agony, the 
 hands of their foemen. The only answer was the death- 
 stroke, with the stern words of indignant retribution, 
 " St. Elmo ! St. Elmo ! the pay of St. Elmo ! " The 
 host on which that morning sun had shone, gay in its 
 panoply of war, mad in its anticipation of revenge, 
 reckless in its taunting challenge to its foes, was driven 
 back at noon a baffled, broken, and disordered rabble. 
 The terrible carnage may well be described in the burn- 
 ing words of the poet, recounting the discomfiture of 
 the Gheber soldiery by the bands of Hafed 
 
 "What ruin glares! what carnage swims! 
 Heads, blazing turbans, quivering limbs; 
 Lost swords that dnt from many a hand 
 In that thick pool of slaughter stand. 
 "Wretches who wading, half on. fire, 
 
 From the tossed brands that round them fly; 
 'Twixt flood and flame in shrieks expire; 
 
 And some, who, grasp'd by those that die, 
 Sink woundless with them, smother' d o'er 
 In their dead brethren's gushing gore." * 
 
 While this fierce contest was waged by Canelissa 
 on the shore, a no less furious assault was made by 
 Hassein on the mainland. He did not fare better at 
 the bastion than his lieutenant on the beach. Supported 
 
 * Moore's Fire Worshipers, 274.
 
 VALOR AND VICTORY. 187 
 
 by his bold Algerines, he gained the summit of the 
 breach, but could advance no further. The serried 
 ranks of warriors, who defended the gaping chasms in 
 their walls, proved a barrier of mail he could not pass. 
 In vain were his prayers, menaces, and promises. In 
 vain his appeal to the memory of Dragut, and to the 
 vengeance due to his wrongs. His experienced veterans 
 found an opposition with which they were hitherto un- 
 acquainted. Time after time they rushed to the assault, 
 time after time were they driven back, till at last they 
 retreated, with thinned and disordered ranks, and con- 
 fessed their inability to wrest the coveted stronghold 
 from the foe. 
 
 The events of this exciting day were not concluded 
 with this two-fold defeat of the invaders by sea and 
 land. Mustapha, desirous to achieve a triumph where 
 his allies had failed, and anxious to strike a blow before 
 his enemies had recovered from the fatigue and weari- 
 ness consequent on their unparalleled exertions, deter- 
 mined to make a third immediate attack, and hoped, by 
 the numbers of his troops not hitherto engaged, to pre- 
 vail in the assault. In the afternoon heat of that mid- 
 summer day, within five hours of the retreat of Hassein 
 and Canelissa, he marshalled his Janizzaries, and led 
 them in person to the breach. Prodigious efforts were 
 made on either side. The Sultan's soldiers, emulous of 
 success where their Algerine auxiliaries had failed, re-
 
 188 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 newed the attack again and again. Combatant met 
 combatant in single contest, and the point of the dagger 
 was the final arbiter of the fight ; yet the Sea-Kings, in 
 their serried ranks and brazen panoply, careless alike of 
 hunger or thirst, sealed by a sense of duty against 
 weariness or complaining, persevered in holding their 
 own with untiring intrepidity. At last, with the 
 lengthening shades of evening, the Turks retired from 
 the struggle, repulsed for the third time on that hard- 
 fought day. The fiery valor of Valette, the concentrated 
 courage of his companions, the vigorous co-operation of 
 the unarmed inhabitants of the town, who assisted their 
 brave defenders by bringing them refreshments in the 
 strife, and by preparing ammunition, and all those fiery 
 projectiles of offensive warfare rendered so familiar in 
 the narrative of the capture of St. Elmo, had again pre- 
 vailed. Who can realize the mixed feelings which, at 
 the close of that long day, must have prevailed in the 
 mind of the victorious Grand Master? Which most 
 preponderated satisfaction at his resistance, still suc- 
 cessfully maintained, regret at the loss of so many 
 valiant and beloved companions, or fearful anticipations 
 about the future ? In the midst of his perplexities he 
 must have experienced one source of unmixed consola- 
 tion, that on that day he had nobly done his duty. 
 
 "Example is a living law, whose sway 
 Men more than all the written laws obey." 
 
 * Sedley.
 
 VALOR AND VICTORY. 189 
 
 The next few days after this great effort were passed 
 in comparative inaction. Mustapha, in the hope of 
 bringing his battery nearer to the Castile bastion, 
 erected on Burmola the large wooden framework which 
 he had brought from the arsenals at Constantinople. 
 Valette, alarmed at the near proximity of this monster 
 apparatus to his walls, sent out on two successive 
 nights a band of trusty soldiers to destroy it. His at- 
 tempts were on each occasion frustrated by the vigi- 
 lance and numbers of the Turks. At last he deter- 
 mined to overturn it with the advantage of daylight, 
 and appointed to this service his own nephew, Henry 
 de Valette, a most gallant and spirited Sea-King, and 
 his brave friend and companion, Chevalier Polastra. 
 These two noble youths succeeded in reaching the 
 works of the battery, and in placing their ropes and 
 grappling-hooks on the wooden framework, but, being 
 unsupported by their musqueteers and men-at-arms, 
 were both killed. Then ensued a brief but most des- 
 perate struggle. The Janizzaries, anxious to secure 
 the reward set by their general on the head of every 
 Knight, and the men-at-arms, stung to the quick at the 
 death, by their remissness and fault, of two brave and 
 beloved leaders, were equally determined to gain pos- 
 session of the bodies. The Christian soldiers prevailed 
 in the contest, and carried away in honorable safety the 
 corpses of the heroes. Valette, watching from the ram-
 
 190 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 part the result of the sortie, was well aware of the fate 
 of his nephew, and went forth to meet the sad proces- 
 sion bearing the lifeless burdens to the walls. Al- 
 though the brave old man loved his nephew as the 
 apple of his eye, he shed no tear nor uttered any voice 
 of lamentation. He calmly replied in these majestic 
 words to the sympathy of his companions : " Believe 
 me, all my Knights are equally dear to me. They are 
 all my children. I grieve for Polastra as much as for 
 Henry. And after all, I have no cause for sorrow. I 
 shall probably be as they are in a few days. If succors 
 do not soon come, I shall not Jive. Should the fortress 
 fall, I shall rush sword in hand upon the thickest of 
 the foe, and find my sepulchre in its ruins." The 
 Grand Master that night avenged his nephew by a suc- 
 cessful destruction of the apparatus, in attempting to 
 overturn which he so gallantly sacrificed his life. 
 
 Pacha Mustapha, after consultation with Hassein, 
 Canelissa, and Piali, who had now recovered of his 
 wound, determined on making a general and simulta- 
 neous assault on every side of the fortress. Tuesday, 
 the 7th day of August, was fixed upon for this mo- 
 mentous undertaking. On the morning of that day 
 extreme life and excitement pervaded the Moslem 
 camp. The whole army was astir. The gathered com- 
 panies of the Turkish marines, under the command of 
 Piali, made an attack upon Borgo and its neighboring
 
 VALOR AND VICTOET. 191 
 
 ramparts, defended by the Knights of France, Provence, 
 and Auvergne. The previously attempted bastion of 
 Castile was again assaulted by Prince Hassein and the 
 thinned ranks of his veteran Algerines. 
 
 These onsets, however, though designed as portions 
 of the general assault to occupy the attention of the 
 besieged, were only false and feigned issues of the 
 operations. The real design aimed at was the posses- 
 sion of Fort St. Michael. Against this castle Mustapha 
 led in person the best of his troops. Rank upon rank 
 of Janizzaries, arrayed in their brilliantly-colored tur- 
 bans and rich robes, and divided into their companies 
 of archers, arquebusiers, and swordsmen, with pennons 
 waving and trumpets braying, rushed impetuously, with 
 frantic shouts, towards the fort. The leading columns 
 were broken by a discharge of the large guns and by 
 the musketry from the walls. Heedless of the fall of 
 their companions, the soldiers continued their advance, 
 and gained possession of the breach; and here they 
 were brought into immediate collision with the stalwart 
 phalanx of the Knights and of their mailed chivalry. 
 For four long hours the combat raged with various 
 alternations of success. Large numbers of the towns- 
 men and of the women took part in the contest, and 
 hurled from the ramparts burning oil and hoops of fire. 
 The Turks, enraged at the injuries inflicted on them, 
 hacked, hewed, and killed, without distinction of sex,
 
 192 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 all whom they could reach. Mustapha, with sword in 
 hand, persevered in maintaining his hold upon the 
 breach, and being manfully supported by his soldiers 
 (who fought with an enthusiastic resolution, as if the 
 victory depended on the exertion of each single arm), 
 was just on the point of driving back his opponents, 
 worn out by the agony of a contest maintained by so 
 few against so many, when a shout of despair, heard 
 above all the tumult of the battle, fell upon his ear. 
 Fugitives from his camp rushed in the madness of 
 panic-fear among his troops, and announced evil tidings 
 of defeat and massacre from a new and unlooked-for 
 army. Mustapha sounded a retreat, and called back 
 his soldiers in the very blossom and assurance of their 
 triumphant possession of Fort St. Michael. He soon 
 found that there was no occasion for alarm, 
 
 " And blushes o'er his error, as he eyes 
 The ruin wrought by terror and surprise." * 
 
 The stampedo of his people was quickly accounted for. 
 A few soldiers from No labile had attacked his tents 
 and slain the sentinels during the absence of the troops, 
 and this simple incident had been magnified into a new 
 army of European reinforcements. This diversion of 
 their friends saved the brave Sea-Kings in this hour 
 of extremity. Mustapha never again found himself so 
 near the goal of his hopes and the accomplishment 
 of his ambition. 
 
 * Byron, Corsair.
 
 VALOR AND VICTORY. 193 
 
 The failure of this great effort had an injurious effect 
 upon the Moslem soldiery. Fatalist in their opinions, 
 apt to judge of the final issue of events by the temporary 
 omens of a present good or evil, short of provisions, 
 visited with disease, encamped upon a bare rock with- 
 out shade or shelter, they began to despair of success. 
 Nor was Mustapha, on his part, desirous to incur at 
 once the chance of another repulse. His real hope lay 
 in his superiority of numbers. His policy was to weary 
 out his opponents, and to exhaust their strength, so 
 that they should become too weak and weary to con- 
 tinue their resistance. He did not in most cases allow 
 his soldiers to proceed to the assault, nor to mount the 
 breach, nor to engage in actual conflict, but he mada 
 them keep their opponents in a constant state of alarm, 
 by frequent cannonades from the batteries, by pretend- 
 ed assaults, by cries of threatened onset, and thus 
 compelled them to an incessant watchfulness by night- 
 and by day. 
 
 On two occasions only were these feigned encounters 
 changed into real ones. On Saturday, the 18th of 
 August, precisely at noon, in the very hottest part 
 of the day, when it was known that the brave cham- 
 pions of the Cross would be, according to the custom 
 of the country, at their midday meal, or resting from 
 their fatigue beneath the shade of their walls, a sudden 
 assault was made on the two weak points, Fort St. Mi- 
 13
 
 194 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 chael and the bastion of Castile. The garrison was 
 for once fairly surprised. Valette was in the Church 
 of the Borgo, kneeling in prayer, s was his wont at 
 this hour, when the great bell of the building tolled out 
 the well-known signal announcing an attack. So rapid 
 and unlooked-for was the onset of the Turks, that they 
 had reached the summit of the breach in the Castile 
 bastion without resistance. An ecclesiastic of the 
 Church of San Lorenzo, where Valette was kneeling, 
 rushed in with the evil tidings that the bastion was 
 taken, and cried to the Grand Master to secure his 
 safety in the Castle of St. Angelo, not far from the 
 'church. Valette, not stopping to examine the truth of 
 this story, but taking in haste his sword and hat from 
 the pages in attendance, summoning his " Captains of 
 the Succors" to the rescue, and collecting, as he passed, 
 as many followers as he could, set upon the foe with so 
 much vehemence, that he drove them from the rampart, 
 and once more secured the continued safety of the 
 fortress.* 
 
 Some kindly hand in the Ottoman camp gave timely 
 warning of the second of these assaults. An arrow 
 shot into the fortress, inscribed with the word " Thurs- 
 day," caused Valette to believe that another attack was 
 to be made on that day. The rumor of this intended 
 
 "This very hat and sword of Valette are still preserved in this churcb of 
 Bt Lawrence, in the Borgo, in Vittoriosa.
 
 VALOR AND VICTORY. 195 
 
 onset spread with the rapidity of wild-fire throughout 
 the garrison, and reached the Knights and soldiers in 
 the Infirmary, whereupon these sick and wounded men, 
 emulous of the fame and fate of their brethren at St. 
 Elmo, insisted, one and all, in "being at their posts of 
 duty upon the ramparts, declaring that they preferred 
 to clie in the breach, rather than to be murdered in 
 their beds by a victorious and vindictive foe. 
 
 The anticipations of Valette were verified. On 
 Thursday, August 23rd, the fortress was again exposed 
 to the fury of a second general simultaneous assault. 
 From the Castle of St. Angelo, by the Borgo, St. Mar- 
 garet's, Burmola, the bastion of Castile, down to St. 
 Michael's Fort, at the extremity of Sanglea, along the 
 whole circuit of the walls, every practicable breach was 
 attempted by the Moslem. Many an act of daring 
 signalized that memorable day. One is worthy of par- 
 ticular mention: a Turkish chieftain, named Chedar, 
 a Sangiac in Africa, in his richest dress, adorned with 
 glittering jewels, advanced with his men to the breach 
 of the bastion of Castile, and insisted on his standard- 
 bearer holding aloft his ensign during the attack, as 
 if in defiance of the enemy. Soldier after soldier, 
 entrusted with this dangerous but honorable office, was 
 cut down ; when his last man was slain, Chedar, taking 
 his standard in his own left hand, and his scimiter in 
 his right hand, rushed upon. his foes, and "foremost
 
 196 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 fighting fell." But every effort of valor, or of fool- 
 hardiness, was in vain. The defenders of the ramparts, 
 strong in the conviction that in victory was their only 
 safety, hesitated not, at the cost of their lives, to resist 
 their assailants. In no oue place on that day of trial 
 did the marines of Piali at the Borgo, or the Algerines 
 of Hassein at the Castile bastion, or the Janizzaries 
 of Mustapha at Fort St. Michael prevail, until at last 
 once more the Ottoman trumpets sounded a retreat, 
 and the Turkish battalions returned to their entrench- 
 ments baffled, beaten, snd discomfited; in fact, the 
 issue of this day's struggle was favorable to the de- 
 fenders, for in a sortie on the retreating foe a redoubt 
 was captured from the Turks, and was permanently 
 secured for the better protection of the besieged. 
 
 The failure of this second great attempt at a general 
 assault proved to be the beginning of the end. The 
 struggle had been now protracted through more than 
 three months. Turks and Europeans were equally 
 exhausted. The gallant Sea-Kings, wearied and worn, 
 with skeleton frames, shrunken visage, unkempt locks, 
 unwashed faces, and maimed limbs, with their walls 
 mined, their forts scarcely manned, their resources 
 crippled, were seriously discussing the necessity of re- 
 linquishing the fortifications on the Sanglea promontory, 
 and of concentrating their efforts and their remaining 
 soldiers in the defence of the Borgo, and the stronger
 
 VALOR AND VICTORY. 197 
 
 citadel of St. Angelo. Nothing but the brave heart, 
 honest eloquence, and personal authority of Valette 
 prevented so disastrous and unworthy a conclusion to 
 such a gallant and honorable defence. 
 
 The besiegers, in their turn, were in an equally desper- 
 ate condition. Finding that they could not get posses- 
 sioR~of the fortress by night or by day, by open assault 
 or secret attacks, by covert sap or dauntless escalade ; 
 fearing too that their ammunitions and provisions were 
 alike deficient, yet not willing to return to their impe- 
 rial master without some spoils or retinue of slaves to 
 testify their partial triumph, Mustapha and Piali re- 
 solved to watch the fortress while they attacked Nota- 
 bile,* and carry back to Solyman a report of the cap 
 ture of the capital of the island. Notabile lay within 
 six miles of their entrenchments, and could not fail, 
 they thought, to become an easy prize to their yet 
 numerous and well-appointed army. 
 
 The Chevalier Le Masquita, the Governor of Nota 
 bile, was a gallant and trustworthy soldier, who well 
 
 * Notabile, now more commonly called Citta Vecchia, was for many cen- 
 turies the only town in Malta. It has borne in the lapse of ages several 
 different names. First it was called Melita, the same name as the island. 
 Then it was designated by the Saracens Medina, or the Great City. Next it 
 received the name of Notabile, from Alphonso the Magnanimous, King of 
 Spain, who in a State paper, A. D. 1423, spoke of Malta as " the most precious 
 jewel in the crown." Lastly, on the completion of Valetta, the islanders 
 called Notabile, by way of distinction, the Old City, or Citta Vecchia. 
 Townsend's English, Guide to Churches of Malta, p 41.
 
 198 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 knew his duty. He had already proved his energy and 
 spirit on his well-timed march upon the deserted camp 
 of the Ottomans, and now he was not to be persuaded 
 into betraying his post, or yielding his town without a 
 struggle into the hand of foes whom his brethren at 
 St. Elmo and the Borgo had resisted so successfully 
 and so long. Although really conscious of his own 
 weakness and inability to maintain a siege, as his gar- 
 rison had been mostly withdrawn to supply the places 
 of the slain heroes of St. Elmo, yet, on the approach 
 of the Ottomans, he assumed a bold front, and showed 
 no sign of fear or weakness. He returned a defiant 
 answer to Mustapha's summons to surrender. Dressing 
 up the townsmen and women as soldiers, and placing 
 them on every bastion, ravelin, and rampart, he fired 
 his cannon from all his batteries, so that, on Mustapha 
 consulting his engineers, they declared there could be 
 no immediate hope of succeeding by escalade or assault 
 against a town so well fortified and defended. Musta- 
 pha gave up his intention in despair, and returned to 
 his camp dispirited and deceived. 
 
 He had not, however, much time to brood over his 
 misfortunes. The long-expected succors from Europe 
 were at hand. On Thursday, the sixth of September, 
 a flotilla from Sicily sailed into Melliha Bay laden with 
 troops. As soon as authentic knowledge of this fact 
 reached the Turkish camp, a general panic ensued.
 
 VALOR AND VICTORY. 199 
 
 The siege guns were left in the batteries. The galleys 
 brought into the Great Harbor at so much cost of 
 human labor were relinquished, and, amidst a general 
 consternation, soldier and general, sutler and sailor, 
 slave and chieftain, vied with each other who should be 
 the foremost to gain the ships yet left either on the 
 open^sea, or in the Marsa Muscetto Harbor. These 
 tidings of deliverance had not yet reached the defend- 
 ers of the fortress, and great was their surprise at sun- 
 rise on Friday, September 7th, to find an unusual 
 silence everywhere prevailing. No cries of the Turks 
 nor echoes of the cannon saluted their ears. What did 
 it mean ? The trumpets of the Janizzaries clamorously 
 summoning the galleys, the battalions hastening in 
 disorder to the sea-shore, quickly revealed the truth. 
 The foes who had so long harassed them like hungry 
 wolves thirsting for their blood, and who were on sev- 
 eral occasions on the very verge of attaining their 
 desires, were now leaving their walls in ignominy and 
 defeat. The hour of their deliverance had arrived, 
 
 " And, far and wide as eye can reach, 
 The turbaned cohorts throng the beach." 
 
 Valette, in his righteous rejoicings, did not forget his 
 
 duty as a soldier. He sent forth his men-at-arms to 
 
 level the entrenchments and to destroy the siege-works 
 
 of the Turks. Then women and little children, priests, 
 
 * Byron, Siege of Corinth.
 
 200 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KENGS. 
 
 and populace, hastened in their glad freedom from 
 restraint to assist in a work so congenial to their feel- 
 ings. The long labors of weeks were in a few hours 
 frustrated and demolished. 
 
 , Such was the termination of this great contest, 
 famous alike in its duration and in its results. The 
 successful exertions of Valette and his brave compan- 
 ions marked the turn in the ever since receding tide of 
 Mohammedan conquest. The defenders of Malta in 
 this crisis were the protectors of Christendom. 
 
 Sorrow and joy, tears and laughter, are fountains 
 of emotion diverse in character, yet very close beside 
 each other in the human heart. How deep must have 
 been the joy, how pure the thanksgivings, which arose 
 within the heart of Valette as, yet pale, wan, and 
 wearied, he went up amidst the congratulations of his 
 brave soldiers, and the grateful acclamations of his 
 people, to return thanks in the Church of San Lorenzo, 
 the Cathedral of the Borgo, for his great deliverance ! 
 How severe must have been the grief, and bitter the 
 mortification, of his foes, as, before their galleys had 
 left the shores of Malta, they saw again elevated in all 
 its ancient pride, upon the fortress of St. Elmo, the 
 standard of the White Cross, the flag of the Order they 
 detested, the symbol of the Christian Faith, the token 
 of the victory of the "Sea-Kings of . the Mediterra- 
 nean " I
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MERIDIAN GLOEY. 
 
 *"""' 
 
 " Pride in their port, defiance in their eye, 
 1 see the lords of human kind pass by." 
 
 GOLDSMITH'S Traveller. 
 
 THE Sea-Kings, after this baptism of fire, were left 
 in peaceful possession of their island home. The noble 
 hero of the siege and his brave companions transferred 
 their residence from the battered walls of the Borgo 
 and Sanglea to the promontory of Mount Sceberras, 
 where they built a noble city, adorned with palaces, 
 auberges, and hotels, and strengthened with massive 
 ramparts, deep and broad trenches, and strong fortifica- 
 tions, and named it Valetta. The fortunes of the 
 Order from this period grew brighter and brighter. 
 The Grand Master of the Hospitallers occupied a proud 
 position among the potentates of Europe. As in Eng- 
 land the Archbishopric of Canterbury, with its rank 
 next to the blood-royal, and with its princely income, 
 is a prize said to be within the reach of the son of every 
 peasant in the land, so the Grand Mastership of the 
 Order of St. John appealed to the aspirations of the
 
 202 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 chivalry of Christendom, in placing within the sight of 
 every individual member of its community the possible 
 possession of a throne. The chiefs of the Sea-Kings 
 assumed on their election all the distinctions and pre- 
 rogatives of sovereign princes. They had a mint, fleets, 
 and soldiers; ambassador representatives at the courts 
 of Europe, guards of honor, high officers of their house- 
 hold, salutes, carpets to walk on for state occasions, 
 letters addressed in royal style, and the observance 
 towards them of all the august ceremonies accorded to 
 royal personages. 
 
 The navy during this period, as in their earlier his- 
 tory, was the chief source of their glory. It won the 
 great naval battle of Lepanto, October 7th, 1571; 
 captured the town of Patras, A. D. 1601 ; fought with 
 and defeated, on several occasions during the seven- 
 teenth century, large Turkish armaments off the coast 
 of Greece, Barbary, Candia, and other places in the 
 Mediterranean. These famous sea-captains of Malta 
 attained a greater reputation than at any preceding 
 time, and rendered valuable assistance to the commerce 
 and general interests of all European countries. The 
 English sovereigns, Charles II., James II., and Queen 
 Anne, owned, in autograph letters yet extant, their 
 acknowledgments to the Sea-Kings for their efforts 
 to liberate from hostile incursions the waters of their 
 great inland ocean. This chapter will be devoted
 
 MERIDIAN GLORY. 203 
 
 to the narrative of some of the exploits of these great 
 naval captains during this era of their meridian glory. 
 The first of whom I shall speak will be a young and 
 illustrious Sea-King, Jean Baptist Spinola. His career 
 commenced in disaster and misfortune, but ended 
 with reputation and honor. Appointed to the chief 
 comntalid of the squadron of Malta, in the early spring 
 of A. D. 1700, his first voyage was remarkable for the 
 loss of his flag-ship in a contest with a Tripoline cruiser 
 considerably larger than his own vessel. He sailed 
 from the Grand Harbor, Valetta, on Thursday, the 15th 
 day of February. 
 
 " The crew with many shouts their anchors weigh, 
 Then ply their oars, and brush the buxom sea." * 
 
 On the next morning he found himself off Cape Pas- 
 eero, in Sicily, with a heavy sea in the channel, and a 
 freshening wind. Shortly after daybreak he sighted a 
 ship about two leagues S. E. The stranger soon de- 
 scried the Malta galleys, and, putting out more canvas, 
 made off to the eastward, showing Tripoline colors. 
 Spinola immediately signalled for a general chase, and 
 his vessels pursued the enemy with a press of sail, and 
 with the utmost exertions of the rowers. The wind 
 increased to a gale, but the young and sanguine leader 
 refused to reduce his canvas, and met with his first 
 disaster in the splitting of his main-sail. The damage 
 Dryden,
 
 204 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 was quickly repaired by a new and smaller sail, and 
 his consort vessels reduced their sails to keep company 
 with the flag-ship. lu about an hour after this accident 
 the "Capitana" came abreast within musket-shot of 
 her opponent, who instantly saluted her with a fusillade 
 of musketry. The " Capitana " replied with a similar 
 fire, for, as it happened, neither of the vessels could 
 use their larger guns, the Tripoline through her decks 
 being overcrowded with merchandise, the flag-ship 
 through having no cannon at her sides. The " Capita- 
 na," being much lighter than her antagonist, was 
 driven by the wind far ahead to the leeward, and was 
 compelled to make a long tack to recover the weather- 
 gage. Having made his tack, Spinola signalled to 
 his consort to follow his example, and to prepare to 
 grapple and board as soon as he should set them the 
 example. The galleys bore well down on the Tripo- 
 line, the flag-ship leading; but as she again approached, 
 the Corsair opened for the second time a well-sustained 
 musketry fire, by which the Admiral's brother, Domin- 
 ic Spinola, several Knights, and many rowers were 
 wounded. The flag-ship, in spite of the havoc caused 
 by this discharge, held on her course, with the design 
 of steering so as to get beside her foe. But just as she 
 was about to accomplish this bold manoBuvre, a huge 
 sea broke and caused her to swerve, so that the Tripo- 
 line, borne along under courses and topsail, struck her
 
 MERIDIAN GLORY. 205 
 
 with great force, and fairly staved in her bow, so that 
 she instantly foundered. Her consort vessels hastened 
 to her aid ; and their crews made every effort to rescue 
 their companions, but so high was the sea, and so rapid 
 the sinking of the ship, that very few escaped. Spi- 
 nola himself was among the number. Fully dressed 
 in his knightly cuirass and armor he leapt into the sea, 
 and with difficulty reached his consort galley, the 
 44 St. Paolo." The Tripoline crusier made off in the 
 confusion, and, with every sail set to the wind, escaped. 
 The most intense grief afflicted the Sea-Kings on 
 this unusual event the loss of their flag-ship at sea; 
 Raymond de Perellos, however, the Grand Master at 
 this crisis, would not allow Spinola to be blamed or 
 called in question. He manfully declared that it was 
 his misfortune more than his fault that he had nobly 
 done his duty, without rashness and without cowardice 
 and reappointed him to his supreme command of the 
 squadron. Spinola a second time left Valetta, in the 
 month of May, with a fleet of six vessels, and though 
 animated with the keenest desire to repair his late mis- 
 fortune and to vindicate his fame, was again doomed 
 to encounter only danger and calamity. His galleys 
 were shaken and dispersed by a violent tempest, and 
 he was compelled to conduct them home to careen and 
 to refit. On this second trouble he was looked upon 
 by many as fated not to succeed; but still Perellos
 
 206 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KJNGS. 
 
 stood his friend, and resolved to continue him in his 
 high office of Admiral-in-Chief for the remainder of the 
 cruising season, and so afford him a third chance of 
 retrieving his destiny. 
 
 Spinola did not himself despair of success, and most 
 ardently desired an opportunity of meeting once more 
 an enemy on the seas. In the month of September a 
 rumor reached him of a large vessel of war being em- 
 ployed in conveying a rich cargo of merchandise from 
 Alexandria to Tripoli, and he determined to leave the 
 harbor and to keep a strict look-out in the course prob- 
 ably to be taken by this ship. Early in the morning of 
 Monday, October 7th, a large square-rigged vessel was 
 reported some seven leagues off, E. N. E. The signal 
 for chase was immediately given, but although every 
 exertion was made, by spreading every stitch of canvas, 
 and by plying each oar with might and main, the ship 
 was not overhauled till past three o'clock in the after- 
 noon, and then by only three galleys, the rest being 
 still far astern. Spinola commenced the combat with 
 his own bow guns as he came within the requisite dis- 
 tance, to which his adversary replied with the guns in 
 her stern ; but quickly coming up breast to breast with 
 his opponent, he let fly a broadside from his flag-ship, 
 to which a like reply was made with much spirit and 
 confidence. This mutual interchange of cannonades 
 enabled Spinola's two foremost galleys to get also
 
 MERIDIAN GLORY. 207 
 
 abreast on the other side of his huge antagonist, and 
 the Commander-in-Chief, impatient of achieving a vic- 
 tory, and fearful of his foe's escape in the approaching 
 gloom of evening, made signals to his consorts of his 
 intention to attempt to board the enemy, and of his 
 desire for their co-operatoin. The three galleys were 
 at once rowed simultaneously to the attack, the flag- 
 ship being a little in advance, when just as the flag- 
 galley, propelled by the full force of her oars, was on 
 the point of striking with her prow, the Algerine pilot 
 shifted his helm so opportunely that Spinola's vessel 
 missed her stroke, and shot by under her adversary's 
 stern to leeward. The flag-ship thus became exposed 
 to the Alexandrine's starboard broadside ; and if the 
 guns had not been pointed too high, then had the 
 Admiral-in-Chief paid with his life and with the de- 
 struction of his ship the penalty of his boldness. In 
 the meanwhile the next Maltese galley placed herself 
 alongside the enemy, in the exact spot where her 
 consort was to have been located, and succeeded in 
 grappling and throwing some of her crew into the ship. 
 Spinola quickly returned to the attack, and fastened 
 his vessel to the stern of his opponent, and soon suc- 
 ceeded, in his turn, in boarding her. 
 
 At this moment the three Maltese were thus placed : 
 the flag-ship was grappled to her adversary's stern ; her 
 next consort had lain herself alongside on the larboard
 
 208 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 quarter, at the third port-hole from the stern ; ami on 
 the same side, further forward, the third galley had 
 also grappled her antagonist. The crew of the Alge- 
 rine having been driven, after a stout resistance, from 
 the lower decks, crowded upon the forecastle, resolved 
 to perish rather than surrender. Chevalier de Millard, 
 Lieutenant of the flag-ship, rallied a band of Turkopo- 
 liers and led them to the attack. A desperate encoun- 
 ter ensued. The Mohammedans, in frantic excitement, 
 fought with the recklessness of madmen ; but at last 
 the cool, determined valor of the Sea-Kings prevailed, 
 and the Algerines gave tokens of submission. A small 
 band of desperadoes made good their retreat to the 
 powder-magazine, and, with lighted matches in their 
 hands, threatened to blow up the vessel unless the 
 Admiral, whom they addressed as the Capitaine Pacha, 
 would come in person and promise them life and liberty. 
 Spinola complied with their demand, and came forward 
 in person to treat with them. When, however, they 
 saw so young and beardless a man, they could scarcely 
 be persuaded that he was the Capitaine Pacha, and sus- 
 pected that some trick was being practised on them, 
 At last, being convinced of the truth, these desperadoes 
 came out of the hold and presented their lighted 
 matches to the Admiral, who at once cast them into 
 1**e sea. 
 
 Spinola, however, did not terminate his danger on
 
 MERIDIAN GLORY. 209 
 
 this occasion with this gallant capture of his prize. 
 ** If," he writes in his report of his victory, presented 
 to Perellos, "I had to exert myself to save the ship 
 from fire, I had to work equally hard to prevent her 
 being swallowed up by the greedy sea ; for I was some 
 time in doubt whether we should be able to secure her 
 from foundering. Her lower-deck ports had been care- 
 lessly left open, though there 'was a heavy sea running, 
 consequently the water was rushing in on her lower 
 deck. As those whose duty it should have been to 
 assist me in remedying this evil were only intent on 
 looking out for booty for themselves, and as in a 
 moment of general confusion it is always difficult to get 
 people to act together, I was placed in a situation of 
 most anxious embarrassment. At length, with the 
 zealous assistance of the Commander Vimercati, I col- 
 lected a few good hands, and we closed the port-lids, 
 making all safe." 
 
 The night was far spent before the Admiral left his 
 prize to return to his own galley. His first act on 
 reaching his own deck was to kneel down and return 
 thanks to God for the victory he had gained, and next, 
 to adopt measures for the care of the wounded, the 
 disposal of the dead, and for the safe convoy of the 
 captured ship to Malta. The prize thus so gallantly 
 won proved to be the Alexandrine sloop the " Bening- 
 hami," pierced for eighty guns, but having only sixty- 
 14
 
 210 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 six mounted, and. sixteen swivel guns, with a crew of 
 155 Turks. She was laden with wheat, barley, oil, and 
 other provisions, and had on board several merchants 
 bound from Alexandria to Tripoli. Her cargo was 
 sold at Malta for 20,238 scudi. Of her crew only 120 
 were found alive, of whom thirty-three were wounded. 
 The loss on board the galleys was very considerable. 
 Five Caravanserists were killed and five wounded. 
 Nine of the crew were killed and fifty-seven wounded ; 
 and of the rowing-crews three were killed and twenty- 
 two wounded. Vimercati, who had already done such 
 good service, was intrusted with the command of the 
 prize; and on the llth October the " Beninghami," 
 escorted by her conquerors, entered with safety the 
 Great Harbor of Valetta. Thus did the gallant Spi- 
 nola retrieve his character, and he, who on his depart- 
 ure had been regarded as fore-doomed to misfortune, 
 was now hailed as a successful commander, to whom, 
 after the capture of so large a vessel as the " Bening- 
 hami," no achievement would be too great. On Tues- 
 day, October 15th, the Grand Master and his Council 
 attended in state the Con-Cathedral of St. John, when 
 a ' Te Deum " was sung for the victory ; and a picture, 
 representing the action at sea, was ordered to be paint- 
 ed on the wall in the gallery of the palace, where it is 
 to be seen to this day. 
 
 Raymond de Perellos, who at this time ruled in
 
 MERIDIAN GLOEY. 211 
 
 Malta, was a great naval reformer. Convinced by the 
 untoward loss of the " Capitana," and by the generally 
 dilapidated condition of the galleys, that the time was 
 come when his fleet should be entirely reconstructed, 
 he undertook the task with all the energy ot his indi- 
 vidual character, and with all the weight of his official 
 authority. He took active steps to provide the neces- 
 sary funds, and ordered four large ships of war for 
 strengthening and refurnishing his navy. Two of these, 
 named the ** St. Catherine " and the " St. Joseph," he 
 intrusted to his own shipwrights in the dockyards of 
 Valetta, and directed that they be pierced for fifty-six 
 and forty-six guns respectively, while he defrayed from 
 his own purse all the charges of the smaller vessel. He 
 obtained the permission of Louis XIV. to have two 
 ships, named the "St. John" and the "St. James," 
 constructed in the royal arsenals at Toulon, and pierced 
 to carry sixty guns each, from the designs and under 
 the personal superintendence of the Sieur Columbo, 
 naval architect to the king. The cost of each of these 
 two vessels was estimated at 150,000 scudi, or about 
 12,500. The "St. Joseph" was the first finished of 
 these four new ships in the month of December, A. D. 
 1702. On its being launched, it presented a curious 
 instance of mal-administration ; for though built to 
 carry forty-six guns, only eighteen of that number were 
 available, the rest being placed too near the water to
 
 212 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 be used except in the calmest sea. The two Toulon 
 ships were finished in May, A. D. 1704, when the " St. 
 Joseph," escorted by some galleys, sailed for that arse- 
 nal, and brought them in safety to Valetta. A twelve- 
 month was consumed in furnishing the new ships with 
 their effective complement of provision and of guns, so 
 that the spring of A. D. 1705 had arrived before the 
 whole new squadron was ready for sea. Perellos en- 
 trusted the supreme command to a French Knight, a 
 famous Admiral in Louis XIV.'s navy, the Chevalier 
 Francis Anthony de Castel St. Pierre, and gave him 
 for his lieutenants the Chevalier Francis de Cintray, 
 Captain of the " St. John ; " Commander De Mareuile, 
 Capain of the " St. James ; " Commander De Lanyon, 
 Captain of the " St. Catherine." The Grand Master, 
 resolved to do the utmost honor to so memorable an 
 occasion, personally invested the new Admiral with his 
 command. On the day appointed his Eminence pro- 
 ceeded, with a suite of Grand Crosses, Commanders, 
 and Knights, to the Marina, opposite to which the 
 four new ships were anchored, dressed with all their 
 ensigns, flags, pendants, and quarter-cloths. The Com- 
 raander-in-Chief had laid down a stage or bridge, richly 
 carpeted, adorned with banners and with a triumphal 
 arch. 
 
 At the moment the Grand Master put his foot on 
 deck the whole squadron saluted with salvos of artillery
 
 Ships. Tage 213.
 
 MERIDIAN GLORY. 213 
 
 and of musketry. His Excellency was then introduced 
 into the state cabin under the poop, which was hung 
 with crimson damask. In the centre was placed his 
 magisterial chair of state, on a magnificent carpet, with 
 simple chairs on each side for the Grand Crosses. His 
 Excellency courteously declined to take his seat, and 
 remained standing before the chair of state, having the 
 Admiral-elect on his left, and the Grand Crosses on his 
 right hand, arranged according to their priority of rank. 
 The officers of the squadron were then introduced, and 
 the Grand Master Perellos thus addressed them : *' We 
 have elected an illustrious Knight, a famous sea-captain 
 under our cousin the King of France, to be the chief 
 commander of our fleet, and we desire you to obey him 
 as if he were ourself in person." This done, all the 
 officers, on bended knee, kissed his Excellency's hand. 
 At the conclusion of this ceremony, refreshments of 
 various kinds were handed round by the Caravanserists* 
 
 * The expeditions against the Turks were called ' ' caravans. ' ' Every Knight 
 entitled to command a vessel was compelled to servo in four caravans, and 
 those who had so served were called "Caravanserists." One year's continu- 
 ous service on ship-board counted for two caravans. 
 
 This may be a suitable opportunity to give a brief account of the ships in 
 ordinary use in the Mediterranean at this time. Each naval state of impor- 
 tance had one large ship or caracca, which was the flag-ship of the state, and 
 reserved for the passage of kings, ambassadors, or persons of high distinc- 
 tion, and used on special occasions for warlike purposes, or for the transit of 
 cargoes of special value. These caraccas had three fixed masts, and were 
 from 1G2 feet in length above the deck, to 133 feet by the keel, and 32 feet
 
 214 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 and other Knights, after which the Grand Master went 
 all over the vessels, and inspected their rowing-crews. 
 These rowing-crews deserve a passing notice. They 
 were for the most part negroes, or men originally peas- 
 ants, fishermen, or sailors, taken from the vessels of the 
 Turks in their numerous naval conflicts. Sometimes 
 merchants or traders were found among them, though 
 persons in this condition of life generally ransomed 
 themselves, by the payment of money, from captivity. 
 If they failed to do so, their unhappy fate was a bond- 
 age lasting their life. These rowing-crews, when on 
 shore during the winter, were lodged in the two slave 
 
 wide. They had thirty-two or more banks of oars, with six men to each oar. 
 They carried three batteries of cannon, the lowest of which were thirty-six; 
 middle, twenty-four; and highest, two-pounders. The complement, includ- 
 ing rowers, mustered 1,000 men. 
 
 The ordinary fighting-ship by which the naval triumphs of the Sea-Kings 
 were achieved was a smaller vessel the galley. These were low-built ves- 
 sels, navigated with oars and sails. They were from 120 to 130 feet long, 15 
 feet broad, and 9 to 10 feet deep. They had two masts, with lateen sails, 
 which might be elevated or lowered at pleasure. They carried from three .to 
 five pieces of artillery, one of which was a large bow-chaser. They had 
 from twenty-five to thirty hanks of oars, each of which had two or three 
 rowers chained to the bench. These were worked by slaves; but, failing 
 these, freemen were hired, who were known under the name of Buonavo^lia. 
 The crew amounted to 250 men, over and. above the rowing -crew. 
 
 There were also in frequent use another kind of galley, called galiots, and 
 half-galleys, light and swift, with seldom more than fifteen to twenty bunks 
 of oars, used chiefly by Barbary Corsairs. There were several kinds of ves- 
 sels in common use on the Mediterranean at the early part of 6ie eighteenth 
 century:
 
 MERIDIAN GLOKY. 215 
 
 prisons, one in the Borgo close to the dockyard, in the 
 Port of the Galleys, and the other in the Strada Chris- 
 tophero, Valetta. 
 
 The chief prison of the Borgo consisted of a series 
 of low vaulted chambers, hewn in the solid rock, with 
 small windows for the admission of light, protected 
 wtyk-huge iron bars. The poor sufferers wandered at 
 their will through these chambers, in which, in retired 
 corners, were small chapels or mosques, and apartments 
 devoted to the use of the sick. The prison in Valetta 
 was a large brick building, divided into small rooms; 
 and while the slaves in the Borgo were employed 
 during the winter in working by gangs in the dockyard, 
 
 Tartanes: a craft having one mast, carrying a large lateen sail, a small 
 mizzen mast, with a kind of ring-tail slide, and a bowsprit with jib sails. 
 
 Londra : a low barge-like craft, with oars and sails, used as a market-boat. 
 
 Pink: a lateen-sailed three-masted craft, with a high and very narrow 
 stern, and flat deck. 
 
 Xebec : a vessel with three masts, the mainmast inclined forward ; a strong 
 prow; at end of stern a raised platform with narrow floor, and convex to 
 throw off water, with a platform for crew to work the guns, generally from 
 fourteen to twenty-four in number. 
 
 Speronara: with one sail well forward, undecked, and movable mast, and 
 .tather flat-bottomed. 
 
 Felucca: a long, light, narrow craft, with oars and sails, two lateen-rigged 
 masts bending forward. Formerly their rudders could be used at either stern 
 or bow, as both ends were provided with the necessary googings. 
 
 Brigantines: not like English and American brigs, but light undecked 
 vessels, with oars and sails. They carried twenty-four oars, rowed by one 
 man ; much used by Corsairs, the crew acting as rowers, and keening their 
 arms under the thwarts ready for immediate use.
 
 216 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 arsenals, and fortifications, those confined in Valetta 
 were more specially employed in making blankets, 
 woollen cloths, and the clothing worn by themselves 
 and by their companions in misery. Every man was 
 obliged to wear a cap, on which was fixed a tin plate 
 bearing a number, by which alone he was known and 
 entered on the list. These caps, according to their 
 color, marked the character of the wearer gray, 
 green, or red distinguishing the idler, deserter, or thief. 
 The cruelties exercised by the taskmasters upon these 
 poor victims were almost beyond belief. Howard the 
 philanthropist relates that he saw the wounds of a 
 slave, which had begun to mortify, relentlessly rubbed 
 with bark, in spite of the excruciating cries of the suf- 
 ferer. On another occasion, when he noticed the rings 
 and pulleys fastened in the wall for the punishment of 
 the slaves, he declares that a jailer told him that he 
 had seen drops of bloody sweat on the breasts of those 
 submitted to the torture.* The most severe service of 
 all imposed upon the slave was the bench of the galley, 
 for not only was the labor the hardest, and the fare the 
 poorest, but there was also the frequent peril of the 
 combat, and almost certain death if the vessel were to 
 founder while they were fastened by their ironed ankles 
 to the floor. Some few of the more favored of these 
 poor creatures were admitted to the easier yoke of 
 * Howard's Lazarettos of Europe, p. 53.
 
 MERIDIAN GLORY. 217 
 
 domestic bondage, and waited at the banquet, and lived 
 in the households of their masters. , This license, 
 however, proved to be a source of danger; for the 
 slaves were so numerous, and so united and bound to 
 each other, that on more than one occasion they had 
 planned a revolt, and would more than once, except 
 for a.-fcimely discovery of their design, have perpetrated 
 on their lords a dire vengeance and effectual extermi- 
 nation. 
 
 The new fleet, reconstructed at so much cost, and 
 inaugurated with so splendid a ceremonial, gained in its 
 first yearly cruise but few and barren honors. The 
 only prize during the whole summer was a small Tri- 
 poline galiot. The squadron caught sight of her off 
 Pantellaria, on Friday, June 15th, and immediately 
 gave chas^. The sea was perfectly still, one of those 
 dead, motionless calms frequent in the Mediterranean, 
 when the surface of the water seems to be solid as a 
 polished mirror, undisturbed by breath of air or ripple 
 of ocean. There was no hope of approaching the flying 
 vessel, except by superiority in rowing. For eleven 
 long hours, without rest or intermission, did the rowing- 
 crews, throughout the heat of that cloudless midsum 
 mer's day, toil at their oars. So great were their 
 exertions that several slaves, over-taxed in strength, 
 expired on their benches under the lash of their task* 
 masters. At midnight the " St. Joseph " came up first
 
 218 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 with the fugitive, which, seeing so numerous a fleet, 
 surrendered without resistance. The crew only con- 
 sisted of thirty-six Turkish sailors, so that the squadron 
 reaped from their conquest little either of profit or of 
 reputation. 
 
 The proceedings of the second year were more satis- 
 factory. On the morning of Wednesday, May 1st, 
 A. t>. 1706, the squadron was off the island of Staffenda, 
 when three large square-rigged vessels hove in sight. 
 A pursuit was at once ordered. The hostile ships, 
 when first seen, were heading in shore, but quickly 
 tacked out to seaward, and set their canvas to the wind. 
 The chase continued throughout the whole day and the 
 following night; but at the dawn of Thursday, May 
 2nd, the "St. Joseph," the fastest sailer in the fleet, 
 having considerably outstripped her consorts, found 
 herself within gun-range of the strangers. As soon as 
 the light permitted she hoisted her ensign. In answer 
 to this the pursued ships exhibited English colors, 
 although their build, sails, and general appearance 
 showed plainly that they had not unfurled their proper 
 flag. De Cintray, in the hope of inducing his foes to 
 fly their own colors, ran up the large standard of Malta 
 at his mast's head, The commanders of the three for- 
 eign vessels at once, in reply to this challenge, hauled 
 down the English, and ran up the Turkish flag, and, as 
 if in proud defiance, or in the scorn of hereditary hate, 
 fired a gun from every ship.
 
 MERIDIAN GLORY. 219 
 
 The Maltese Admiral, having discovered for certain 
 the presence of foemen, would 'not commence the com- 
 bat against so greatly superior a force without support. 
 He was content to continue the pursuit throughout the 
 whole of a second day. The sea was calm as a lake, 
 and with the daybreak the wind fell, so that the chase 
 depended entirely on the rowers. In the evening, at 
 sunset, a favorable wind again sprang up, which 
 brought the Maltese squadron so well forward during 
 the night, that, as the morning of the third day light- 
 ened, De Cintray again found himself to be within 
 gunshot of the enemy. Without futher delay, he de- 
 termined to commence the action by firing upon the 
 vessel nearest to his ship. While her commander cour- 
 ageously accepted the challenge, the two foremost of 
 the hostile fleet, putting on all the canvas they could 
 carry, deserted their consort, and left her to fight alone. 
 The commander and crew of the remaining ship fought 
 most gallantly, for when their masts and sails had been 
 destroyed by the guns of the ** St. Joseph " they boldly 
 plied their oars, and drove with all their force against 
 their foe, in the hope of sinking or of boarding her, and 
 of yet wresting the victory from their conquerors by 
 the greater superiority of their soldiers in numbers and 
 in musketry. This brave manoeuvre was attempted in 
 vain. The pilot of De Cintray was enabled to frustrate 
 the movement by his skill in steering. The contest
 
 220 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 was, however, still persevered in by the Turks; and 
 the combat was only decided by the coming up, at the 
 end of two hours, of the remaining slower vessels of the 
 Maltese fleet, when the Turkish commander, seeing 
 that all chance of a successful resistance was over, 
 drew down his ensign in token of surrender. The 
 prize proved to be the " Rose of Tunis," mounting 43 
 guns, with a crew of 400 men, of whom 300 were 
 trained soldiers. The conflict was most disastrous to 
 the Turks, who numbered 70 killed and 40 wounded, 
 while her antagonist had only one killed and six 
 wounded. Fifteen Christian sailors found among the 
 rowers were at once released, while the Turks were as- 
 signed as slaves. The squadron after this victory set 
 sail homewards, and entered the Great Harbor with 
 their prize on Tuesday, May 7th, amidst the acclama- 
 tions of the inhabitants. The " Rose of Tunis " was so 
 well found and serviceable a vessel, that she was al- 
 lotted a store-ship to the fleet, under the new name 
 of the " Santa Croce." The commander, De Cintray, 
 was shortly after this brave exploit sent in his ship, the 
 *' St. Joseph," to Civita Vecchia, to attend as the rep- 
 resentative of Perellos at the court of Pope Clement 
 XI. In his letters to the Grand Master he records the 
 following interesting circumstances in connection with 
 this visit to Rome : 
 
 " The Chevalier Rospiglioni gave a musical entertain'
 
 MERIDIAN GLOKT. 221 
 
 ment, called an ' oratoria,' to all the principal person- 
 ages in Rome, the splendor of which can hardly be im- 
 agined, and would be impossible to describe. The 
 orchestra, placed in a sort of amphitheatre erected for 
 the occasion, was composed of eighty instruments, in 
 the hands of the best professors of Rome, under the di- 
 rection" of the famous violinist Corelli,* and the vocal- 
 ists were some of the most celebrated in Italy : among 
 whom was the Musico Quiquini, so renowned for the 
 beauty of his voice. Exquisite refreshments added to 
 the charms of the evening. It would have been scarce- 
 ly possible to enjoy an equally brilliant fete in any 
 other city of the world." 
 
 This brief extract from De Cin tray's correspondence 
 reveals the true character of the man. He was not a 
 mere rough sailor, familiar with the fury of the battle 
 or the coarseness of the deck ; but a polished knight, 
 fitted to adorn, and able to appreciate the amenities 
 and refinements of, a court. 
 
 In the year 1709 A. D., Perellos and his Council 
 made some important changes in the organization of 
 their fleet. The four largest galleys, named the " Cap- 
 itana," "St. Louis," "St. Mary," and "Petrona," 
 were associated with the four ships of war in the opera- 
 tions of their summer cruise. The combined fleet of 
 eight vessels, while coasting, under the command of 
 
 * Corelli Arcangelo, born in Italy, 1653. He died at Eome, Jan. 18, 1713*
 
 222 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 Chevalier* de Fleuringy as Chief Admiral, along the 
 shores of Italy, met, on Friday, June 24th, an English 
 merchant-ship, the master of which reported that he 
 had spoken on the preceding day with the flag-ship 
 of the Algerine navy, in company with a tartane, a 
 smaller vessel of war, and pointed out the direction 
 in which they were sailing. De Fleuringy instantly or- 
 dered his united squadron to give chase; and on 
 the morrow, Saturday, June 25th, the two vessels were 
 discovered with their sails furled, waiting at the en- 
 trance to the Adriatic for any vessel they might be 
 strong enough to attack. The wind being light, De 
 Fleuringy ordered the four galleys to tow the flag-ship 
 "St. John," which happened to be a long way ahead 
 of her consorts, and to press on in pursuit. The Tripo- 
 line cruisers, when they found themselves in danger of 
 an attack from a superior force, crowded sail and en- 
 couraged their rowers, and made every effort to escape. 
 The attempt was useless. At the end of four hours 
 " St. John " came within gun-range, and her adversary, 
 seeing that there was no escape from the conflict, pre- 
 pared for action. The tartane took no part in the 
 fight, but lashed herself to the side of her consort, 
 not exposed to the fire of her opponent. The " St. 
 John," being kept steady and in a good position by 
 hawsers attached to the galleys, two of which held her 
 by the bow and two by the stern, let fly broadside
 
 MEBIDIAN GLORY. 223 
 
 after broadside in long succession with terrible effect on 
 the hull, mast, rigging, and sails of both vessels; until 
 the Admiral, observing that the Tripoline ships were 
 becoming unmanageable, and that the breeze had fresh- 
 ened, signalled to the galleys to cast off the ship, and 
 then, trimming his sails to the wind, speedily laid his 
 vessel closer abreast of his larger adversary, and poured 
 in his broadsides at a shorter distance. 
 
 " The linstocks touch, the ponderous ball expires; 
 
 The vig'rous seaman every port-hole plies, 
 And adds his heart to every gun he fires." * 
 
 In a short time the Tripoline flag-ship was seen to be 
 on fire, which quickly spread to the tartane lashed to 
 her side, and both vessels were quickly wrapped in 
 flames. The crews in tumultuous haste leaped from 
 the decks into the sea. The " St. John " at once 
 ceased firing, and removed to a safer distance ; while, 
 at a signal from De Fleuririgy, every galley lowered her 
 boats for the blessed work of mercy and rescue. The 
 hands which a moment since had been raised in hostile 
 fury against foemen, were now clasped by those very 
 opponents in closest friendship as friends, saviours, and 
 deliverers. 
 
 "For however their duty bold tara may delight in, 
 
 And peril defy, as a bugbear, a flam ; 
 Though the lion may feel surly pleasure in fighting, 
 He'll feel more by compassion when turn'd to a lamb." t 
 * Dryden, Annue Mirabilie. t Dibdin.
 
 224 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 The flag-ship thus vanquished carried 56 guns, and a 
 crew of 500 men ; while the tartane mounted 10 can- 
 non, with a crew of 150 men. Out of these more than 
 400 were saved from their double peril of fire and 
 water by the exertions of their conquerors. 
 
 The annual cruise of the Maltese fleet in the next 
 year, A. D. 1710, was inaugurated by changes in the 
 vessels and in the officers in command. The flag-ship, 
 the " St. Joseph," was found to have been so much in- 
 jured in her contest with the Tripoline flag-ship that 
 she was no longer fit for service. Her place was 
 supplied by the "Santa Croce," lately the "Rose of 
 Tunis," which was transferred from a store-ship to the 
 higher honor of a vessel of war, and being armed with 
 40 guns and provided with a crew of 250 men, became 
 henceforth a permanent addition to the war squadron. 
 The gallant De Cintray was appointed to the command- 
 in-chief, and the brave and experienced Adrian de Lan- 
 yon was made his vice-admiral. Never did the navy of 
 the Sea-Kings achieve, through all the annals of its his- 
 tory, a higher reputation, or reach a higher pinnacle of 
 glory, than during the leadership of these two illus- 
 trious sea-captains, De Cintray and De Lanyon. They 
 gained, in the course of the summer, many costly 
 prizes; but the chief adventure of the year was a 
 prolonged and sanguinary contest conducted against a 
 vastly superior force by three vessels of the squadron
 
 MERIDIAN GLORY. 225 
 
 off the coast of Africa. On Thursday, the 6th of June, 
 six ships, sailing under Algerine colors, were sighted at 
 daybreak off Cape Bon. The Sea-King Admirals, un- 
 dismayed at their inferiority of numbers, immediately 
 gave chase. The spirit of the two antagonists may be 
 described in the famous English sea-song 
 
 *""" " "We ne'er see our foes but we wish them to stay; 
 They ne'er see us but they wish its away; 
 If they run, why, we follow, or run them ashore, 
 For if they won't fight us, we cannot do more." * 
 
 The Algerines, recognizing the white cross at the mast- 
 heads, scudded away before the wind as fast as they 
 could, and directed their course for a strong and friend- 
 ly fort on the island of Galatea. After a run of four 
 hours they were compelled to tack, that they might 
 make the harbor. This manoauvre brought them within 
 the range of the guns of the flag-ship, the "St. James," 
 when De Cintray fired on them with his upper-deck 
 guns. The Algerines, without altering their course, re- 
 plied with their stern guns, but failed to strike the Ad- 
 miral's ship, which pressed so closely upon the fugitives 
 that they could not venture on a second tack re- 
 quired to gain the port, but were obliged to run by it. 
 They passed, however, so near the fortress protecting 
 its entrance, that five guns were fired at De Cintray's 
 ship, but without effect. The Admiral, however, 
 
 David Garrick. 
 
 15
 
 226 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 almost immediately experienced a worse disaster. In 
 his anxiety to overtake the runaways, he put out so 
 much canvas that his mainmast was carried away and 
 his topmast was badly sprung by the wind. This mis- 
 adventure gave the " St. Catherine," the Vice-Admir- 
 al's ship, the foremost position in the chase. At nine 
 A. M. she overhauled the hindermost vessel of the Al- 
 gerines, named the " Cavallo Bianco." 
 
 " She bears ^her down majestically near, 
 Speed on her prow, and terror in her tier." * 
 
 After a short and-hot encounter, the "St. Catherine" 
 shot down the sling, chain, and foretopsail yards of her 
 antagonist, and otherwise did much damage to her 
 rigging ; and having thus disabled her from pursuit, or 
 from further present mischief, pushed on in the chase 
 with an eager desire to overtake the remaining fugi- 
 tives. At noon, about eight hours from the commence- 
 ment of- the chase, the " St. .Catherine " fairly came 
 abreast of the enemy's ships, when her gallant com- 
 mander, heedless of the number of his foes, steered his 
 ship right into the midst of them, thus placing two 
 on his starboard and three on his port side. The sea 
 being tolerably smooth, the " St. Catherine " ap- 
 proached close to one of the ships named the "Beech- 
 er," and firing a well sustained simultaneous broadside, 
 brought down her mizenraast and foretop sails. The 
 * Corsair.
 
 MERIDIAN GLORY. 22? 
 
 Algerine Admiral, with a laudable desire to help his 
 consort, tried to place his ship between the " St. Cath- 
 erine" and her antagonist; but hardly had he com- 
 menced the necessary manoeuvre before De Lanyon 
 discovered his intention, and so cleverly luffed his ship 
 that he was enabled to pour his other starboard broad- 
 side iTfto the Algerine flag-ship, and shot down her 
 mizen topmast also, whereupon the Admiral, with his 
 three remaining ships, crowded all sail, and left his gal- 
 lant comrade, as he had already relinquished the "Bi- 
 anco Cavallo," to his fate. 
 
 On perceiving the flight of these vessels, De Lanyon, 
 instead of resuming the action with the " Beechei," 
 devoted himself to the repairs of his own ship. The 
 Algerine commander-in-chief, supposing in his turn 
 that the "St. Catherine" was disabled, and would fall 
 an easy prey to his arms, returned to the attack, but 
 was met by the " St. James," which had now arrived 
 on the scene of conflict, and poured her broadside with 
 so good effect on the Algerine flag-ship that her com- 
 mander, with his three uninjured vessels, finally took 
 flight. It was now seven o'clock, and the night set in 
 with such thick darkness and rain that there was no 
 alternative left but to discontinue the conflict. When 
 the morning dawned, the disabled "Bianco Cavallo" 
 and the four other Algerine vessels had entirely disap- 
 peared. The "St. James," "St. Catherine," and
 
 228 ' KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 " Beecher," were alone in sight, and widely separated. 
 The two Maltese ships succeeded in joining each other 
 about noon, and about two o'clock in the afternoon 
 bore down together upon their bold antagonist of 
 yesterday's fight. Then ensued a running fight for two 
 long hours. The leading ship, the " St. James," dis- 
 charged her guns on her adversary as frequently as she 
 could do so with any chance of reaching her, and the 
 "Beecher," without staying her course, replied with 
 her swivel and stern guns. About four o'clock, the 
 course of the " Beecher " was sufficiently slackened to 
 allow the " St. Catherine " to come up with her consort 
 and to join in the fight. By a well-directed fire the 
 "St. Catherine" shot away the mainmast and fore- 
 castle foreyard of the " Beecher," while a well-directed 
 shot from the " St. James " cut away part of her poop 
 and flag-staff. 
 
 The intrepid captain and crew, nothing daunted at 
 the dismantled state of their vessel, or at the diminution 
 of their numbers, but encouraged by the nearness of 
 Rasin Gibel, their proposed place of refuge, persevered 
 in thsir course, and plied their oars with the utmost 
 resolution and perseverance. De Lanyon, determined 
 if possible to sink his adversary rather than see her 
 escape, approached as near as he could, and poured in 
 a broadside at close quarters. The storm of iron, 
 hurtling and crushing through her timbers, knocked
 
 MERIDIAN GLORY. 229 
 
 two or three port-holes of the " Beecher " into one ; 
 
 " Her giant bulk the dread concussion feels, 
 And, quivering with the wound, in torment reels;" 
 
 yet she remained afloat, and quickly resumed her 
 course to the friendly shore, favored by wind and 
 curreirtr, and still impelled by the energetic strokes of 
 her rowers, who were seen working at their oars, 
 stripped of every rag of clothes, in momentary expec- 
 tation of being obliged to swim for their lives by the 
 ship sinking under their feet. These herculean efforts 
 were at last rewarded with a well-merited success ; for 
 they had arrived so near the shore and port that the 
 Maltese admirals, in spite of their desire to capture so 
 brave an antagonist, deemed discretion to be the better 
 part of valor, and gave up the chase. 
 
 There is a curious fact recorded in connection with 
 this contest. At the time it commenced, a malignant 
 fever prevailed on board the " St. Catherine," causing 
 severe illness and mortality among the crew ; but as 
 soon as the combat began, it ceased. De Cintray, from 
 whose journal these details are obtained, attributed this 
 sudden cessation of illness to the disinfectant power 
 of gunpowder. It is more probably to be accounted 
 for by the force of mental influences and of intense 
 physical excitement. 
 
 In this protracted encounter the "St. Catherine" 
 fired 607, and the " St. James " 465, cannon balls ; and
 
 280 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 the two ships together discharged 3,550 rounds of mus- 
 ketry. The " St. Catherine " received during the fight 
 143 cannon shot into her hull, while the masts, sails, 
 and rigging in each vessel were very much injured. 
 They were both incapacitated for further present service, 
 and made their way as speedily as they could to the 
 island of Lampedusa, for refitting and repairs. The 
 incidents of this memorable contest are to be recognized 
 to this day among the illustrations of the sea-fights 
 painted on the walls of the palace at Valetta. 
 
 De Cintray and his gallant Vice- Admiral, De Lanyon, 
 were again entrusted with the command of the fleet in 
 the next summer, A. D. 1711. They made their first 
 cruise towards the African coast. On Wednesday, 
 April 16th, their squadron, consisting of the four ships 
 of war, the " St. James," " St. John," " St. Catherine," 
 and "Santa Croce," sighted at the distance of four 
 leagues a large vessel carrying the Algerine flag. At 
 about 3.30 P. M., the wind blowing fresh from the west, 
 the " St. Catherine " got within range on the enemy's 
 starboard beam, and opened fire. The Algerine at 
 once returned her shot, and thus the two ships contin- 
 ued to interchange their fiery compliments for more 
 than an hour, at the expiration of which time the 
 Algerine's sails and rigging had been greatly cut up, 
 while she had in her turn shot away her antagonist's 
 main topsail yard, and effected other serious damage.
 
 MERIDIAN GLOBT. 231 
 
 The " St. John " came up at the end of this first hour 
 of the fight, and placing herself at the enemy's port 
 side, let fly a broadside and a volley of musketry. The 
 Algerine, in no way daunted by this double onset, 
 replied to each vessel by her alternate broadsides, and 
 poured a thick fusillade of small arms and swivel guns 
 on* both her foes. In one of these volleys the brave De 
 Lanyon was slain, being shot by a bullet through 
 his heart. Just at the moment of his death, the " St. 
 James" and the "Santa Croce " joined in the fray, 
 and opened fire on the devoted Algerine. The com- 
 mander of the vessel, in the face of these fearful odds, 
 persevered in his resistance for three hours, and only 
 hoisted the white flag at 6.30, when his ship was dis- 
 masted and unmanageable, and many of his crew slain. 
 At the moment of his striking his colors, the "St. 
 John " was crossing the bow of the vessel, and, wheth- 
 er by accident or design, a volley was fired from the Al- 
 gerine right among her crew, whereupon she poured in 
 at close quarters another broadside. On this the slave 
 rowers on board the Algerine began shouting for 
 mercy, calling out that the ship had surrendered and 
 struck its flag. 
 
 The prize on this occasion proved to be a gigantic 
 ship which the Ottoman Sultan had presented to the 
 Dey of Algiers on his receiving from him the keys 
 of the fortress of Oran, and which had been made
 
 232 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 by the Algerines the flag-ship in their navy. She 
 was pierced for 46 guns, but had only 36 mounted, 
 so that her defence against the united squadron op- 
 posed to her was gallant and desperate. She carried 
 a crew of 400 men, of whom a fourth part were killed 
 or wounded in this attack. The loss of the assailants 
 was disproportionately small, only three men killed and 
 six wounded ; but the death of the brave captain of the 
 *'St. Catherine" dimmed the laurels of victory, and 
 cast a gloom over the whole fleet. 
 
 After a delay of two days for the necessary repairs, 
 the four ships, with their prize in company, towed by 
 the "St. John," made sail for Carthagena, for the 
 more honorable interment of the body of the Chevalier 
 De Lanyon. A little naval episode occurred on the 
 voyage. On Tuesday, April 22nd, the united squadron, 
 being twelve leagues south of Cape de Ferro, fell in 
 with a French frigate, the " Adelaide," under the com- 
 mand of M. Capitaine Pallas, who was in chase of a 
 Turkish galiot, one of the famous Salie rovers, who 
 preyed indiscriminately on all Christian vessels. The 
 galiot, finding there was no chance of escape, and pre- 
 ferring rather to fall into the hands of the Sea-Kings 
 than of the French, steered straight for the vessels 
 of the squadron. M. Pallas, however, contrived to cut 
 her off, and compelled her to surrender when within a 
 league of the nearest Maltese vessel, the " St Gather-
 
 MERIDIAN GLORY. 233 
 
 ine." After the capture, the "Adelaide" edged down 
 to the squadron, and having saluted with seven guns, 
 took boat and paid the Admiral a visit of ceremony. 
 De Cintray demanded a share of the prize, asserting 
 that the squadron was entitled to it, as having assisted 
 at*the capture. The commander of the "Adelaide" 
 refused to acknowledge the claim, declaring that his 
 ship had been engaged in the chase for five hours, and 
 that the "St. Catherine" had contributed nothing to 
 his success. De Cintray was obliged to content himself 
 with a protest, as he could not resort to force against a 
 frigate bearing the flag of so illustrious an ally and of so 
 powerful a Christian monarch as Louis XIV. The 
 squadron reached Carthagena in safety without further 
 adventure on Thursday, April 24th. 
 
 Immediate preparations were made for the solemn 
 ceremonial for which they had landed at this place. 
 At eight o'clock A. M. on the next morning, Friday, 
 April 25th, the coffin containing the body of the brave 
 De Lanyon was conveyed in the launch of the "St. 
 Catherine" to the Mole at Carthagena. De Cintray, 
 with a retinue of Knights, commanders, and officers, 
 and with a guard of honor, composed of 120 mariners 
 of the squadron, accompanied the launch in several 
 boats, with oars muffled. The funeral cortege was re- 
 ceived on the Mole by Don Francis de Monocon, the 
 governor of the fortress, attended by the chief officers
 
 234 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 of the garrison. A solemn procession having been 
 formed of the clergy of the Cathedral, of the monks 
 and friars of the different convents, of the chief resi- 
 dents in the town, and of the captain and officers of the 
 French frigate the " Adelaide," the coffin was carried 
 from the Mole to the Cathedral on a bier borne by six 
 knights. The Governor De Monocon, De Cintray, 
 with the captains of the "St. John" and of the "San- 
 ta Croce," acted as pall-bearers. Soldiers lined the 
 streets, and fired a volley from their muskets as the 
 procession entered the square of the Cathedral. They 
 then joined ranks, and fired a second time as the 
 body was carried into the church. The coffin was 
 placed under a splendid catafalque, with 160 wax 
 candles burning around it, and was finally deposited in 
 front of the high altar, a spot generally reserved for the 
 bishops of the church, or the governor of the fortress. 
 During the whole time, from the body being placed 
 in the launch to the conclusion of the ceremony, each 
 ship fired a gun every seventh minute. When the 
 funeral was over, De Cintray presented to the Cathe- 
 dral authorities, in memory of the deceased Vice-Ad- 
 miral, a large silk Turkish ensign, captured in the 
 Algerine vessel, in attacking which he had lost his life. 
 Such was the respect in which the Knights of St. John 
 were held in these palmy days of their power! Such 
 were the high honors paid even in their deaths to these 
 Sea-Kings of the Mediterranean.
 
 MERIDIAN GLORY. 235 
 
 The English had frequent occasion, during this pe- 
 riod of their naval glory, to acknowledge the courtesy 
 and good services of the Maltese war-squadron. Al- 
 though the sovereign of England had no personal 
 connection with the Order, and the English " Langue " 
 htnT long ceased to be an integral portion of their 
 Fraternity, yet English admirals were permitted to 
 resort to the harbors, and to make use of the arse- 
 nals and dock-yards of Malta. The ships of England, 
 too, at all times received assistance from their fleet 
 in moments of emergency or distress. One remarkable 
 instance of aid thus opportunely rendered occurred 
 about this time. On Saturday, May 30th, A. D. 1713, 
 an English man-of-war, carrying sixty guns, named the 
 ** Monk," and commanded by Captain Cummoch,* R. 
 N., was drifting, without mast or rudder, after a 
 fearful storm in the waters of Noli. The Maltese 
 squadron, under the flag of De Cintray, discerned her 
 in the offing soon after daybreak, and, hastening to her 
 relief, commanded two vessels to take her in tow, 
 and to accompany her in safety into the harbor of 
 Genoa. This vessel, the " Monk," was called after the 
 
 * Captain Cummoch was dismissed from the English navy on the accession 
 of George I., in 1715, as a Jacobite. He took sen-ice under the Spanish flag, 
 and fought off Cape Passaro, on the llth of August, 1718, against Admiral 
 Byng, and took refuge with three ships at Malta. Ho was there hlockaded 
 by Byng, and eventually escaped to Messina. He was, on this defeat, dis- 
 missed from the Spanish service.
 
 236 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 celebrated George Monk, Duke of Alberaarle, who was 
 the chief instrument in the restoration of Charles II. to 
 the throne. She was laden with a very valuable cargo 
 of 1,500,000 Mexican dollars, which she was conveying 
 from Cadiz to Marseilles, and was also honored by 
 the presence of Monsignor Spinola, the Nuncio from 
 the Pope to the court of France. In the month of Au- 
 gust, in the same year, the fleet of De Cintray con- 
 ferred another favor on the English crown by convey- 
 ing the Earl of Peterborough from Leghorn to Palermo, 
 whither he was sent as the ambassador of Queen Anne 
 to congratulate Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, on his 
 coronation as King of Sicily.* De Cintray was also 
 bound to the same court as the representative of the 
 Grand Master Perellos on the same auspicious occasion. 
 His embassy, in its splendor and numbers, far outshone 
 the more modest pretensions of the English courtier. 
 He was accompanied by the large number of 120 
 Knights, who were conveyed from their respective 
 lodgings to the royal palace with much state and 
 ceremony, in twenty-three of the King's carriages. 
 This large number of " Sea-Kings," associated in this 
 '-honorable and auspicious mission, ma'y seem to be en- 
 
 * The Duke of Savoy became King of Sicily by the arrangement of the 
 Treaty of Utrecht. Charles Mordaunt, called the eccentric Earl of Peter- 
 borough, was in command of English troops which were defeated in the 
 battle of Almanza, fought April 14th, 1707; he was afterwards sent as am- 
 bassador to Palermo and Vienna; he died 1735.
 
 MERIDIAN GLOEY. 237 
 
 tirely out of proportion to the small extent of the 
 dominion of the Grand Master, so that Victor Amadeus 
 and his consort might have been excused, even if they 
 had besought Perellos 
 
 " A little to disquantity Ms train." * 
 
 *The position and importance of the Grand Master were 
 not, however, estimated by the mere extent of his 
 fief at Malta, but by his headship in, and by his govern- 
 ment over, a Fraternity co-extensive with Christian Eu- 
 rope. A contemporary witness describes the court 
 of Perellos, at this its zenith of glory, '* as presenting a 
 most brilliant appearance. No less than 1,500 Knights, 
 many of them general officers in every army in Chris- 
 tendom, formed the main ornament of the residence of 
 the Order." f These, no doubt, might all have been 
 
 described as 
 
 " Men of choice and rarest parts, 
 That all particulars of duty know, 
 And in most exact regard support 
 The worship of their name." J 
 
 It is related that De Cintray, after all the display 
 and retinue with which his embassy was accompan- 
 ied, could not be induced to attend in person at the cor- 
 onation. The proud old knight was required by the 
 
 * Shakspeare's Einy Lear, Act I., so. 4. 
 t Porter's Knights of Malta, Vol. II., p. 405. 
 J Shakspeare, King Lear, Act I., sc. 4.
 
 238 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 custom of the court to leave his sword behind him ; 
 and rather than do so, he abstained from attending the 
 ceremony. The Knight De Chambray, attached to 
 this embassy, has left this account of his visit to Pal- 
 ermo: "Their Majesties held, on two evenings in 
 the week, a public reception in a magnificent gallery 
 in the palace. At these parties, it was the custom 
 for the King and Queen to sit playing at cards at 
 two different tables, while her Majesty's maids of 
 honor and the younger portion of the guests amused 
 themselves by dancing to the music of a brilliant or- 
 chestra, refreshments being handed round by the King's 
 pages. At eleven o'clock their Majesties always rose 
 from their tables, and their guests retired." Such, 
 then, were the employments, temper, and demeanor 
 of our heroes in this period of their maritime glory and 
 dominion. Their war-vessels were ever on the seas 
 on errands of chastisement, mercy, or deliverance. 
 
 " How gloriously her gallant course she goes, 
 Her white wings flying never from her foes! " * 
 
 Their great sea-captains were always ready to perform 
 their duties as the champions of the ocean. In every 
 diversity of occasion, in calm or storm, by night or day, 
 in single encounters or in fights against superior num- 
 bers, in protracted running contests, or in decisive 
 
 * Byron's Corsair.
 
 MERIDIAN GLOKY. 239 
 
 attempts at boarding, in the perils of the deep, or in 
 the enjoyments of home, they ever exhibited 
 
 "The chance and change of a sailor's life, 
 "Want and plenty, rest and strife." * 
 
 They were, however, more than mere sailors, or 
 leaders of quasi-buccaneering expeditions. They were 
 men of refinement, statesmen, and diplomatists, fitted 
 to shine in the chamber of a court, and to be compan- 
 ions to kings. Acts of self-sacrifice and noble deeds 
 were the true sources of the honor, the perpetual fresh- 
 springs of the glory of the " Sea-Kings of the Mediter- 
 ranean." 
 
 * Longfellow's Building qf the Skip.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 
 
 " Shrine of the Mighty ! Can it be 
 That this is all remains of Thee? " 
 
 BYBON'S Giaour. 
 
 THE Sea-Kings of the Mediterranean at the close of 
 the eighteenth century had outlived the circumstances 
 which for so long a duration had imparted life to their 
 Order and vigor to their achievements. Turkish ag- 
 gression had ceased. The Ottoman Empire was impo- 
 tent to harm ; and as soon as the active services of 
 their great sea-captains were uncalled ' for, the high 
 purposes of their famous institution were lost sight 
 of, their noble traditions forgotten, and their chivalry, 
 hitherto "sans peur et sans reproache," superseded by 
 idleness, dissipation, and general un worthiness. 
 
 " Yes, self-abasement paved the way 
 To villain bonds, and despot's sway." * 
 
 The first French Revolution was the proximate 
 cause of the abolition of the Order. The leaders of 
 this great democratic outbreak, burning with hatred 
 
 * Byron's Giaour. 
 240
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 241 
 
 against kings, princes, and nobles, made no exception 
 from their designs of universal proscription of estab- 
 lished authorities in favor of the elective sovereigns 
 of Malta. Emanuel de Rohan, the then reigning Grand 
 Master, a gallant and loyal Frenchman, had given 
 pretexts and provocations for their enmity. He had 
 manifested sympathy with the French Refugees, and 
 lent 500,000 crowns to the unfortunate King Louis 
 XVI. The French Directory, in retaliation for these 
 acts, enacted that every Frenchman who continued 
 to be the member of an Order which required proofs 
 of nobility for admission to its ranks, should forfeit all 
 the rights of French citizenship. This proclamation 
 was followed by a decree, dated 17th September, A. D. 
 1792, entirely annulling "the Order of Malta," and 
 annexing to the national demesnes all its Priories, 
 Commanderies, and fiefs in France. The three 
 "Langues" of Provence, Auvergne, and France, paid 
 240,000 crowns out of the 500,000 crowns received 
 from all countries into the public treasury; so that 
 this confiscation was a grievous blow, and despoiled the 
 Fraternity at a stroke of one-half of its whole revenues. 
 As France in the next few years overwhelmed the 
 other nations on the continent with the wave of con- 
 quest, the same policy was persisted in, and the posses- 
 sions of the Order in Italy and other countries were in 
 like manner alienated and despoiled. 
 16
 
 242 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 This decree of confiscation was only the beginning 
 of sorrows. A sorer trial was at hand. The virgin 
 fortress, which had never yielded to a foe, and which 
 had so gloriously repulsed the concentrated power of 
 the proudest ruler of Islam, was now to lose its former 
 fame and ancient pride of place. To render the 
 disgrace more flagrant, the cup of humiliation was 
 prepared by Christian hands. The young General of 
 the French Republic, Napolean Buonaparte, appeared 
 before the fortifications of Valetta with the whole 
 French fleet, consisting of thirteen ships of the line, 
 eight frigates, and six transports, on the 9th day of 
 June, 1798, and demanded the unconditional surrender 
 of its ships, guns, and forts. The reigning chief, 
 Ferdinand Hompesch, if he had only had the will and 
 courage, might have offered an effectual resistance to 
 this proud demand. The chances in his favor were 
 vastly greater than those under which his heroic prede- 
 cessors, Peter D'Aubusson and John de la Valette, had 
 made their defence. He had 5,000 trained soldiers in 
 his garrison, 1,200 cannon, with abundant ammunition, 
 impregnable forts and trenches, a population zealous in 
 their determination to resist, an ample supply of provis- 
 ions for the troops and the inhabitants. He had only 
 to shut his gates in order to be safe. He well knew 
 that Napolean could not delay his voyage, nor postpone 
 for the capture of Malta the more important purpose
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 243 
 
 of his expedition, the invasion of Egypt; and even if 
 he had remained to invest the fortress, help from 
 England and from Sicily, then at war with France, 
 would certainly and speedily reach him. But Hom- 
 pesh, and a great portion of his companions in com- 
 rugmd, were already bought with French gold ; and in 
 the face of all his advantages, in spite of the protest 
 of the leading native residents, in forgetfulness of his 
 knightly vows never to surrender a military post, in 
 defiance of the treaties, especially the Treaty of 
 Utrecht, by which he was bound to Europe to allow 
 no more than four ships of war of any nation at one 
 time to enter his harbors, and with a pusillanimity 
 scarcely equalled in the annals of history, he complied 
 with the young General's demand, and resigned, with- 
 out an attempt at resistance, his forts, ships, city, 
 and island into his hands. Thus the "shrine of the 
 mighty," the rock-bound home of the Sea-Kings, which 
 for centuries had been the foremost bulwark of Chris- 
 tendom against the Paynim, was captured by Christian 
 soldiers. On Wednesday, June 13th, Buonaparte en- 
 tered the harbor amidst salvos of artillery from his 
 fleet, and a salute from all the guns of the fortress, and 
 inarched at the head of his Guards, with the utmost 
 display of military pomp, to occupy the ramparts sur- 
 rendered into his hands. So intense was the surprise 
 and wonder of the conqueror at the strength and
 
 244 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 magnitude of the trenches and fortifications, that on 
 one of the officers of his staff remarking on the small 
 number of the garrison, he said, " It is well that there 
 were enough to open the gates, for otherwise I should 
 have been perplexed to find my way in.' r 
 
 Buonaparte, on his landing, acted with all the license 
 of a conqueror. He changed the names of the gates, 
 calling the Porta Reale the Porta Nationale, streets, 
 piazzas, and public buildings ; and established the laws 
 of France and the decrees of the French Directory. 
 He banished Hompesch, and compelled his companions 
 to join his expedition or to leave the island. He 
 compelled the Maltese sailors to join his fleet with their 
 two largest vessels, and imposed a heavy fine upon the 
 inhabitants. He robbed the palace, the auberges, 
 churches, and convents of their plate, and of their 
 vessels of gold, silver, and precious stones. Even 
 the sacred relics, the hand of John the Baptist, pre- 
 sented by Sultan Bajazet, and the image of the Vir- 
 gin of Philermos, found no favor in his sight, nor 
 exemption from his rapacity. He took from each their 
 rich caskets laden with diamonds, rubies, and other 
 costly gifts, and left nothing beyond the mere relics 
 themselves to the entreaties of Hompesch, who took 
 them with him from the island. 
 
 On Friday, the 15th of June, Buonaparte resumed 
 his voyage to Egypt, and left General Vaubois, one
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 24o 
 
 of his trustiest officers, in chafge of Malta with a force 
 of 4,000 men. The new Governor, in accordance with 
 the necessities of his position, established strict military 
 law, and yet sought to secure the sympathies of the 
 native population by the celebration of a great national 
 fete in honor of the French Republic. This proposed 
 solemnity was regarded by Vaubois with childish affec- 
 tion, and vast preparations were made to impart to 
 it dignity and importance, as the inaugural ceremony of 
 a new government of the island. A vast pyramid, 
 ornamented from summit to base with tricolored flags, 
 approached by seven steps, and emblazoned on its four 
 sides with pictures representing the disembarkation of 
 the French army, the departure of Hompesch, slaves 
 with their chains broken, and an hieroglyphic depicting 
 the freedom of commerce, was erected in the inner 
 court of the ancient palace. Dowries were promised to 
 four young Maltese women who should marry sailors iu 
 the fleet ; and a decree was issued requiring all persons 
 to bring their patents of nobility and to burn them 
 at the base of this pyramid, in token that a new period 
 of universal equality and fraternity was to be com- 
 menced.* 
 
 * This decree is given in Azzopardi ' s Giornale della Preset di Malta, p. 50 : 
 "Tutti i titoli onorifici suranno abbrugiati il giorno della fcsta nazionale 
 delli 14 Luglio, 1798 ; e tutti' i cittadini eke ne sona possessed sono invitati 
 a fortarli ai piedi delT adber della liberta. 
 
 "BOSREBON RANSIJAT, 
 " Ptesidente della Commissione di Governo."
 
 246 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 Saturday, July 14th, was fixed for this august cere- 
 mony. Its dawn was announced by loud salvos of ar- 
 tillery from fortress and fleet. At ten o'clock the four 
 destined brides, attired in white dresses, and attended 
 by their accepted bridegrooms, waited on General Vau- 
 bois at the palace, who himself placed a garland of pink 
 roses on the head of each, and accompanied them to the 
 piazza of his palace. Here, in the square in front of the 
 National Pyramid, were assembled M. Labiui, the Bish- 
 op of Malta, with his clergy, and a vast crowd of 
 people and of soldiers, in the presence of whom the 
 marriage service was completed, and the address of the 
 Bishop spoken. At two o'clock a splendid procession 
 was marshalled in the following order, and proceeded 
 from the palace to the Admiral's flag-ship stationed in 
 the Great Harbor, and pavilioned with flags from bow 
 to stern. A company of French Guards with drums 
 and trumpets led the way; and next to them a 
 regiment of the native Maltese with band and military 
 music. Then appeared a large number of the Civil 
 Commission of the Government, in their official cos- 
 tumes of black coats, white waistcoats, cocked hats, 
 and rich tricolored sashes crossing their breasts, and 
 reaching to their knees, accompanied by the judges, 
 
 " All titles of honor are to be burnt on the day of the national fete, the 14th 
 of July, 1798 ; and all citizens who possess them are invited to lay them at 
 the foot of the Tree of Liberty. 
 
 " BOSREDON RAJTSIJAT, 
 " President of the Commission of the Government"
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 247 
 
 and other high officials. Next to them came a company 
 of French sailors, followed by the Maltese sailors in 
 training for the French service, and succeeded by an- 
 other regiment of French Guards. Close after them 
 walked the brides and bridegrooms, the Bishop and 
 clergy, and the members of the conventual establish- 
 ments. To these succeeded Vaubois himself with a 
 brilliant staff, while the whole was closed by a French 
 regiment'. On the return of the procession to the 
 palace a Tree of Liberty was planted by Vaubois in 
 front of the Pyramid, and a simultaneous salute was 
 fired from every gun in the fleet and fortress. The 
 patents of honor were next laid on the steps of the 
 pedestal by the knights and nobles, and were publicly 
 committed to the flames. The whole city was illumi- 
 nated. Wine and refreshments were distributed, and 
 the assembled populace, without distinction of sex, 
 rank, or position, danced in the momentary excitement 
 of a passing popular delirium around the Pyramid and 
 Tree of Liberty. 
 
 This spell of wild delight soon exhausted itself. The 
 iron of a foreign rule quickly entered into the soul 
 of the people. Vaubois served no easy task-master. 
 However humane in his own intentions, he had to 
 supply the necessities of Buonaparte, and to meet 
 the exactions of the French Directory. At the end 
 of August a French ship of the line, the " Guillaume
 
 248 KNIQHT8 AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 Tell," and two frigates, the " Diane " and " La Jus- 
 tice," arrived with the news of the destruction of the 
 French fleet at the battle of the Nile,* and Vaubois 
 was at once obliged to resort to measures which soon 
 turned the late convulsive merriment of the populace 
 into the most bitter sentiments of determined exaspera- 
 tion. He closed all the convents, except one in each 
 of the capital cities, Valetta, Notabile, and Rabbato 
 in Gozo, -and confiscated their property to the Gov- 
 ernment. He caused all the natives above fifty years 
 of age to enrol themselves in veteran companies for 
 military home service, and all men below that age 
 to prepare for foreign service either in the army or 
 fleet. He laid violent hands on all the property of 
 value pledged at the Monte de Pieta,f and imposed 
 new taxes upon the inhabitants, both of the towns and 
 country. Last of all, he gave most offense by seizing 
 the sacred vessels and furniture yet left in the churches, 
 or in the custody of the ecclesiastics. 
 
 These various oppressions excited to the utmost 
 
 * Fought by Lord Nelson on Thursday, August 1, 1798, on which occasion 
 the " L' Orient," the flag-ship of Admiral Bruyere, was blown to pieces by an 
 explosion of its powder magazine. The battle lost Egypt to Napoleon. 
 
 t The Monte de Pieta was a gigantic pawnshop, in which the natives bor- 
 rowed money on small articles of property. It is still retained to this day as 
 a Government institution. Its managers advance two-thirds of their value 
 on diamonds, and three-fourths on articles of gold and silver. No applicant 
 caji be refused, however small the value of his pledge. Interest is charged 
 at 5 per cent., and the pledge is sold unless redeemed within three years.
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 249 
 
 the passions, prejudices, and hatred of the Maltese, 
 when a sudden, unpremeditated, but successful out- 
 burst of indignation gave birth to a spark which 
 kindled a general conflagration, and led to the most un- 
 looked-for and most momentous consequences. The 
 guard of French soldiers at Notabile, on entering the 
 Cathedral to take down some rich damask hangings 
 from its walls, were resisted in the very act of spolia- 
 tion, and killed by the angry and infuriated population 
 without the escape of a single man. On the following 
 day, Monday, September 3rd, 200 soldiers, despatched 
 by Vaubois from Valetta to Notabile, were attacked 
 and fired upon by some peasants from behind the walls 
 which abound everywhere in the island in the place of 
 fences, and were driven back to the fortress. From 
 that moment the tocsin of a general insurrection was 
 sounded. The Maltese peasants rose as one man 
 against their oppressors. Then a sight was exhibited 
 unparalleled in the annals of history.* The invaders 
 were invaded. The foreign general and soldiers, who 
 had been admitted into Valetta by the unknightly 
 connivance of its legitimate defenders, were henceforth 
 confined to the precincts of its walls, as sure prisoners 
 as mice within the iron girdings of their trap. No 
 
 * " L'istoria non presente vm piu sorprendenti esempio " " History does 
 not present so surprising an example" were the words of General Gra- 
 ham's address to the Maltese on his entering upon the command of the 
 Island Aztopardi.
 
 250 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 army with banners, no might of the Moslem, no serried 
 rank of mailed and plumed host hemmed them in. 
 They were the victims of their own tyranny. A hith- 
 erto despised, unarmed, dispirited population, impelled 
 by a sense of outraged humanity, and stimulated by 
 the promptings of a national instinct, rose in their 
 might, and commenced a protracted, determined, and 
 eventually successful resistance. They lacked neither 
 wise heads to devise, nor strongs hands and hearts to 
 execute, their j^lans. They sent out vessels to implore 
 the aid of the British and Sicilian fleets, obtained 
 cannon from Notabile, and from the outlying forts in 
 the island ; and it will ever stand on record as a 
 remarkable fact, that when the "Sea-Kings of the 
 Mediterranean " were false to their ancient fame, the 
 peasautrj 7 of the island, under their own chosen leaders, 
 the chief of whom were Xavier Caruana, an ecclesiastic 
 of Notabile, and Vincenzo Borg, a herdsman of Bircar- 
 cara, by their own unaided pluck, and in their fiery 
 indignation, succeeded in driving the invading French 
 soldiery from every inland post, and in confining Vau- 
 bois and his troops within the close limits of their 
 fortifications. 
 
 These noble and unlooked-for exertions were within 
 a short time materially helped by foreign co-operation. 
 Lord Nelson, the Admiral-in-Chief of the English fleet 
 in the Mediterranean, as soon as these tidings reached
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 251 
 
 him, despatched four Portuguese ships of the line, 
 which entered the Marsa Sirocco harbor on Tuesday, 
 the 18th of September. On the following 25th of 
 October Lord Nelson arrived before Valetta with four- 
 teen ships-of-war, and summoned Vaubois to surrender, 
 with 4Jie permission to leave the island with the full 
 honors of war. The demand was refused. Malta was 
 at once declared to be in a state of siege, which was 
 protracted for two years. Neither combatant was suffi- 
 ciently strong to obtain, throughout this long interval, 
 a decided triumph over the other. The French army, 
 with the crews of the three ships from the battle of the 
 Nile, only numbered 6,000 men, while a hostile popula- 
 tion inside their walls required the presence of the 
 garrison to restrain them from rebellion and revolt. 
 The Maltese militia with the sailors of the Portuguese 
 and English ships, barely reached 5,000 men, and had 
 an immense circuit to invest from Fort Tigne to Rica- 
 soli, while the English fleet prevented all ingress to, or 
 egress from, the harbor.* This siege, consequently, 
 from its commencement to its end, was a blockade 
 rather than an attack. There was the occasional fire 
 or the sustained bombardment from the batteries or 
 
 * So effectually did the English fleet discharge this duty, that, however 
 tempestuous the wind, or stormy the eea, the ships were never away from 
 their position for two days torjether. Only fifteen vessels succeeded in 
 reaching the harbor during the first, and still fewer in the second, year of 
 the siege. Azzopardi.
 
 252 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 ramparts by night or by day ; the shot ever ready for 
 the too bold or too careless sentinel who should expose 
 his person on the walls or entrenchments; the endur- 
 ance alike by besiegers and besieged of hard fare, short 
 commons, scanty pay, severe sicknesses. But the spir- 
 ited sorties, the hand-to-hand encounters, the brilliant 
 conflicts, the bold attempts at escalade, the personal 
 combats, such as breathed a soul and spirit into the 
 stern resistances to the Moslem invasions previousl}' 
 recorded in this history, were entirely wanting. 
 
 An English sailor, Captain John Alexander Ball, 
 was the hero of the siege. Appointed by Lord Nelson, 
 in November, 1798, to the command of the sailors 
 landed to help the Maltese, he soon became the life 
 and soul of the revolt, and the darling idol of the natives. 
 Equally wise in council and active in camp, Ball sug- 
 gested the revival of the Consilio Populare, or the 
 popular council, which formed the Goverment of Malta 
 previous to its occupation by its Sea-King rulers. This 
 assembly was admirably adapted to give adhesion and 
 confidence to the native population. It was composed 
 of ecclesiastics, the representatives of the cathedral and 
 parochial clergy, of some Maltese nobility who had 
 escaped a confinement in the city of Valetta, and of 
 representative delegates elected by their countrymen 
 from each of the twenty-two casals or districts into 
 which the island was divided. This congress, when
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 253 
 
 constituted, chose Ball as its President, and under bis 
 direction and authority ably discharged all the func- 
 tions of government: arranging finances, imposing 
 taxes, borrowing money, providing hospitals, food, and 
 shelter, promoting commerce, and negotiating with for- 
 eign courts. 
 
 At the end of the first six months of the siege, a 
 bold attempt was made by the native insurgents to gain 
 the fortress by a coup de main. They contrived a plot 
 by which some residents within the walls were to kill, 
 at midnight, the sentinels at the landing-place of the 
 Marsa Muscetto Harbor, and to admit a band of 300 
 armed Maltese, who were to seize during the night the 
 palace, barracks, and arsenals, and to be assisted by a 
 general rising of the disaffected population. This con- 
 spiracy was discovered by a slight circumstance, which 
 had not been foreseen by its projectors. Vaubois, out 
 of respect for the prejudices of the Maltese, allowed 
 the public theater* to be closed on a Friday; but on 
 this particular evening he had ordered a French comedy 
 for the amusement of his officers. The commander of 
 Fort Manoel, General Baudard, accompanied by his 
 adjutant, Captain Roussel, were present, and took boat 
 about ten o'clock in the evening at the Marsa Muscetto 
 landing to cross to their own quarters. They imagined 
 
 * This was the Theater Manoel, in the Strada Teatro, not far from the
 
 254 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 that they had seen a number of men hiding below the 
 walls, and, on reaching the fort, sent boats across filled 
 with soldiers, who, after a bloody struggle, seized 
 thirty-six of the band, and put to flight the others. 
 The friends of the plot within the walls were discov- 
 ered, and paid for their attempt with the forfeiture of 
 their lives. 
 
 The native residents in the fortress felt at this time 
 the severest pressure of the siege. Every article of food 
 had enormously increased in value. Pork and cheese, 
 which sold at four to six sous a pound, were now with 
 difficulty purchased at three francs and eight sous the 
 pound. Pigeons and rabbits and chickens, which cost 
 a franc each, had now risen to six, seven, and twenty- 
 four francs each. Eggs, which were worth a sou, were 
 now worth eight sous each ; and a bottle of common wine 
 sold for two and three francs. Wood had become ex- 
 ceedinglj' scarce so much so that, to secure fuel for his 
 bake-house, Vaubois was compelled to break up and to 
 burn the old galleys and vessels of the fleet of the Grand 
 Masters. Two forms of sickness claimed many victims. 
 A curious epidemic prevailed which struck the sentinels 
 with blindness during the night, and restored their sight 
 in the morning. The scurvy also was frequently fatal ; 
 though this was alleviated by a drink of water boiled 
 from hops, and by the use of the vegetables which the 
 French general, with wise forethought, had commanded
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 25b 
 
 his soldiers to plant on all the slopes of their bastions 
 and trenches. These visitations of scarcity and sickness 
 were not the only sufferings to which the townsmen 
 were exposed. While on the one hand the French Gov- 
 ernment stopped all salaries and public payments from 
 the treasury, on the other they demanded large taxes 
 and impositions from the inhabitants. In addition to 
 this, they compelled them to labor, without pay or re- 
 ward, in the extensive military works required for the 
 defense of the fortress. No exemption was allowed from 
 this forced service except priests. The new claim, of a 
 common citizenship, and of universal equality, found its 
 legitimate consequence in compelling the ex-baron to 
 work side by side with the mechanic, fisherman, or 
 private soldier. 
 
 There was, however, one alleviation and mode of es- 
 cape from these sufferings. Whether from an interested 
 policy on the part of Vaubois to reduce the number of 
 persons supported by his resources, or from the compar- 
 ative harralessness of the siege diminishing the hardships 
 of the contest, there was not, except on some temporary 
 occasion, any let or hindrance to the resident town pop 
 ulation leaving the beleaguered city. After some little 
 deliberation between the contending generals, this be- 
 neficent arrangement became for some time an acknowl- 
 edged usage of the contest. On the day appointed 
 a long train of families, men, women, and children of
 
 256 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 all ranks and classes, amounting sometimes to several 
 hundreds, removing what household goods a small 
 handbarrovv could carry, came out from the heated, 
 plague-stricken fortress. Ball himself, on more than 
 one occasion, superintended these arrangements in his 
 own person. The Porte des Borubes, the appointed gate 
 of egress, was thrown wide open.* A white flag floated 
 above its battlements, and another correspondent white 
 pennon surmounted the nearest entrenchments of the 
 native insurgents. The scared and motley crowd, with 
 gaunt faces and shrunken limbs, were received with 
 congratulations by their friends, aijd were supported by 
 the attention and foresight of their English President 
 and protector. The same spirit of courtesy distinguished 
 the whole of this long contest. On several occasions, 
 when the wives of the officers of the French garrison were 
 taken prisoners by the English vessels, or when private 
 letters were found in the captured prizes, both the ladies 
 and letters were sent with a flag of truce into the fortress. 
 On one occasion, Saturday, 23rd of August, 1799, Cap- 
 tain Ball himself, accompanied by the Marquis Nyssa, the 
 Admiral-in-Chief of the Portugese blockading squadron, 
 were admitted, on their own request, to an interview 
 with General Vaubois. The meeting was conducted 
 
 * This permission to leave the fortress was used to such an extent, that 
 by the month of September, 1799, the population of 40,000 persons resident 
 within its walls was reduced to 13,000.
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 257 
 
 with considerable ceremony. The Fort Manoel was the 
 scene of their meeting. The whole way from the Porte 
 des Bombes to the fort, a distance of a mile, was lined 
 with soldiers under arms. On Ball alluding to a pro- 
 posal for capitulation, Vaubois at once interrupted him, 
 ins-istiug that, if the question was introduced, the inter- 
 view must terminate. On the return of the Admirals to 
 their own quarters, the French soldiers cried out from 
 their ranks, "Death rather than surrender." 
 
 This protracted siege naturally attracted the attention 
 of Europe. Paul, the Emperor of Russia, was led by 
 special circumstances to take a particular interest in its 
 progress and success. Hompesch, the exiled Grand 
 Master, with many of his companions, had sought pro- 
 tection at St. Petersburg, and had made an earnest re- 
 quest to the Czar to become the head and protector of 
 the Sea-Kings. In the month of December, 1799, M. 
 Italinski was deputed to attend the Maltese Congress, as 
 an Ambassador from Paul, and to declare the willing- 
 ness of his Imperial master to accept the new dignity 
 offered to him, and his intention to admit the nobler na- 
 tives* of Malta to the honors of the Order. This ad- 
 
 * " Malta and its dependencies will form a Grand Priory for the benefit 
 and honor of the Maltese nobles." Azzopardi. This may be a suitable op- 
 portunity to state that Hompesch, during this visit to St. Petersburg, pre- . 
 sented to the Emperor Paul, the two valued relics of which such frequent 
 mention has been -made the hand of John Baptist and the image of the 
 Virgin of Philermos. They are both preserved to this day with scrupulous 
 care in the Winter Palace of the Emperor at St. Petersburg. 
 17
 
 258 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 dress of M. Italinski was received by the " Consilio Pop- 
 ulare " with the liveliest expressions of satisfaction, 
 though the proposals of the Emperor never reached a 
 permanent accomplishment. Neither were the British 
 Parliament and nation unmindful of the exigencies of 
 the Maltese, nor of their own interest in the speedy ter- 
 mination of its blockade. In the last week of December, 
 1799, two English regiments, the 30th and 89th, were 
 landed in the Marsa Sirocco Harbor under the command 
 of Major General Graham, afterwards Lord Lynedoch. 
 He issued, on his arrival, a spirited address to the Mal- 
 tese,* and conducted the land operations of the siege 
 with greater vigor. If credit was to be given to Baron 
 Ransijat, the President of the French Civil Government, 
 who was present all through the siege, the French sol 
 diers were not at all daunted by this increased vehe- 
 mence in the attack of their opponents. Their courage 
 rose in proportion to their need. They would not hear 
 of a surrender. Their barrack rooms and sentry-boxes 
 re-echoed with a song, the refrain of which was 
 
 " Le Francais salt combattre, 
 
 Mais capituler non, non, nonl" 
 " The French can fight, 
 
 But cannot yield." 
 
 The winter of 1799 1800 was unexceptionably fine, 
 almost a perpetual spring, so (hat the English troops 
 * " To arms, Maltese ! Let the general cry of the islands be, 'God and our 
 country!' " Azzopardi, p. 154.
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 259 
 
 had no Crimean hardships to endure. But with the ad- 
 vancing year the sufferings of their antagonists were 
 greatly aggravated. By the month of May the garrison 
 had eaten every horse, mule, and ass in the fortress. 
 The oil which gave a relish to their vegetables was 
 exhaifcfed. Fuel for the ovens was with difficulty pro- 
 cured. The prices of every article of food had prodig- 
 iously increased. Pork was 7 francs, 8 sous, a pound ; 
 salt meat, 2 francs, 10 sous; cheese, 8 francs, 15 sous, 
 fish, from 2 to 3 francs; a fowl, 52 to 60 francs; a 
 pigeon, 12 francs; a rabbit, 11 francs; an egg, 16 sous; 
 a bottle of wine or vinegar, 4 francs, of brandy, 8 francs; 
 a pound of sugar, 22 francs, and a pound of coffee, 26 
 francs. Rats and cats were delicacies ; a good rat was 
 worth from 2 to 3 francs.* An amusing anecdote is told 
 in regard to these delicacies. The grand preserves of 
 the Goverment bakehouse were kept to the last, and on 
 the day appointed for the chase, 55 "gros et gras" rats 
 (55 fine fat rats) rewarded the labor of the hunters. 
 The water, fortunately, did not fail. Although the 
 Wignacourt Aqueduct, by which supplies of fresh water 
 
 * "Besides the asses, mules, and horses, which we have eaten for some 
 time, the cats and dogs are eaten, and also a quantity of rats. The last 
 charge for these animals was made in the military bakehouse, where they 
 goi fifty-five monsters. This was left to the last, because it was thought 
 that these would be fatter and larger than the rest 'parcequ'ils y etoicnt 
 plus gras et plus gros qu'ailleurs.' " Cf. Journal du sieye ct Blocus de 
 Maite. Par le Citoyen BOSKEJON BANSJJAT. Paris. P. 25(i.
 
 260 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 were brought from the Bingemma Hills to Valetta, waa 
 cut off, yet the cisterns attached to the houses and hos- 
 pitals contained sufficient for the wants of the inhabi- 
 tants, of whom the native population only numbered 
 7,000 persons. 
 
 These sufferings, however courageously borne, indi- 
 cated the beginning of the end. The pressure of the 
 scarcity was so felt that every mouth was considered; 
 and Vaubois, at this crisis, permitted the actors at the 
 Fort Manoel Theater to leave the city. Poor fellows 1 
 They consisted of a troop of Italian singers, and had, up 
 to this time, been compelled, against their oft-repeated 
 remonstrance, to remain for the amusement of the garri- 
 son. The French General, too, under the pressure of 
 his situation, made a great effort to communicate with 
 his own Government, and resolved, in spite of the 
 blockade, to despatch h'is flag-ship, the " Guillaume 
 Tell," to France. He put on board a number of his in- 
 valids, a troop of his best soldiers, and a picked crew of 
 sailors, under the command of a veteran and experienced 
 commander, Admiral Decres. A night towards the end 
 of March, when there was no moon, and when a favora- 
 ble wind was blowing, was chosen for this desperate at- 
 tempt. The departure of the ship was watched from the 
 walls and ramparts with the utmost interest by the 
 French troops, and by the remaining population of the 
 town. They, however, were not the only watchers.
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 261 
 
 The intention of Vaubois had been fully divined by the 
 besiegers. The preparation of the great flag-ship had not 
 escaped their vigilant observation, and the eyes of the 
 English artillerymen too surely "witnessed the departure 
 of the " Guillaume Tell." The ship, however, by a pre- 
 concerted arrangement, was allowed to get so far away 
 from the port that she could not return, and then the fleet 
 was made acquainted with her sailing out by the display 
 of blue lights, and the pre-arranged signals of the can- 
 nons. The English men-of-war, the " Lion " and "Pen- 
 elope," 
 
 " Armed with thunder, clad with wings," 
 
 were immediately despatched upon her track, and came 
 up with her off Cape Passaro, about sixty miles from 
 Malta. Decres made a resolute resistance. Broadside 
 after broadside was interchanged, until at last the 
 V Guillaume Tell," having had her masts shot away, 
 her Admiral wounded, and 207 of her crew killed, was 
 obliged to strike her flag. 
 
 This loss of his flag-ship was announced with all due 
 solemnity to Vaubois by an officer sent for that purpose 
 by the English Admiral with a flag of truce. Nor were 
 these all the evil tidings of which he was the bearer. 
 He was further commissioned tp inform the French 
 General that four vessels of war, despatched to his 
 assistance from Toulon, and laden with provisions and 
 ammunition of war, had also fallen into the hands of
 
 262 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 the English. Vuubois, however, and his colleague, 
 Admiral Villeneuf, undaunted by this accumulation of 
 misfortunes, determined to persevere in their defence 
 of the fortress committed to their trust. For another 
 three months they held their own against all the efforts 
 of the insurgents and their English auxiliaries. 
 
 At the end of June considerable additional reinforce- 
 ments were received into the island, by the arrival of 
 two more English regiments, the 35th and 48th, under 
 the command of Major-General Pigott, and of two 
 Sicilian regiments. The troops of the besiegers now, 
 for the first time since the commencement of the siege, 
 equalled those of the besieged, and the operations were 
 pressed with more vigorous effect. For six weeks after 
 the arrival of these new troops, Vaubois persevered in 
 his obstinate resistance, until he was obliged, by the 
 desperate situation of his army, ta make one final effort 
 to obtain help from his countrymen. With this view, 
 on the night of the 23rd of August, he sent off the two 
 remaining frigates, the " Diane " and " La Justice." 
 These vessels were ordered, on their leaving the harbor, 
 to sail in two different directions, in the hope that one 
 might escape. The bold design, however, failed. 
 Both vessels were captured by the blockading squad- 
 ron, and were ostentatiously paraded on the next morn- 
 ing within sight of the fortifications of Valetta, under 
 the custody of the English fleet. In the face of these
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 263 
 
 continued disasters and of an approaching famine, with 
 his garrison greatly reduced, without help from, or com- 
 munication with, his own country, Vaubois was at last 
 convinced that he had done all that honor, patriotism, 
 or duty required, and sent on Tuesday, the 2nd of Sep- 
 tember, an officer to the English head-quarters to pro- 
 pos the surrender of the fortress. 
 
 On, the next day, at twelve o'clock, Major-Gen eral 
 Pigott and Commodore Martin, deputed by Lord Nel- 
 son, entered Valetta, and arranged with Vaubois and 
 Villeneuf the precise terms of the capitulation. The 
 conditions agreed upon were framed in a peculiarly 
 favorable spirit towards the conquered. The fortress 
 of Valetta and the island t)f Malta were to be given up 
 to the English troops and squadron, and to be placed 
 under the protection of Great Britain. Vaubois and 
 his army were allowed to march as far as the harbor 
 with all the honors of war, thence to be conveyed to 
 Marseilles, on their parole not to fight against England 
 until they were exchanged as prisoners of war. On 
 the next day, Thursday, September 4th, the French 
 sentinels were withdrawn from Forts Florian, Tigne, 
 and Ricasoli, and these exterior fortifications were 
 occupied by English regiments. On Monday, Septem- 
 ber 8th, Vaubois and his guards mustered on the 
 parade-ground of the palace, and marched, at four P. M. 
 to the Marina, where they embarked on the English
 
 264 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 vessels. The troops in excess of the' accommodatioa 
 provided in the ships were confined to Fort Manoel as 
 prisoners of war, until the vessels returned to convey 
 them to their own country. 
 
 If this termination of the siege of Malta was a source 
 of humiliation to the defiant but discomfited Vaubois, 
 if he experienced pain in contrasting his entrance into 
 the fortress in all the pride of republican aggression, 
 with his departure as a prisoner of war in the vessels of 
 a foreign foe, there was at least one man to whom it 
 was a source of unfeigned satisfaction and rejoicing. 
 Sir John Alexander Ball, (for to that dignity he had 
 now been elevated for his services,) had borne the heat 
 and burden of the siege. For two long }^ears, under 
 the thickest clouds of doubt and tribulation, his voice 
 had rallied, his enthusiasm supported, and his counsel 
 guided the Maltese insurgents, and now he reaped the 
 recompense of his reward by seeing the final exoulsion 
 of the invader, and the successful issue of the resistance 
 of the natives to their oppressors. Within an hour of 
 Voubois' march to the harbor he entered Valetta in 
 triumphal procession at the head of his peasant-militia, 
 who, having served their country in the field, had a 
 right to share in the honors of the victory. Seated in a 
 carroche (a coach on two wheels, drawn by one horse, 
 and peculiar to the country), with a Maltese, Baron 
 Francisco de Gauchi, by his side, dressed in the cos-
 
 Queen Elizabeth at Tilbury. p. 264.
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 265 
 
 tume of the Capitaine di Verga,* an officer of high dis- 
 tinction among the Maltese prior to the surrender of 
 the island to Lisle Adam, and accompanied by all the 
 members of the Consilio Populare, Ball was received by 
 the population with wild excesses of delight. The 
 loudest acclamations natural to the joy of a long-ex- 
 pected deliverance, and the clamor of bells from every 
 steeple in Valetta, marked the progress of the President 
 of the National Congress as he passed from the Port 
 des Bombes to the Cathedral of St. John. He first en- 
 tered the church, with his council and officers, to at- 
 tend the " Te Deum," sung by the bishop and clergy 
 in gratitude for the restoration of their island, and from 
 thence walked to the palace to take formal possession 
 of the Government in the name of the King of England, 
 as Protector of Malta and of the Maltese, while, amidst 
 the thunder of a general salute, the flag of England was 
 erected on the tower of St Elmo. 
 
 The echo of this royal salute was the death-knell of 
 the ancient Sea-Kings, the token and symbol that their 
 sovereignty had for ever passed away. Never, indeed, 
 has history recorded a more mournful termination of 
 a great and glorious institution. An Order which had 
 for centuries been the honor and boast of Christendom, 
 
 * The Capitano di Verga, or the royal officer, also styled the Captain of 
 the City. Cf. Authentic Materials for a History of Malta, By W. ETON. 
 London: 1802. Page 9.
 
 266 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 which had on more than one occasion saved Europe 
 from subjection to the Moslem, whose deeds had been 
 sung by minstrels, and had excited the envy and admir- 
 ation of civilized mankind, passed away in a moment as 
 the baseless fabric of a dream. They were the authors 
 of their own disgrace. Forgetful of their vows, un- 
 worthy of the honors and burden of the Cross, divided 
 among themselves, survivors of their own work, fame, 
 and office, they fell without pity, sympathy, or regret. 
 Their fall set a seal and confirmation to the truth, that 
 every human government which fails in the purpose for 
 which it was appointed, carries within itself the ele- 
 ments of dissolution and decay. The Providence which 
 overrules all events had prepared fit successors for their 
 greatness. The high task committed through so many 
 centuries to the Knights of St. John has been trans- 
 ferred to a people who now discharge in another 
 form, for the good of mankind and for the benefit of all 
 nations, the honorable duties of the former " Sea- 
 Kings of the Mediterranean."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 "*"^' 
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA. 
 
 A FITTING sequel to the foregoing naval details will 
 be an account of the contemplated invasion of England 
 by the Spanish Armada, which took place in 1586. 
 Though the scene of the conflict is removed from the 
 Mediterranean, yet the interest is abundantly sustained, 
 and an important event in English and Spanish history 
 is brought into review in a way that exhibits at the 
 same time the injustice of one people, the skill and 
 prowess of another, and the interposition of the Provi- 
 dence of God. 
 
 In the year 1586, a rumor was spread abroad that 
 Philip, the king of Spain, who, thirty years before, had 
 been the husband of Queen Mary of England, was de- 
 termined to go over to England and take possession of 
 it, after the manner of the Duke of Normandy, some 
 five hundred years before. 
 
 The rumor was quite true. The Spanish king was a 
 proud, haughty man, and he had been very much of- 
 fended with Queen Elizabeth, because she would not 
 
 267
 
 268 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KING8. 
 
 have him for a husband when his former wife was 
 dead. Probably he had no love for Elizabeth ; but his 
 selfish admiration for the country over which she 
 reigned led him to wish to have it for his own kingdom. 
 So, as ho could not gain what he desired in one way, he 
 made up his mind, after long years of pondering and 
 planning, to obtain it in another. 
 
 Besides this, King Philip was a bigoted Roman Cath- 
 olic, and it very much enraged him to know that all the 
 trouble and pains his former wife, Queen Mary, had 
 taken to bring back England to the Pope, had been so 
 thrown away that the people were getting more and 
 more Protestant, that the Protestant faith had be- 
 come the established religion of the land ; that the 
 Bible was circulated and read ; and that Roman Catho- 
 lic worship was not tolerated, or could be practised 
 only in private. It would be a good deed, therefore, 
 thought Philip, to punish the people of England for 
 their Protestantism, and to bring back the nation to the 
 obedience of the Pope of Rome by main force. If 
 he could do this, and, at the same time, indulge his 
 spite against Elizabeth for refusing to marry him when 
 he asked hir, why, so much the better. 
 
 There might have been other causes which incited 
 the King of Spain to pounce upon England with 
 terrible fury, as a hawk darts on a sparrow, or a cat on 
 a mouse ; but these were among the principal causes.
 
 THE SPANISH AKMADA. 269 
 
 The first thing he did was to get together a great 
 fleet of ships, and this occupied him nearly three years, 
 so that it was not until 1588 that the attempt was 
 really made. In all that time, in the great rivers 
 and harbors of Spain, there was such a bustle of ship- 
 lynkling and. rigging and fitting out, as was scarcely 
 ever before known. Certainly, there had never been 
 seens, by any one then living, so many ships together, 
 and of so large a size as, in process of time, were made 
 ready for the invasion. Altogether, there were a hun- 
 dred and thirty, and many of these were so large 
 that they looked like floating castles. On board this 
 great fleet were more than twenty thousand soldiers, 
 besides ten thousand sailors and galley-slaves. And to 
 make them more formidable, they carried more than two 
 thousand brass cannon, which, as gunpowder had not 
 very long been invented or used in warfare, were ex- 
 pected to strike the poor English with dismay. 
 
 Besides soldiers and sailors, and slaves, there were 
 some scores and perhaps hundreds of priests and monks 
 and friars, with abundance of wooden crosses, and 
 beads, and miracle-working relics of dead saints, (ac- 
 cording to their notions,) with which they intended to 
 convert Englishmen and women back to the church of 
 Rome, when they had taken possession of the country. 
 
 And if they would not be converted, what then? 
 
 Why, then, there was wood enough, no doubt, left in
 
 270 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 England, after the martyr-fire of Queen Mary's reign, 
 to light up more fires, to consume the obstinate her- 
 etics. That this is what the monks and friars and 
 priests would have done if they had obtained the power 
 they aimed at, there is no doubt at all. 
 
 The Spaniards were so proud of their great ships, 
 that when they were ready to sail, they must needs 
 give the fleet a name ; and they called it THE INVINCI- 
 BLE ARMADA : Armada means an armed force, and In- 
 vincible implies unconquerable, Indeed, they were so 
 sure of conquering England, and of easily destroying all 
 that opposed them, that a large number of the grandees 
 of Spain, dukes and other noblemen, and sons of 
 noble families, accompanied the Armada, making sure 
 of getting possession of some of the fine estates of the 
 conquered country. 
 
 On the 28th of May, 1588, the Armada set sail. The 
 plan of the invasion was this : the fleet was first of all 
 to proceed to Dunkirk, a seaport of Flanders which be- 
 longed at that time to Spain, where it was to be joined 
 by nearly thirty thousand more Spanish soldiers. Then 
 it was to sail across the sea to England, enter the river 
 Thames, and find a convenient place for landing the 
 army, which was to march straight on to London, doing 
 all the mischief it could on its way. The army, having 
 then taken possession of London, was to make a speedy 
 and entire conquest of the whole country. This seemed
 
 THE SPANISH AKMADA 271 
 
 such an easy scheme, that it scarcely entered into the 
 mind of the invaders that it could fail. For among 
 them were men who could tell from personal experience 
 how helpless was a commercial country, when once .in 
 the clutch of disciplined troops, men who had, in 
 former guilty invasions of other countries, enriched 
 themselves, in an hour, with the accumulations of a 
 merchant's life-time, and who had slain fathers and 
 mothers, sons and daughters, brides and bridegrooms, 
 before each other's eyes, until the number of inhabi- 
 tants butchered in a single city amounted to many 
 thousands, and the plunder from its palaces and ware- 
 houses was counted by millions. And these men 
 looked forward with greedy, gloating, tigerish anticipa- 
 tions, to enacting the same scenes on English soil 
 and in English cities. Already they had looked upon 
 London, especially, as given to them as a prey. It was 
 almost before their eyes a huge mass of treasure, 
 richer and more accessible than those mines beyond the 
 Atlantic which had so often rewarded Spanish chivalry 
 with fabulous wealth. 
 
 The preparations of Spain were not made so secretly 
 as to take England by surprise. All the time the Span- 
 iards were building and fitting out their ships, the gov- 
 ernment and people of England were preparing to resist 
 the intended invasion; for they did not choose to be 
 conquered as easily as their enemies thought. The first
 
 272 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 thing was to ascertain how many ships they had to 
 meet the Invincible Armada. There were only thirty- 
 six of all sorts in the Royal Navy, and these were 
 mostly small vessels, especially when compared with the 
 monstrously large Spanish ships. This looked badly for 
 England ; what could such a small number do against so 
 many ? The people were not frightened, however ; for 
 as soon as it was known how badly off the queen was for 
 ships, and for sailors as well, English nobles and English 
 merchants, and all classes of Englishmen united to- 
 gether, and collected all the merchant vessels that could 
 be obtained, and prepared them for war; while hundreds 
 of men came forward and offered to serve in them. Be- 
 sides this, the people of Holland sent sixty-five ships of 
 war to help their friends and fellow Protestants in 
 England ; so that before the invasion commenced, there 
 were altogether about a hundred and ninety vessels of 
 all sorts ready for the defense of the country. The 
 number of sailors was about seventeen thousand. 
 
 As soon as it was known what the intentions of King 
 Philip were, as to the landing of his troops, and their 
 march to London, the government had both sides of the 
 Thames protected. " Gravesend was strongly fortified ; 
 and a vast number of barges were collected there for the 
 double purpose of serving as a bridge for the passage of 
 horse and foot between Kent and Essex, and for block- 
 ing up the river against the invaders. At Tilbury Fort,
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA. 273 
 
 directly opposite Gravesend, a great camp was formed ; " 
 and it was a pleasant sight, an old chronicler tells us, 
 " to behold the soldiers as they marched towards Til- 
 bury, their cheerful countenances, courageous words and 
 gestures, dancing and leaping wheresoever they came. 
 AnoJvin the camp, their greatest happiness was the hope 
 of a fight with the enemy ; where of ttimes divers rumors 
 rose of their foe's approach, and that present battles 
 would be given them. Then were they joyful at such 
 news, as if lusty giants were to run a race." 
 
 These poor fellows had, very few of them, probably, 
 known anything of real fighting in battle, or they would 
 not have been so anxious to meet the enemy. Yet we 
 cannot blame them for their patriotism, in view of the 
 wickedness of the threatened invasion ; and the suffer- 
 ings and horrible cruelty which would have accompanied 
 it, if it had taken place and been successful. It was 
 honorable to the English that there were such numbers 
 of them who were ready and willing to risk their lives in 
 defense of their country, their liberties and their reli- 
 gious privileges. 
 
 About twenty thousand foot soldiers and two thou- 
 sand horse soldiers were collected at this great camp, 
 besides many other thousands in other parts of the 
 country, so that the King of Spain had not so easy a con- 
 quest before him as he imagined. 
 
 While these ardent soldiers were waiting at Tilbury 
 18
 
 274 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 for the enemy, a visit was paid to their camp which 
 mightily increased their enthusiasm. The visitor was 
 uo other than Queen Elizabeth herself, who went from 
 London to Tilbury to review her army, riding on a fine 
 war-horse, and wearing armor on the upper part of her 
 body, like a man. She also carried the staff or trun- 
 cheon of a field-marshal, or principal military com- 
 mander ; and, thus arrayed, she made the following 
 speech : 
 
 " We have been persuaded by some that are careful 
 of our safety," she said, "to take heed how we commit 
 ourselves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery. 
 But I assure you, I do not desire to live to distrust my 
 faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear I I have 
 always so behaved myself that, under God, I have 
 placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal 
 hearts and good-will of my subjects ; and, therefore, I 
 am come amongst you at this time, not as for my 
 recreations and sport, but being resolved in the midst 
 and heat of the battle to live or die amongst you all 
 to lay down, for my God, for my kingdom, and my peo- 
 ple, my honor and my blood, even in the dust. I know 
 that I have but the body of a weak woman ; but I have 
 the heart of a king, and a king of England, too; and 
 think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of 
 Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm. 
 To which, rather than any dishonor should grow by me,
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA. 275 
 
 I myself will take up arms I myself will be your gen- 
 eral the judge and rewarder of every one of your 
 virtues in the field. I know already by your forward- 
 ness that you have deserved rewards and crowns, and 
 we do assure you, on the word of a prince, they shall be 
 duly^paid you." 
 
 This was the queen's speech. Rather boastful, per- 
 haps, you may say ; bat we can readily make allowances 
 for the times. And though we now know that Queen 
 Elizabeth was an arbitrary lady after all, and a tyrant as 
 well as a queen, she did not seem so to her subjects in 
 those days, who, when they compared her with the 
 queen who had gone before, and with many of the kings 
 who had gone before them both, had reason to be proud 
 of her. This short speech of hers was received with loud 
 and joyous shouts of applause; indeed, we. may readily 
 understand how it excited the enthusiasm of the soldiers, 
 making every one of them feel himself a citizen of a 
 free country, as, indeed, free it was, in comparison with 
 that country which was now threatening to subdue and 
 enslave it. 
 
 It was not at Tilbury Fort only that this enthusiasm 
 was felt. All over England the people declared plainly, 
 by their actions as well as their words, that they would 
 not submit tamely to a foreign yoke, nor give up the 
 liberty which they prized so highly. Everywhere, 
 men who had never before handled warlike arms, but
 
 276 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 had desired to live quiet and peaceable lives, prepared 
 themselves for fighting. And, what seems strange, 
 the Roman Catholics of England were not behind their 
 Protestant fellow-subjects in patriotism and active zeal 
 on behalf of their country. King Philip of Spain had 
 not reckoned upon this. He fancied that, when his 
 troops landed, English papists would join them, and 
 help in overturning the Protestant government under 
 which they lived ; but he was mistaken. 
 
 After these preparations were made, the people of 
 England almost impatiently waited the coming of the 
 Invincible Armada. Other efforts also were made, 
 which are not much taken into account, or even men- 
 tioned in the histories which are commonly told of this 
 eventful time. 
 
 There were in England at that time (and their 
 number has been greatly increased since then) many 
 hundreds and thousands of pious, godly Christians, 
 both men and women, who had been taught by the 
 Holy Spirit of God how to pray and what to pray for. 
 They felt deeply that the sins of England were such 
 as might justly bring down upon the whole nation the 
 Divine displeasure ; and they very justly thought that 
 this threatened invasion might be one of those punish- 
 ments which God sometimes sees fit to inflict on those 
 who despise His warnings and milder chastisements. 
 But they had faith in the promises of God, and they
 
 THE SPANISH AEMADA. 277 
 
 knew where it is written for the encouragement of all 
 believers, " Call upon me in in the day of trouble ; I 
 will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." So these 
 Christian people prayed to God to give deliverance to 
 their country from the malice and cruel designs of ita 
 powerful enemy. And while others trusted in English 
 ships and arms and armor, and boasted of English 
 courage, they remembered the name of the Lord their 
 God, and rejoiced in the thought of His Almighty 
 power. 
 
 " THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA " MAKES ITS APPEARANCE. 
 
 Through the early summer of 1588, all England was 
 kept in a state of suspense, daily expecting to hear 
 tidings of the Armada, which seemed to be unaccount- 
 ably delayed. There was cause for this delay, how- 
 ever. The great Spanish fleet, as before stated, set 
 sail on the 29th of May: but it had not proceeded 
 far before a great storm arose, and scattered the ships. 
 Four of them, and large ones too, sank to the bottom 
 of the sea, with all on board ; and all the rest were so 
 damaged by the storm that they had to put back into 
 different ports to be repaired and refitted. This was 
 the first check the invaders experienced ; and when it 
 was known in England, it gave encouragement to those 
 who trusted in God, to believe that " by terrible things 
 in righteousness," He was answering their earnest
 
 278 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 prayers, and to pray yet more earnestly, if possible, 
 that He would send full and complete deliverance to 
 the threatened land. 
 
 It would have been well if the proud ting of Spain 
 had seriously considered, and acted upon the considera- 
 tion, that this disappointment was an indication of 
 God's displeasure, and a forerunner of greater calami- 
 ties unless he turned from his unrighteous course: 
 that, to use the words of Scripture, God was already 
 whetting His sword and bending His bow, and making 
 it ready against the persecutors. But no such thoughts 
 entered into King Philip's mind. On the contrary, 
 he seems to have fancied he was doing God service in 
 making war against England, and in preparing to exter- 
 minate all English heretics. At any rate, the storm 
 which had dispersed his fleet, only made him the more 
 savage and determined ; so that, as soon as the losses 
 and damages had been repaired, the Invincible Armada 
 once more set out on its voyage. 
 
 While the Armada was thus delayed, the principal 
 part of the English fleet was gathered together at 
 Plymouth, under the command of Lord Howard, its 
 admiral. The vice-admiral, or second in command, 
 was Sir Francis Drake, a skillful and gallant seaman, 
 and a brave Englishman. Under these were other 
 experienced leaders, whose names are now remembered 
 in history for the deeds they performed. Among them
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA. 279 
 
 were John Hawkins, rear-admiral of the fleet ; Martin 
 Frobisher, an excellent navigator and discoverer, who 
 commanded the largest of the queen's ships, the 
 Triumph ; Sir Walter Raleigh, who was a great favor- 
 ite of Queen Elizabeth ; with many others, from the 
 most noble families of England. 
 
 All these, with the captains and officers and seamen 
 of the fleet, were, for two months or more, fretting at 
 having nothing to do, and wearying themselves at 
 guessing why the Invincible Armada did not make its 
 appearance as it must have done on its entrance into 
 the English seas. To pass away the time, the English 
 officers indulged in various recreations on shore. 
 Among these was the game of bowls. 
 
 One day in July, Admiral Drake and other officers 
 were on a bowling-green near to Plymouth, enjoying 
 their amusement, when a man burst in upon them, 
 almost breathless with speed, to tell them that the Ar- 
 mada was at last really come. It had been seen by the 
 captain of a small vessel, when out at sea, and he had 
 hastened to Plymouth to tell the news. This captain's 
 name was Fleming, and he had no very good character ; 
 for he was a privateer by profession, which is but 
 another name for a sea-robber. There was no reason to 
 suppose, however, that he had given a false report; 
 and orders were accordingly sent in great haste to 
 .all the ships of the fleet to be ready to leave their 
 moorings.
 
 280 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 " There's an end of our game, then," said one of the 
 bowlers, when the message reached those on the green. 
 
 " No such thing," said Admiral Drake ; " there will 
 be plenty of time for us to finish our game, and to beat 
 the Spaniards afterwards." 
 
 Accordingly, the game, was played out; and then the 
 bowling party hastened to their boats. The common 
 sailors who were on shore had already been recalled to 
 their duty ; and before evening the English fleet was 
 standing out to sea, waiting the approach of the en- 
 emy, who was not yet in sight. At the same time bea- 
 con-fires were kindled up all along the coast ; for 
 among other precautions against being taken by sur- 
 prise, the English government had caused great piles of 
 wood to be built up a mile or two distant from each 
 other, on the high grounds and cliffs, all the way from 
 the Land's End in Cornwall to the mouth of the 
 Thames; and other parts of the coast as well, as near 
 as possible to the sea-shore. Men were also kept 
 constantly on the watch, with orders that when the 
 Spanish fleet should be seen, the nearest beacon, as 
 these piles of wood were called, was to be set on 
 fire. This would soon attract the attention of those 
 who were on the watch at the next beacon on either 
 side ; and then those piles also were to be fired ; and so 
 on with the next and the next. And thus it came 
 to pass that as soon as the Invincible Armada was
 
 First sight of the Spanish Armanda. p. 280.
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA. 281 
 
 known to bo really approaching, these fires were kin- 
 dled, one after the other, till before many hours had 
 passed away, the whole south coast seemed to be girt 
 round with a blazing girdle. In the words of Macaulay, 
 
 "From Eddystone to Berwick bounds; from Lynn to Milford Bay, 
 That time of slumber was as bright and busy as the day; 
 POT swift to east, and swift to west, the ghastly war-flame spread, 
 High on St. Michael's Mount it shone; it shone on Beachy Head; 
 Far on the deep the Spaniard saw, along each southern shore, 
 Cape beyond cape, in endless range, those twinkling points of fire." 
 
 More effectual, however, than beacon-fire or war-fleet, 
 or the brave hearts, cool heads and strong hands which 
 commanded and manned it, were the fervent, ardent 
 pleadings of those disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 who cast their cares and their country's peril upon God. 
 They felt that a few days, and even hours, might 
 determine whether England would be permitted arid 
 helped to hold fast the Christian liberty for which 
 so much blood had been shed, and so many persecutions 
 endured; or whether she should again be plunged into 
 the darkness and slavery of popery. No wonder, then, 
 that earnest prayers were offered for deliverance, and 
 that their Queen's throne might be established in right- 
 eousness, that the Lord would appear in their behalf, 
 for His own name's sake, and for the glory and the ad- 
 vancement of Christ's kingdom. We shall soon see 
 how these prayers were answered. 
 
 The morning dawned, and brought with it a sight
 
 282 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 which might well have smitten many a heart in the 
 English fleet with dismay and terror. It was a misty, 
 hazy day ; but through the drizzling rain could be 
 discerned the enemy's fleet, numbering a hundred and 
 thirty-six vessels, of which ninety were large men-of- 
 war, such as had never been seen by the greater 
 number of Englishmen who had set themselves for the 
 defense of their country. On the other hand, there 
 were but sixty-seven sail of the English fleet to meet 
 them ; and scarcely more than half of this small number 
 were war ships, the rest being small merchant and trad- 
 ing vessels, some of them scarcely larger than a modern 
 fishing-smack. 
 
 " It was a solemn moment," writes the historian. 
 " The long expected Armada presented a pompous, 
 almost a theatrical appearance. The ships seemed 
 arranged for a pageant in honor of a victory already 
 won. Disposed in form of a crescent, the horns of 
 which were seven miles asunder, those gilded, towered, 
 floating castles, with their goodly standards and their 
 martial music, moved slowly along the channel, with an 
 air of indolent pomp." 
 
 The little English fleet waited quietly till the great 
 Armada had passed ; and then, seeing that the enemy 
 showed no intention of landing on that pait of the 
 coast, but steered steadily up the Channel, the Eng- 
 lish admiral put his ships in motion, and followed the
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA. 283 
 
 Spaniards very closely, watching for an opportunity of 
 attacking any of the lumbering and slow-sailing, though 
 formidable vessels of the Spanish fleet. That opportu- 
 nity soon occurred ; for soon a part of that fleet lagged 
 astern; and then the attack was commenced by one 
 Jonass Bradbury, who commanded a small English 
 barque or pinnace, who poured a broadside of shot 
 into one of the hindmost. Then a sort of running sea- 
 fight commenced, which I cannot better describe than 
 in the words of one of the many historians who have 
 written about the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 " Captain Bradbury having begun the fray, Admiral 
 Lord Howard, in his own ship, the Ark Royal, engaged 
 a great Spanish galleon ; and Drake, in the Revenge, 
 Hawkins, in the Victory, and Frobisher, in the the Tri- 
 umph, ranging up gallantly, brought into action all the 
 galleons which had fallen astern. The Spanish rear- 
 admiral, who was with this division, fought it bravely: 
 but his lumbering ships lay like logs on the water, in 
 comparison with the lighter vessels of England, which 
 were manageable and in hand, like well-trained steeds. 
 Before any assistance could come from the van (or for- 
 ward part) of the Armada, one of the great Spaniards 
 was completely crippled; and another, a treasure- 
 ship, with 55,000 ducats in her chests, was taken by 
 Drake, who distributed the money among the sailors. 
 After this, the Duke of Medina (the Spanish Admiral)
 
 284 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 waited till the slower ships came up, and then, all 
 of them, under press of sail, stood further up the Chan- 
 nel. 
 
 " This first brush," we are told, " gave great spirit 
 to the English, and there were in it several encouraging 
 circumstances. It was seen, for example, that the tall 
 Spanish ships could not bring their ordnance (guns) to 
 bear, firing, for the greater part, over the English 
 without touching them ; and that the surer fire of the 
 latter told, with terrible effect, on those huge ships, 
 crammed with men, soldiers and sailors." 
 
 After this day's fighting, the English admiral re- 
 turned to Plymouth, where his fleet was joined by forty 
 more vessels. In the course of this night, one of the 
 greatest of the Spanish ships took fire, and was burned. 
 It was said that it was purposely set fire to by a 
 traitor, a certain Flemish gunner, who was in the ser- 
 vice of the Spaniards. Besides this trouble, some of the 
 Spanish ships ran foul of each other, to their great mis- 
 chief: for it was a dark night, and there was a rough 
 sea. 
 
 This first day's fighting was on the 22nd of July. 
 We continue the account of the next several days in 
 the words of the historian, before quoted. 
 
 " On the 23rd of July, Lord Howard, who was rein- 
 forced, and was joined by Sir Walter Raleigh, came up 
 with the whole Armada off Portland, when a battle be-
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA. 285 
 
 gan, which lasted nearly the whole of that day. The 
 English fought loose and at large, avoiding a close com- 
 bat, or boarding. They kept separate, but always in mo- 
 tion, tacking and playing about the enemy, pouring in, 
 their fire, and then sheering out of range, returning 
 befor,Q the Spaniards had time to reload, giving them 
 another broadside, and then off, as before. . . . The 
 darkness of night interrupted the battle ; but in the 
 course of the day the English had taken a large argosy 
 (or merchant ship) and several transports (or vessels 
 containing supplies of men and food and ammunition). 
 
 " Next day the Spaniards showed small inclination to 
 renew the fight, and it was apparent that they wished 
 to hold on to Dunkirk, the place appointed for their 
 being joined by the Spanish army there. The English 
 on their side, were not in fighting condition, for they 
 had been but poorly supplied with gunpowder ; and by 
 this time they had used all they had on board. How- 
 ard, however, sent off some barques and pinnaces, 
 which returned with a supply towards night ; but a day 
 had been lost. 
 
 "On the morning of the 26th, the English admiral 
 once more came up with part of the Armada, off the 
 Isle of Wight, where Captain Hawkins took a large 
 Portuguese galleon. Presently there came a calm ; the 
 great ships of Spain lay motionless upon the water, and 
 were much too heavy to be towed ; while the English
 
 286 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 craft, of the lighter kind, were easily towed by their 
 long boats. When a breeze sprang up, Frobisher was 
 set upon by several galleons, and was in great peril ; 
 but the White Bear and the Elizabeth Jonas, two Eng- 
 lish ships, came up to his relief. Other ships ranged up 
 on either side, and the battle seemed becoming general; 
 but the English had again burnt all their powder. So, 
 having shot away the mainmast, and otherwise shat- 
 tered the Dnke of Medina's own ship, they took advan- 
 tage of the wind, and sheered off." 
 
 Perhaps I have now given the reader enough of fight- 
 ing. If I were to continue every day's history of the 
 Armada to the end of that notable July in 1588, it 
 would be but a repetition of the same, with one 
 addition, however; namely, that on one of these days, 
 the English smeared over with pitch and rosin, and 
 filled with quick-burning stuff, eight small ships, and, 
 setting them on fire, sent them into the midst of the 
 Spanish fleet. The effect of this manoeuvre was prodig- 
 ious. The Spaniards cut their cables, or let slip their 
 hawsers, we are told, " and in haste, fear, and confu- 
 sion," scattered themselves abroad, some into the 
 wide sea, and some among the shoals of Flanders. 
 After this, ship after ship of the Invincible Armada, 
 was taken by the English, who had been so despised ; 
 and. others were wrecked, so that, though some of the 
 invaders cried out for revenge, and desired to go ou
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA. 287 
 
 with their work, their leader resolved to make his way 
 back to Spain in the best manner he could. "And 
 as it was held dangerous " to turn back and meet 
 the English in those narrow seas which had already 
 brought the Spaniards so much damage, " he resolved 
 to go^northward, and return to Spain by sailing round 
 Scotland." 
 
 From what has been recounted of this threatened in- 
 vasion, it appears that the English, though they were 
 inferior in ships and ammunition, and in almost every- 
 thing else likely to insure success, nevertheless a.cted 
 manfully and bravely in defence of their country. 
 
 Of all the famous battles, or succession of battles, on 
 land or on sea, which cause the national history of Eng- 
 land to be written, as it were, in letters of blood, none 
 .perhaps were so unexceptionally righteous on the 
 part of the victors, as those which issued in the defeat 
 of the Spanish Armada. The people were then com- 
 pelled to fight for the gospel and the sanctuary; for all 
 they held dear to them in their country and their 
 homes. 
 
 How they fought I have partly told. How God 
 fought for them I have yet to tell. 
 
 The leaders of the Armada, no longer the Invin- 
 cible, instead of sailing up the Thames, and landing 
 their troops, and marching to London in triumph, as 
 they had hoped to do, were now only too glad to escape
 
 288 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 (if they could) from the enemy they had despised. So 
 they struggled on and on, keeping as clear as they 
 could of the English coast, which they had come to 
 invade, until on the 12th of August, their fleet was 
 as far north as the Orkney Islands. They had been 
 followed so far by the English ships ; but this fleet was 
 now obliged to return for want of provisions and water, 
 as well as powder and shot. So they put back into the 
 Frith of Forth. Up to this period the weather, though 
 occasionally threatening, had been moderate, but on the 
 14th of August there was a change. The wind shifted; 
 and during the whole of that day, and the next, it blew 
 a tremendous gale. It was a more violent storm 
 than was ever seen before at this time of year. The 
 English fleet was scattered, and many ships were in 
 peril ; but within four or five days all arrived safely in 
 port. 
 
 " Far different," our historian tells us, " was the fate 
 of the Spaniards. Over this invincible Armada, last 
 seen by the departing English, midway between the 
 coasts of Scotland and Denmark, the blackness of night 
 seemed suddenly to descend. A mystery for a long 
 time hung, over their fate. Damaged, leaking, without 
 pilots, without a competent commander, the great fleet 
 entered that furious storm, and was whirled along 
 the iron crags of Norway, and between the savage 
 rocks of Faroe and the Hebrides. In those regions
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA. 289 
 
 of tempest, the insulted North wreaked its full ven- 
 geance on the insolent Spaniards. Disaster after disaster 
 marked their perilous track; gale after gale swept them 
 hither and thither, tossing them on sandbanks, or shat- 
 tering them against granite cliffs. The coasts of Nor- 
 way, Scotland and Ireland, were strewn with the 
 wrecks of that pompous fleet which claimed the domin- 
 ion of the seas, with the bones of those invincible 
 legions which were to have sacked London, and made 
 England a Spanish vice-royalty." 
 
 Another historian writes that in their dreadful straits, 
 the storm-beaten Spaniards "threw overboard horses, 
 mules, artillery, and baggage. Some of the ships were 
 dashed to pieces among the Orkneys and the Western 
 Isles, some were stranded in Norway, some went down 
 at sea with every soul on board, some were cast upon 
 the iron coast of Argyle, and more than thirty were 
 driven on the coast of Ireland, where the popular name 
 of Port-na-Spagna, bestowed on a place near the 
 Giant's Causeway, recalls a part of the fearful catas- 
 trophe A small squadron was driven back to 
 
 the English Channel where, with the exception of one 
 great ship, it was taken by the English, or by their 
 allies, the Dutch. The Duke of Medina, about the end 
 of September, arrived at Santandor, in the Bay of Bis- 
 cay, with no more than sixty sail out of the whole fleet; 
 and these very much shattered, with their crews all 
 19
 
 290 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 worn out with cold, and hunger, and sickness, and look- 
 ing like spectres." 
 
 This, then, is the Great Deliverance of which this 
 Btory was to tell ; and it surely deserves its name, for it 
 was God who wrought it. So, at any rate, thought all 
 English people at that time; and so great was their 
 sense of God's help that a medal'was struck by order 
 of the government, bearing on one side the impression 
 of a tempest-beaten fleet ; and on the other these Latin 
 
 words, 
 
 " AFFLAVIT DEUS, ET DISSIPANTUB;" 
 
 which, in English, is, 
 
 " God caused the winds to blow, and they were scattered."
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 p 
 
 CHIVALRY. 
 
 The Age of Chivalry, says a writer in the Encyclopae- 
 dia, is the heroic age of the Teutonic Christian tribes, 
 corresponding to the age of the Grecian heroes. 
 
 This heroic period of a nation may be compared to the 
 youth of an individual; and we find, therefore, nations 
 in this stage of their progress, distinguished by the vir- 
 tues, follies, and even vices, to which the youth of indi- 
 viduals is most prone thirst for glory, enthusiasm, 
 pride, indescribable and indefinite aspirations after 
 something beyond the realities of life, strong faith in 
 virtue and intellectual -greatness, together with much 
 vanity and credulity. 
 
 Chivalry, in the perfection of its glory and its extrav- 
 agance, existed only among the German tribes, or those 
 which were conquered by and mingled with them, and 
 whose institutions and civilization were impregnated 
 with the Teutonic spirit. Therefore we find chivalry 
 never fully developed in Italy, because the Teutonic 
 spirit never penetrated all the institutions of that coun- 
 
 291
 
 292 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 try, as it found a civilization already established, of too 
 settled a character to be materially affected by its influ- 
 ence. 
 
 Wa do not find much of the chivalric spirit in Greece, 
 nor among the Sclavonic tribes, except some traces 
 among the Bohemians and the Poles, who had caught a 
 portion of it from the Germans. Among the Swedes, 
 though a genuine Teutonic, chivalry never struck deep 
 root; but this is to be ascribed to their remote situa- 
 tion, and to the circumstance that they early directed 
 their attention to navigation and naval warfare, which, 
 in many ways, were unfavorable to the growth of the 
 chivalric spirit; affording, for instance, comparatively 
 little opportunity for that display of courage and accom- 
 plishment in the eyes of admiring multitudes, or in the 
 adventurous quests of the single knight, which formed 
 so striking a feature of the chivalric age. 
 
 To explain the nature and origin of chivalry, we 
 must consider the character of the ancient German 
 tribes. The warlike spirit was common to them with 
 other barbarous nations ; but there were certain traits 
 in their character peculiarly their own. Among these 
 was their esteem for women. This is dwelt upon by 
 Tacitus, and is sufficiently apparent from the early 
 native German historians. 
 
 This regard for the female sex was diffused by them 
 through every country into which they spread, though
 
 CHIVALRY. 293 
 
 with considerable difference in the forms in which it 
 developed itself. In France, it became that refined gal- 
 lantry for which the nation has been so long conspic- 
 uous ; in Spain, it assumed a more romantic and 
 glowing character, displaying much of the ~~fire of 
 Oriental feeling; in Germany itself, it became faithful 
 and tender attachment to the wedded wife. Un- 
 doubtedly the Christian religion assisted in developing 
 this feeling of esteem for the female sex in those times, 
 particularly by the adoration of the Virgin, which was 
 taught as a part of it. It is true that wives and 
 mothers were treated with great regard by the Romans, 
 and the history of no nation affords more numerous 
 instances of female nobleness, bat this esteem was ren- 
 dered to them, not as females, but as the faithful com- 
 panions and patriotic mothers of citizens. It had 
 somewhat of a political cast. But this was not the case 
 with the Germans. 
 
 There is another trait of the German character, 
 which deserves to be considered in this connection, 
 which is very apparent in their literature, and the lives 
 of many individuals; we mean that indefinite thirst for 
 something superior to the realities of life, that sehnen, to 
 use their own word, which hardly admits of translation, 
 which has produced among them at the same time so 
 much excellence and so much extravagance. These 
 three traits of the Teutonic race, their warlike spirit,
 
 294 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 their esteem for women, and their indefinable thirst for 
 superhuman greatness, together with the influence of 
 the feudal system and of the Roman Catholic religion, 
 afford an explanation of the spirit of chivalry an 
 institution which, to many observers, Appears like an 
 isolated point in history, and leaves them in doubt 
 whether to despise it as foolish, or admire it as sublime. 
 
 The feudal system divided the Christian Teutonic 
 tribes into masses, the members of which were united, 
 indeed, by some political ties, but had little of that inti- 
 mate connection which bound men together in the com- 
 munities of antiquity, and has produced like effects in 
 our own and a few preceding ages. They still pre- 
 served, in a great measure, the independence of 
 barbarians. 
 
 There was, however, one strong bond of union, which 
 gave consistency to the whole aggregate; we mean the 
 Roman Catholic religion, which has lost much of its 
 connecting power, in proportion as other ties, chiefly 
 those of a common civilization, have gained strength. 
 The influence of this religion was of great service to 
 mankind during the ages of ignorance and violence, by 
 giving coherency to the links of the social chain, which 
 were continually in danger of parting. To this cause is 
 to be ascribed the great uniformity of character which 
 prevailed during the ages of chivalry. 
 
 The feudal system, besides, enabled the gentry to
 
 CHIVALRY. 295 
 
 live on the labors of the oppressed peasants, without the 
 necessity of providing for their own support, and to in- 
 dulge the love of adventures incident to their warlike 
 and ambitious character. 
 
 If we now combine the characteristics which we have 
 been considering a warlike spirit, a lofty devotion to the 
 female sex, an undefinable thirst for glory, connected 
 with feudal independence, elevation above the drudgery 
 of daily toil, and a uniformity of character and purpose, 
 inspired by the influence of a common religion we 
 obtain a tolerable view of the chivalric character. 
 
 This character had not yet quite developed itself in 
 the age of Charlemagne. The courage exhibited by 
 the warriors of his age was rather the courage of 
 individuals in bodies. 
 
 The independence, the individuality of character, 
 which distinguished the errant knight who sought far 
 and wide for adventures to be achieved by his single 
 arm, was the growth of a later period. 
 
 The use of the war-horse, which formed so essential 
 an instrument of the son of chivalry, was not com- 
 mon among the Germans until the time of their wars 
 with the Hurs. They were indeed acquainted with 
 it before, and Tacitus mentions it in his account of Ger- 
 many ; but it was not in common use among them 
 till the period we have mentioned.
 
 296 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 After it was introduced, cavalry was considered 
 among them, as among all nations in the early stages of 
 their progress, much superior to infantry, which was, in 
 fact, despised, until the successors of the Swiss demon- 
 strated its superiority. In the llth century, knight- 
 hood had become an established and well-defined 
 institution; but it was not till the 14th that its honors 
 were confined exclusively to the nobility. 
 
 The crusades gave a more religious turn to the spirit 
 of chivalry, and made the knights of all Christian 
 nations known to each other, so that a great uniformity 
 is thenceforward to be perceived among them through- 
 out Europe. Then arose the religions of knights, 
 the knights of St. John, the templars, the Teutonic 
 knights, &c. The whole establishment of knighthood 
 assumed continually a more formal character, and de- 
 generating, like every human institution, sunk at last 
 into Quixotic extravagances, or frittered away its spirit 
 amid the forms and punctilios springing from the pride 
 and the distinctions of the privileged orders of society. 
 It merged, in fact, among the abuses which it has been 
 one of the great labors of our age to overthrow. The 
 decline of chivalry might be traced through the dif- 
 ferent forms which it assumed in different nations as 
 distinctly as its development a task too extensive for 
 this work.
 
 CHIVALRY. 297 
 
 MAKING A KNIGHT. 
 
 The education of a knight was briefly as follows : 
 The young and noble stripling, generally about his 12th 
 year, was sent to the court of some baron or noble 
 knight, where he spent his time chiefly in attending on ' 
 the ladies, and acquiring skill in the use of arms, in rid- 
 ing, &c. This duty of waiting about the persons of the 
 ladies became, in the sequel, as injurious to the morals 
 
 of the page as it may have been salutary in the be- 
 
 *-'* 
 ginning. 
 
 When advancing age and experience in the use of ;, 
 arms had qualified the page for war, he became artq* 
 escuyer (esquire or squire). This word is generally 
 supposed to be derived from escu or scudo (shield), 
 because, among other offices, it was the squire's busi- 
 ness to carry the shield of the knight whom he served. 
 
 The third and highest rank of chivalry was that 
 of knighthood, which was not conferred before the 21st 
 year, except in the case of distinguished birth or great 
 achievements. The individual prepared himself by 
 confessing, fasting, &c. ; religious rites were performed ; 
 and then, after promising to be faithful, to protect 
 ladies and orphans, never to lie, nor utter slander, 
 to live in harmony with his equals, &c., (in France 
 there were twenty vows of knighthood) he received the 
 accolade, a slight blow on the neck with the flat of the
 
 298 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 sword, from the person who dubbed him knight, who, 
 at the same time, pronounced a formula to this effect: 
 "I dub thee knight, in the name of God and St. 
 Michael, (or in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost). Be faithful, bold, and fortunate." This was 
 often done on the eve of battle, to stimulate the new 
 knight to deeds of valor, or, after the combat, to reward 
 signal bravery. 
 
 Chivalry exercised, in some respects, a salutary influ- 
 ence at a time when governments were unsettled and 
 laws little regarded. Though chivalry often carried the 
 ""feelings of love and honor to a fan.-itical excess, yet 
 Tt did much good by elevating them to the rank of 
 deities; for the reverence paid to them principally pre- 
 vented mankind, at this period of barbarous violence, 
 from relapsing into barbarism ; and, as the feudal 
 system was unavoidable, it is well that its evils were 
 somewhat alleviated by the spirit of chivalry.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 * 
 
 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 
 
 THE transition from the rude and barbarous state 
 of the northern nations, when their waves dashed against 
 the corrupt but luxurious civilization of the Roman 
 power in its decline, developed the feudal system, 
 which belongs to the period of the middle ages, and 
 traces of which still linger in many parts of Europe. 
 
 A fee, feud or fief is a possession, of which the vassal 
 receives the right of use and enjoyment, of disposition 
 and alienation, on condition of fidelity (that is, of af- 
 fording assistance or counsel, and avoiding all injurious 
 acts), together with the performance of certain services 
 incident to the tenure, while the feudal lord still retains 
 a paramount right. 
 
 The nature of feudal property is explained by its 
 origin. Such was the passion of the ancient Germans 
 for war, that, in time of peace, private feuds took the 
 place of public contention ; and, in default of these, the 
 men of military ages spent weeks, and months, and 
 years, in adventures, and made incursions into the terri- 
 
 299
 
 300 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 tory of the neighboring tribes, or took part in the 
 quarrels of the distant ones. On these expeditions the 
 experienced and powerful were usually attended by a 
 number of equally valiant youths, who were furnished 
 by the chief -with provisions, and, perhaps, with arras, 
 and composed his retinue, or following. 
 
 This retinue, which was well known in the time 
 of Csesar and Tacitus, was bound to the commander by 
 firmer ties than the transient love of war or in constant 
 success. If the leader did not prove false (which was 
 never known), the attendant devoted- his whole life to 
 his service, and was always ready to meet the summons 
 to new adventures. And when the whole nation 
 marched to war, the warriors formed about their chief- 
 tain a devoted band, ready to sacrifice themselves for 
 his safety. Each of them looked upon the life and 
 liberty of his leader as intrusted to his own peculiar 
 care ; and, if any one survived his imprisonment or 
 death, he was forever branded as a coward. The 
 general of the national militia, always one of the 
 wealthiest landholders, had a crowd of them constantly 
 about his person. These companions (in German, 
 Gresellen, whence the later barbarous Latin word 
 vasallus) received no pay except their arms, horses and 
 provisions, and the portion of the spoils which remained 
 after the chieftain had taken his own share. In the ex- 
 peditions of particular adventurers against the adjacent
 
 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 301 
 
 tribes, or the Roman provinces, their booty consisted of 
 garments, arras, furniture and slaves. But when the 
 northern hordes broke into the south, and, in the parti- 
 tion of the conquered lands, large districts fell into the 
 hands of kings or dukes and their subordinates, they 
 gave certain portions of the territory to their attendants, 
 to enjoy the possession for life. These estates they 
 called beneficia, or fiefs, because they were only 
 lent to their possessors to revert after their death 
 to the grantor, who immediately gave them to another 
 of his servants. From this custom of the ancient Ger- 
 mans arose the feudal service, which is purely German 
 and unknown to other nations. As the son commonly 
 esteemed it his duty or was forced by necessity, to 
 devote his arm to the lord in whose service his father 
 had lived, he also received his father's fief; or rather, 
 he was invested with it anew. 
 
 By the usage of centuries this custom became a right, 
 and to deprive one of his paternal fief, though it was 
 prohibited by no law, seemed an act of injustice. At 
 length, express provision was made by Conrad II , in 
 Germany, in the year 1025, and in Italy in 1037, by 
 which the feudal possessions of a father were to de- 
 scend to his son ; or those of clergymen to their suc- 
 cessors. Female fiefs are later deviations from the 
 system. In that period of lawless violence, which 
 followed the migration of nations, and the death of
 
 302 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 Charlemagne, it soon appeared useful and indispensable 
 that those States which were well protected from 
 foreign invasion, though they had no assurance of inter- 
 nal security, should put themselves under the protection 
 of a powerful governor. 
 
 Powerful barons and rich bishops on one side, dukes 
 and counts, the representatives of the kings, on the 
 other, oppressed the neighboring free proprietors of 
 landed property, till they looked with jealousy on the 
 dependent vassals, and submitted to the protection of 
 the oppressor, or some other nobleman, in order to 
 obtain security. Many persons, especially the poor, 
 who were obliged to cultivate their land themselves, 
 and could not have it without much inconvenience, sub- 
 mitted to this protection, though they were in no dan- 
 ger of oppression, merely to escape the military service. 
 For dukes, and counts, and the bailiffs (who acted on 
 behalf of the bishops), whose duty it was to levy and 
 command the army, instead of employing the raw 
 militia, who often forgot their military skill in long-con- 
 tinued peace, preferred their own attendants, now styled 
 the vassals, and released such of the King's subjects as 
 were willing to become their vassals, and pay a certain 
 contribution, from the obligation of serving in the na- 
 tional militia. The emperors and kings cared little 
 from what source the dukes obtained their forces, pro- 
 vided the number was complete.
 
 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 308 
 
 Besides the advantages just mentioned, they even 
 preferred an aimy of vassals to the national soldiery, 
 because the latter were bound only to serve in the 
 defense of the country, while the former were bound to 
 a much less limited, sometimes unconditional service, 
 and were hence far more useful. Thus the national 
 milifia gradually went out of use, and gave place to the 
 feudal militia. x 
 
 Another, and not a small class of men, including the 
 wealthy families, afterwards called the inferior nobility,- 
 who cultivated their land by means of hirelings or 
 bondsmen, were not anxious to free themselves from 
 the military service ; for war was always their favorite 
 employment. But they could not dispense with the 
 protection of the nobles ; on the other hand, their pride 
 could not stoop to serve in an army which was every 
 day sinking into disgrace. They longed for the honor 
 of being received among the vassals of the nobility, and 
 consented to hold their estates as the feudatories of the 
 nearest duke, or earl, or bishop. Often, too, from a 
 feeling of devotion, they became the feudatories of the 
 great religious establishments. This is the origin of the 
 great number of feudal estates in Germany at the pres- 
 ent day, with the exception of the north-eastern prov- 
 inces, formerly Sclavonic, and subsequently conquered, 
 and divided among vassals. They were bound, like 
 other vassals, under the penalty of losing their lands, to
 
 304 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 follow their lord in all his quarrels against any person 
 excepting other lords of whom they held lands, and 
 excepting also the emperor and empire. Moreover, in 
 war the vassals were required to throw open their 
 fortresses and castles for the use of their masters. The 
 dukes, and counts, and bishops, who were paid in fiefs 
 for their several services, stood in this relation to the 
 Emperor ; and inferior landed proprietors stood also in 
 the same relation to the superior nobility (for this was 
 the origin of the inferior nobility). Rich and adventur- 
 ous peasants, likewise, who preferred honorable vassal- 
 age to honest but despised patronage, invested some 
 noblemen with their lands, and were invested by him, 
 with the consent of the lord paramount, with a further 
 portion of his feudal territory (under tenants). 
 
 The investure was made from the time of the Saxon 
 emperors, in the great vice -regal fiefs, by a banner 
 (which was the ensign of command); in the inferior 
 ones by a sword; and in the spiritual fiefs by a ring 
 and a staff; after the peace of Worms, in 1122, which 
 confined the power of the emperor to secular affairs, by 
 the scepter. The castle-fiefs, so called, were a peculiar 
 kind of military fiefs, the possessor of which was 
 bound to defend the castle belonging to his lord. The 
 vassal who directed the defense was called in the impe- 
 rial fortresses, a burgrave. Thus the several orders 
 of vassals formed a system of concentric circles, of
 
 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 305 
 
 which each was under the influence of the next, and all 
 move around a common center, the king, as the supreme 
 feudal lord. With military vassals another class arose. 
 From the oldest times, we find in the courts of kings, 
 and the governors, whom they appointed, as well as in 
 those -of the bishops, certain officers, who at first per- 
 formed active service, but were afterwards rather a 
 splendid appendage to the court. The four offices 
 of the marshal, the chamberlain, the cup bearer and the 
 server, are the oldest and most honorable, 'but by no 
 means the only ones: offices were as numerous as the 
 employments which could be devised at court. These 
 officers, at a period when money was scarce, and the old 
 German notion in full vfgor, which considered none but 
 landed proprietors as citizens, and none but the owners 
 of large estates as noblemen, were naturally rewarded 
 by grants of land during the time of service ; and those 
 estates, like the military fiefs, became by degrees hered- 
 itary. 
 
 The splendor of the court, and the advantages accru- 
 ing from these services, induced many noblemen to 
 solicit them. They became- the first in the new class of 
 servants or ministers, which was thus formed; and un- 
 der them there was a multitude of other servants, 
 particularly on the estates of the nobility. Every 
 farmer (villicus) was paid for the ^cultivation of one 
 piece of land, by the investure of another smaller piece, 
 20
 
 306 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 and there was scarcely a servant of the court who had not 
 been invested, for his services, with at least a home or a 
 garden in the village adjoining the castle. The great 
 ministerial officers, too indolent to execute the duties of 
 their offices themselves, with' the permission of their 
 lords, soon began to commit them to others, whom they 
 paid in like manner for their administration by the 
 investure of some other estates. Fiefs were gradually 
 introduced, which were acquired not by military or 
 court services, but by performing certain duties of no 
 great difficulty, amounting to little more than the ac- 
 knowledgment of the lord's feudal superiority; as by. the 
 yearly gift of a horse, a pair of hounds, a falcon, or the 
 like. Very slight acts were often admitted as acknowl- 
 edgments, as the holding of a stirrup, or walking before 
 the feudal lord on certain occasions. Among the pres- 
 ents and acts are some of a most ridiculous character, 
 according to the humor of the feudal lord ; such as 
 dancing before the army, performing some tri6k, offer- 
 ing an egg, a penny, &c. A refusal to perform feudal 
 service, or any other violation of fealty, was styled 
 felony. 
 
 Upon this and other difficulties incident to feudal 
 property, as in cases growing out of the succession, sur- 
 render, alienation or under-tenure of a fief, the lord de- 
 cided in a feudal court, filled by vassals, who were 
 required to be of equal rank with the accused. To
 
 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 807 
 
 appear in these courts at the summons of the lord of the 
 manor, and accept the place of an assessor there, was 
 reckoned among the duties incident to a ticf. As the 
 relation of lords and vassals became more and more 
 widely spread, and the number of vassals increased at 
 the-~"xpense of the ancient immediate subjects of the 
 empire, the latter were thrown into the background, 
 and at length nearly forgotten. 
 
 In the 10th and llth centuries, no duty due from 
 subjects was known except feudal duties; the whole 
 German empire was one vast feudal possession, and the 
 ideas of feudal lords and national sovereigns were 
 wholly confounded. If any one was neither a lord nor 
 a vassal, he was scarcely looked upon as a citizen, and 
 no one took care for his safety. Hence, few rich landed 
 proprietors ventured to rely upon their own strength, 
 without a feudal connexion. And even most of these 
 at last yielded to the spirit of the age, and became 
 royal vassals, as the lords of Brunswick and Hesse and 
 the counts of Thuringia at that period called dukes and 
 landgraves. The emperor likewise used every means to 
 induce them to adopt such a course. Thus, when the 
 haughty baron of Kreuringen, who was the vassal of no 
 one, refused to do homage to Frederic I. the enraged 
 monarch invested him with the right of coinage that he 
 might become his lord. On the other hand, it was con- 
 sidered the duty of the German emperor not to ex-
 
 308 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 tinguish a fief which reverted to the sovereign for want 
 of heirs to inherit it, but to infeoff some other person, 
 and thus to secure the continuance of the feudal system, 
 on which the continuance of the empire seemed to 
 depend, for a reversion of fiefs to the emperor would 
 bring into his hands an excess of power ; and a release 
 of the princes from their feudal ties would be followed 
 by a state of anarchy. 
 
 Besides, the necessary connection of all the offices 
 with the fiefs rendered the line of separation between 
 them very indistinct, and the service which was paid 
 for a fief was regarded as the fief itself ; so that persons 
 were no longer invested with* estates as the reward 
 of office, but with the office, as a productive capital, on 
 account of the property attached to it. The dukes, 
 bishops, bailiffs and burgraves, sometimes from ignor- 
 ance, and sometimes from interested motives, increased 
 this confusion. They made no difference between their 
 fiefs and the districts and castles for the government of 
 which they were given to them. They exercised in 
 these places, which were filled mostly by their own vas- 
 sals, the power of feudal landlords, and esteemed any 
 attempt to curtail their rule as an act of flagrant injus- 
 tice, equivalent to a withdrawal of the fief. In the 
 provinces where the ducal power was early abolished, 
 as in Franconia, Suabia and Westphalia, the counts and 
 abbots took the same course ; while in Bavaria, Misnia,
 
 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 809 
 
 Thuringia, Austria and Brandenburg, often wholly for- 
 getful of their dignity as imperial governors, they sunk 
 into the state of mere vassals to the dukes, landgraves 
 and margraves, and were hardly able to maintain their 
 under-tenures in a state of dependence. From the 
 feudal system, the only social organization of the Euro- 
 pean states in the middle ages, a new system of civil 
 rank arose. The inferior nobility, a rank intermediate 
 between the princes and freedmen, owes its origin, it is 
 said, to this institution ; and a regular scale of rank was 
 formed among the vassals, without detriment, however, 
 to the principle of equal birth. The King formed the 
 first class ; the spiritual princes and bishops and imme- 
 diate abbots constituted the second ; the lay-princes, 
 dukes, landgraves, margraves and immediate counts, the 
 third ; those barons or rich landed proprietors who 
 owed fealty to no onei but yet on account of their 
 limited rights or possessions, were the vassals of the 
 Emperor, the fourth ; those freemen who stood in the 
 same relation to the princes, the fifth ; the vassals of the 
 former, and the servants of the princes, the sixth ; and 
 the possessors of small fiefs the seventh. This arrange- 
 ment corresponds to the Italian division into principes, 
 capitanei, valvasores majores, -oalvasores minores, valvasi- 
 ni and saldati; the English, into lords, esquires and 
 free-holders; the Spanish grandees escuderos, hidalgos; 
 and the French pairs, barons, ecuyers and valvasseurs.
 
 310 KNIGHTS AND SEA-EJNGS. 
 
 The title ecuyers, escuderos, esquires, however, belongs 
 rather to chivalry. Besides these ranks, after some 
 centuries, the order of citizens was formed, as being in- 
 cluded under no one of them. 
 
 The spirit of the feudal system, grounded on the 
 prevalence of landed property, was necessarily foreign 
 to cities which owed their origin to industry and 
 personal property, and founded thereon a new sort of 
 power. Hence we see them almost always involved in 
 open hostilities and contests with the nobility. The 
 principles of the feudal laws, the name given to the sys- 
 tem of right, and obligations existing between feudal 
 lords and vassals, were developed and established by 
 the Lombard lawyers of the 12th century. The col- 
 lection of feudal laws and customs, which is appended 
 to the Roman code under the title of libri feudorum, has 
 become the code of feudal law over half of Europe. 
 In the north of Germany, Denmark, Prusia, Poland, 
 &c., the old German feudal code still obtains, which 
 differs from the Lombard code chiefly in not acknowl- 
 edging the right of collateral relations, as such to suc- 
 ceed to a fief; and in grounding the right of feudal 
 succession, not on descent from the first possession of 
 the fief, but only on community of possession ; so that 
 diversions destroyed the right of inheritance. 
 
 In place of this community similar force has been 
 given, since the 12th century, in the above mentioned
 
 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 311 
 
 countries, to a merely formal union, instituted in the 
 first investure, and preseived and renewed in all cases 
 of division or death (joint investure). The feudal gov- 
 ernment at a period when a spirit of independence and 
 of opposition to despotism was abroad in the land, was 
 well situated to put into the hands of one governor 
 as supreme feudal lord, the reins of the national power, 
 to be employed against foreign enemies without endan- 
 gering domestic freedom. 
 
 But as every human institution bears in itself the 
 gem of decay, the purity and influence of feudal rela- 
 tions was diminished ; and the strength of the national 
 government declined amidst a spirit of disaffection 
 and sedition, which became universal, when nobles 
 began to perceive that the feudal government was not 
 naturally dependent on kings, but kings on it. Indeed, 
 the sovereigns had no other security for their subjection 
 than the feudal oath, and the menaces of punishment, 
 which the king had not the ability to carry into effect, 
 as his power was divided in most of his states, either by 
 investiture or by the usurpations of the princes. Thus 
 the vassals of the crown in Germany, Italy, and the 
 oldest districts of France, succeeded in depriving the 
 king of almost all power, even of the external honor of 
 royalty, and never in the two first countries, and in 
 France only after the extinction of the great baronial 
 families, could he succeed in establishing a new author-
 
 312 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 ity, independent of the feudal power ; while the 
 Britons alone, from the disputes of the kings and 
 vassals, have been able to establish their present gov- 
 ernment, with an equal regard to the privileges of both. 
 9 As the improvements in the art of war had brought 
 about a total change in modern times, and the feudal 
 militia had been entirely superseded by the standing 
 armies, the feudal government had no means of retain- 
 ing its authority, but by the feudal services of a civil 
 character. The feudal system is a relic of the past, too 
 useless and inconvenient and too much opposed to the 
 principles of the modern laws of equality to be any 
 longer maintained. Feudal service is no longer de- 
 manded, because it has ceased to be useful. It has 
 been, and still is, the great task of the present age in 
 Europe, to overthrow the feudal system, an order of 
 things which grew out of times of barbarity and dis- 
 order, and rested on principles and circumstances which 
 no longer exist.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 f-* 1 *" 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 THE Middle Ages embrace that period, in the history 
 of Europe, which begins with the final destruction of the 
 Roman empire, and, by some historians, is considered to 
 end with the reformation; by others, with the discovery 
 of America ; by others, with the conquest of Constanti- 
 nople ; and again, by some, with the invention of the art 
 of printing; all of which may be right, according to the 
 special purpose of the historian. In general, it may be 
 said, the Middle Ages embrace that period of history in 
 which the feudal system was established and developed, 
 down to the most prominent events which necessarily led 
 to its overthrow. 
 
 The first centuries of the Middle Ages are often termed 
 the dark ages> a name which they certainly deserve. 
 Still, however, the destruction of the Roman institutions 
 by the irruption of barbarous tribes, is often unduly la- 
 mented, and the beneficial consequences attending it 
 overlooked. True it is, that many of the acquisitions, 
 which had cost mankind ages of toil and labor, were lost 
 
 313
 
 314 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 in the general wreck, and only regained by the efforts 
 of many successive generations ; the flowers of civiliza- 
 tion were trampled under foot by barbarous warriors ; 
 and civil development of society suffered a most severe 
 shock ; those nations to which Roman civilization had ex- 
 tended previous to the great invasion of the Teutonic 
 tribes, were thrown back, in a great measure, to their 
 primeval barbarism, and the unruly passion for individual 
 independence in the northern tribes, greatly retarded the 
 development of public and private law, and in some coun- 
 tries, has entirely prevented a regular civil institution. 
 
 The feudal system filled Europe with powerful barons, 
 possessing large landed estates, and commanding the 
 services of numerous armed adherents ; and with inferior 
 lords, protected by the former. 
 
 They were all possessed of land, with arms perpetually 
 in their hands, too proud to follow any laws except those 
 of honor, which they had themselves created, and des- 
 pising all men of peaceful occupations as ignoble, created 
 to obey and serve. If, therefore, the parties not belong- 
 ing to the military cast wished to preserve their inde- 
 pendence, they could succeed only by union, which 
 would afford them the means of mutual protection, and 
 enable them to exercise their various callings unmolested, 
 and thereby acquire wealth in money and goods, which 
 would serve as a counterpoise to the landed possessions 
 of the feudal aristocracy. This necessity gave rise to
 
 CONCLUSION. 315 
 
 cities. Small cultivators at first under the protection 
 and superintendence of the counts, bishops and abbots, 
 to whom they subsequently became so formidable, arose 
 and attained (particularly in the eleventh century), 
 through their own industry and skill, to a state of pros- 
 peritv^-ivhich enabled them to purchase their freedom, 
 and soon to obtain it by force. They did not remain 
 stationary ; but small states began to grow into great 
 ones ; and most of them became so bold as to acknowk 
 edge no superior except the highest authority of the 
 country to which they belonged. Strong, high walls, im- 
 penetrable by the rude military art of the time, secured, 
 in conjunction with the valor of the citizens, the freedom 
 of the cities, and protected them from the tyrants of the 
 land. Well-ordered civil institutions preserved peace 
 and prosperity within, and were secured by the wealth 
 acquired by trade and manufacturing industry. Many 
 of the nobility themselves, attracted by the good order 
 and prosperity of the cities, established themselves there, 
 and were ambitious of obtaining the offices of govern- 
 ment in commonwealths. In fact, they soon usurped 
 the exclusive possession of them, in many of the cities. 
 
 The looser the social organization in any state, and the 
 more intolerable the pride of the nobility, the greater 
 became the prosperity and power of the cities, which 
 grew, at length, so great, that in Germany and Italy, 
 these republics were formidable even to the emperor.
 
 316 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 In Arragon, the third estate was fully developed as early 
 as the twelfth century. In England" the cities, in con- 
 junction with the barons, obtained the Magna Charta, 
 in 1215, and in France, they increased, in consequence, 
 from the circumstances that Louis the Fat and his suc- 
 cessors, particularly Phillip the Fair, 200 years after 
 him, found it their best policy to protect them against 
 the nobility, and thereby increase their own means of 
 resisting the order. What single cities could not ac- 
 complish, was effected by the union of several ; as the 
 league of the Lombardy cities of Italy, the Hanseatic, 
 Rhenish and Suabian leagues, in Germany. 
 
 Under the protection of such associations, arid shel- 
 tered by the walls of the cities, all arts and trades, and 
 every kind of civilization, made rapid progress. Many 
 of the important inventions which we now prize so 
 highly, originated among the citizens of these small free 
 states, or were suggested by their active commercial and 
 manufacturing spirit. With constitutions similar to 
 those of antiquity, the same spirit seemed to be awak- 
 ened ; all the virtues and vices of Athens, Sparta and 
 Rome, are found in the free states of Italy, where even 
 the climate resembled that of the republics, which had 
 perished 1500 years before. There was the same love of 
 country, strict morals, and valor, the same party con- 
 tests, changes of administration, and ambitious intrigues, 
 and the same (though differently directed) love of arts 
 and knowledge.
 
 CONCLUSION. 817 
 
 But the communities were not exempt from the in- 
 fluence of the domineering spirit of the times, which they 
 .opposed. The overwhelming power of individuals, so 
 dangerous to all free states, became, through this spirit, 
 doubly formidable, and compelled the oppressed portion 
 of the,-oitizens, in -the same distress which had given rise 
 to their parent city, to have recourse to the same means 
 of relief. They bound themselves together for the pro- 
 tection of their rights. Such associations, usually formed 
 among people of the same trade, and having for their 
 object, next to security from external enemies, the main- 
 tenance of internal order in these stormy times, were 
 called Corporations, or Guilds, and were under the di- 
 rection of a master. The strictest regulations appeared 
 necessary for the attainment of this object. No one 
 without serving an apprenticeship of years, and advanc- 
 ing through certain degrees, could become a member. 
 At a later period, admission into the corporation was 
 purchased by individuals who did not follow the business 
 of the members, but wished to share in the advantages 
 of the association. For in the fourteenth century, the 
 corporations became so powerful as to obtain almost ex- 
 clusive possession of the government of the cities, which, 
 until this period, the nobility had mostly retained in 
 their own hands. 
 
 The Corporations now taught them that, as they con- 
 tributed not to the prosperity of the city by their indus-
 
 318 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 try, it did not become them to govern it. The nobility, 
 so far as they continued in the city after this removal 
 from power, preserved themselves in close connection, 
 and those who resided in the country formed confedera- 
 cies against the power of the cities. 
 
 Associations which, to the best men, appeared the only 
 means of security from the disorders of the time, became 
 so universal, that, almost everywhere, persons of the 
 same trade or profession were closely united, and had 
 certain laws and regulations among themselves. 
 
 Knowledge itself in the universities, was obliged to do 
 homage to this spirit, and the liberal arts themselves, in 
 the latter part of the Middle Ages, were fettered by the 
 restraints of corporations, so that knowledge as well as 
 arts was prevented from attaining that perfection which 
 the secure life of the city seemed to promise them. So 
 also the most remarkable institution of that time, its 
 characteristic production chivalry exhibited all the 
 peculiarities of the corporations. War was the profes 
 sion of the nobles. No one of their order, who was 
 not a knight, could bear a lance or command cavalry ; 
 and the services of years, as an attendant or squire, were 
 necessary to entitle even one of the highest order to be 
 dubbed a knight. But squire, knight and baron were all 
 inspired with the same spirit of honor, pride, love and 
 devotion. 
 
 The religious zeal of the Middle Ages produced actions
 
 CONCLUSION. 319 
 
 almost inconceivable to the cooler spirit of our time. 
 We see hundreds of youths and maidens, in the flower 
 of their age, shutting themselves up in gloomy walls or 
 retiring to wild deserts, and spending their lives in 
 prayer and penance ; we yearly see thousands bare foot and 
 fasting,, traveling many hundred miles, over sea and land, 
 to pray at the grave of their Master ; we see hundreds 
 of thousands thronging thither, from age to age, with the 
 cross and sword, at the risk of life, to deliver the Holy 
 Land from the pollution of infidels. This enthusiastic 
 spirit was peculiarly suitable to soften the ferocity of the 
 age ; but ambitious men artfully turned it to their own 
 selfish purposes. Intolerance, the destruction of the Jews 
 and heretics, the luxurious splendor of the papal court, 
 and the all-embracing system of the hierarchy, were the 
 unhappy fruits of this mistaken spirit. 
 
 In opposition to the secular power, resting en the 
 feudal system, and supported only by armies of vassals, 
 the pope formed, from the archbishops, bishops and 
 priests, still more from the generals of religious orders, 
 provincials, abbots, and monks, an immense array, in- 
 vincible through its power over the conscience, and 
 through the spiritual weapons which belong to it and to 
 its head. From the general belief in his possession of 
 the power to make happy and unhappy in both worlds, 
 to bind and loose for eternity, the pope ruled with abso- 
 lute sway, the minds of all Christians. All the kings of
 
 820 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 the west acknowledged him as the living vicegerent of 
 Christ. Many were vassals to him ; many tributary ; al- 
 most all obedient and subject to him, or, in a short time, 
 victims of a vain resistance. 
 
 At the time in which little idea was entertained of re- 
 sisting princes by constitutional laws, and when the spirit 
 of the times allowed them to dare whatever they could do, 
 it was an inestimable advantage that the pope aided the 
 people for centuries in opposition to their usurpations; 
 but the luxury, cruelty, ambition and hostility to the 
 diffusion of knowledge, which pervaded the clergy, from 
 the pope down to the lowest mendicant friar, has left a 
 deep stain upon these times. In vain did men like Ar- 
 nold of Brescia and the Waldenses, Wickliffe, Huss, and 
 their followers, endeavor to overthrow the hierarchy by 
 reminding the people of the simplicity and purity of the 
 primitive church. They found their contemporaries, ac- 
 customed to the supremacy of the church, not yet ripe 
 for freedom of mind, and inattentive to their remon- 
 strances ; and their noble endeavors in a great measure, 
 failed. The hierarchy was able to erect new bulwarks 
 against new enemies; mendicant orders and the inquisi- 
 tion were instituted to prevent the dawning light of the 
 thirteenth century from entering the kingdom of dark- 
 ness; excommunications and interdicts held Christendom 
 in terror ; till at length, when the signs of the times, the 
 diffusion of a free spirit of investigation, the establish-
 
 CONCLUSION. 321 
 
 ment of a more rational order in monarchies, and the 
 cooling of religious enthusiasm, announced that the 
 Middle Ages were drawing to a close, Luther proclaimed 
 that Europe would no longer be held in leading-strings. 
 The ages of which we have been speaking, so full 
 of battles and adventures, of pride and daring, of devo- 
 tion and love, must have been poetic times. The 
 Knights were practically disposed to poetic views by 
 lives spent between battle and love, festive pomp and re- 
 ligious exercises. Hence we see poets first appearing 
 among the Knights in the twelfth century. In southern 
 France, where chivalry was first established, we see the 
 first sparks of modern poetry. The provincial Trouba- 
 dours, who principally sung at the court of Berengarius 
 of Toulouse, are the founders of it. Soon after them the 
 French Trouveres and the German Minnesingers sang in 
 their mother tongue ; the Italians at first, from mistrust 
 of their vulgar tongue, in the Provincial ; and the Eng- 
 lish, from the same cause, in the French. But the min- 
 Ktrels soon formed among the latter also a national poe- 
 try ; and the Italians, at a later period after the great 
 Dante brought the Tuscan dialect into honor, obtained 
 by the improvement of it, a high poetic fame. In Spain, 
 the Catalonian poetry was the same as the Provincial, 
 but the Castilian and Portuguese borrowed more from 
 the Arabians. With lyric poetry the epic was also de- 
 veloped in great beauty and power. Its mystic tone, its
 
 322 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 indefinite longing for something more elevated than the 
 realities of earth, entitle us to distinguish this epic from 
 the ancient by the name romantic. 
 
 The romantic epics of the Middle Ages are mostly 
 confined to three cycles of stories. The first of these 
 cycles is the German Nibelungen, and the stories of 
 Siegfried, Atilla, and other heroes of the time of the 
 general migration of the nations. To the second belong 
 the equally old tales of the British King Arthur, his 
 Round Table, and the Sangraal, also Titurel, Parzival, 
 The Enchanter Merlin, and others. The third em- 
 braces the originally French collection of stories of 
 Charlemagne, and his Peers, of Roland, the Enchanter 
 Malegys, and the Four Sons of Haymon. 
 
 Besides these subjects, the poetic appetite of the 
 Middle Ages seized upon the historic events of ancient 
 and modern times, particularly the deeds of Alexander 
 the Great, and the crusades, likewise upon Scripture 
 history, and even upon the subjects of the ancient 
 epics of Homer and Virgil, for new poetical works. 
 But whether from political causes, or as we believe, 
 from the downfall of chivalry, and from an increasing 
 spirit of reflection, the last centuries of the Middle 
 Ages were unfavorable to poetry. The voice of the 
 minstrel was almost entirely silent in Germany, France 
 find Spain, even in the fourteenth century ; but Italy 
 had now its Petrarch and Boccaccio, and England its
 
 CONCLUSION. 323 
 
 Chaucer. In the thirteenth century there was not a story 
 in the cycles before-mentioned which was not eagerly 
 sung by many poets ; and more than 1400 love songs by 
 136 poets of this century are contained in the Manesse 
 collection alone; but hardly a single poet appeared 
 among the Knights, after the fourteenth century. The 
 epic poems of former times gave place to prose ro- 
 mances, in which their stories were diluted, and the 
 lyric poetry, in France and Germany, fell into the rude 
 hands of the Master-singers, who, by a studied ob- 
 servance of rules, preserved its formal existence. So 
 did it continue till the fifteenth century, which, atten- 
 tive only to the great events which were in preparation, 
 and the struggles which preceded them, and actuated 
 by the spirit of reflection from which they proceeded, 
 was far removed from that free flow of feeling which 
 .had given birth to the poetry of the past time. 
 
 It was not till the end of the Middle Ages, when the 
 early spirit of poetry lived only in remembrance, that 
 Ariosto took the stories of Charlemagne's peers from 
 the nursery, and gave them new dignity. Spain and 
 England received a new national poetry from Cervantes 
 and Shakspeare. But how great is the difference be- 
 tween these creative geniuses, complete masters of their 
 subjects, who poured forth their whole souls in their 
 poetry, and those simple poets of the Middle Ages, 
 who took the world as it was, and were rather the
 
 324 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 organs of the spirit of poetry in the people, than inde- 
 pendent poets. 
 
 Among the arts of the Middle Ages architecture was 
 distinguished by its peculiar character. In the noblest 
 buildings of antiquity, the form of the first rude dwell- 
 ing-houses is not to be mistaken ; they appear only as 
 the ornamented forms of abodes which necessity created, 
 and can only be called fine buildings ; but the Gothic 
 architecture of the Middle Ages was founded on a deep 
 and great conception. This conception which appears 
 in the union of the grandeur of great masses with the 
 most finished delicacy of parts, was the representa- 
 tion of the world. The othsr arts, which in the four- 
 teenth and fifteenth centuries came from Greece into 
 the Western world, attained their greatest splendor, 
 in the Middle Ages, upon the Lower Rhine and in 
 Italy. 
 
 The weak side of the Middle Ages is the scientific. 
 The youthful spirit of the time bent upon action, could 
 not devote itself to a sedentary life and continued 
 study. The efforts of Charlemagne to encourage 
 science and instruct the people, hardly produced any 
 effect beyond his life ; for they were not in the spirit of 
 the time. Several centuries after him the German 
 tribes considered no knowledge of use, but that of man- 
 aging the lance and the steed. The barbarism was so 
 great that most of the laity, even the most distinguished,
 
 CONCLUSION. 825 
 
 could scarcely read or write. He who was instructed 
 in these was considered a distinguished scholar, and he 
 who obtained more knowledge, particularly in mathe- 
 matics or natural science, exposed himself to the danger 
 of being burnt as a sorcerer. But the monks by their 
 retired situation and the leisure which they enjoyed, as 
 well as by the neccessity of some knowledge of the 
 Latin language, which the Roman Catholic ritual re- 
 quired, were driven to a more literary employment, to 
 which they were educated in the schools of the cathe- 
 drals and convents. But their literary labors were 
 confined to the copying of the old writers, particularly 
 the fathers of the church, and to accounts of the occur- 
 rences of the times in meagre chronicles. Nevertheless 
 we are indebted to them. Through their activity the 
 valuable remains of ancient times, materials and incite- 
 ments to new improvements have been in a great 
 measure preserved to us ; and from their annals we 
 gather our only knowledge of the events and manners 
 of that time. Moreover, the Latin literature which was 
 common to all the people of the west, not merely in the 
 affairs of the church, but in science and public 
 transactions, produced a certain agreement in their gen- 
 eral character, which contributed much to promote 
 intercourse and improvement. 
 
 The East has no Middle Age like that of Europe ; yet 
 the introduction of Mohammedanism and the Arabic
 
 326 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 literature make epochs there. But as the spirit of man 
 is hostile to a partial developement, in the eleventh 
 century the need of thinking was again felt in Europe ; 
 the taste for knowledge awoke here and there partly by 
 means of the monasteries, but afterwards through the 
 arts and industry which prevailed in the cities ; study 
 was encouraged by Henry II. of England, the Alphonsos 
 and other intellectual princes. From these times, (the 
 periods of Lanfranc, Abelard, John of Salisbury and 
 others) the Middle Ages produced distinguished in- 
 dividuals whom the coldness of their contemporaries 
 in the cause of science only urged to a more ardeut pur- 
 suit of it. 
 
 Meantime the necessity was felt of defending the 
 doctrines of the church against unbelief and heresy. 
 This led to the sharpening of the intellect by dialec- 
 tics; hence the church dogmatics, or theology, was 
 formed,, from which philosophy at length proceeded. 
 As, in scholastic theology, the dogmas of the church 
 were early received as authority ; so, in the domain of 
 laws, the Roman code soon obtained a complete ascen- 
 dency ; and the jurisconsults of that time were never 
 weary in studying it, learning it by heart, and explain- 
 ing it by glossaries and illustrations. The students 
 of philosophy pursued the same course with the subtle 
 Aristotle, for whom the Middle Ages, although ac- 
 quainted with him only through Arabic translations or
 
 CONCLUSION. 327 
 
 rtfacimentoif, had an unbounded respect. Unfortunate- 
 ly, however, for the progress of philosophy, these 
 commentaries, glosses and abridgments occasioned the 
 neglect of the original. 
 
 When the union of scholars, in particular places gave 
 birth^to Universities, these received the stamp of the 
 time, both in the corporate character which was given 
 them, and the absorbing interest which was taken in the 
 study of dialectics. Only jurisprudence, theology and 
 what was called philosophy (which was in fact the art 
 of disputing with subtllty upon every subject,) were 
 taught ; and these sciences, especially since the middle 
 of the twelfth century, had degenerated into a mere 
 tinkling of scholastic sophistry. Medicine, as regards 
 any useful purpose, was taught at this time only by 
 some Arabs, and students of Salerno who had been 
 instructed by them ; in other respects it was a slave of 
 astrology, and an object of speculation to ignorant im- 
 posters, principally of the Jewish nation. Philology 
 flourished in the time of Lanfranc and Abelard, but 
 was again forgotten in the eleventh and twelfth centu- 
 ries. Notwithstanding the unprofitable character of 
 what was taught at this time, teachers stood in high 
 esteem, and the highest academic rank was considered 
 equal to knighthood. 
 
 The universities, on their side, showed themselves
 
 328 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KENGS. 
 
 worthy such honor by their independence of pope and 
 prince. With all its worthlessness, the disputatious 
 spirit of the time has this good effect, that truths were 
 advanced and maintained in the universities, which 
 were alarming to the vigilant hierarchy; and Luther's 
 theses, in Wiltenburg, contributed in no small degree to 
 bring on the. reformation, and thereby to the shedding 
 of new light upon science. Yet the reformation did not 
 give the first signal for higher intellectual endeavors 
 and freedom of thought; it was rather produced by this 
 striving and this freedom, which had originated some 
 centuries before with the flight of the Greek scholars 
 from Constantinople, and the invention of the art of 
 printing had been encouraged by the lovers of science 
 among the princes of Italy, and had shone forth even in 
 Germany, in the brotherhood of Deventer in Wessel, 
 Erasmus, Celtes, and others. But with the appearance 
 of these men, with the rise of the sun of the new 
 day, the romantic twilight of the Middle Ages faded 
 away. 
 
 We shall now give briefly the chief epochs of the 
 history of the Middle Ages. The formation of separate 
 Germanic states succeeded the general irruption of the 
 barbarians, and was followed, after some hundred 
 years, by the universal monarchy of Charlemagne. 
 This had only a short continuance ; but it left the idea
 
 CONCLUSION. 829 
 
 of the unity of the whole of Christendom under a spir- 
 itual head, and under the protection of the newly-re- 
 vived Roman empire an idea which had a powerful 
 influence during the whole of the Middle Ages. New 
 modifications of the European states after the fall of the 
 Carkivingians. The devastations of new tribes of bar- 
 barians, the Saracens in the south, the Normans in 
 the north and west, and the Hungarians in the east, all 
 of whom at length became subject to the Germanic 
 power. Colonies of the Normans in France, Italy and 
 England. Christianity gained a footing among the 
 Sclavonian tribes. Struggles between the spiritual and 
 secular power convulsed Christendom. The idea of 
 their unity as well as of knighthood, is ennobled in the 
 crusades whose success these discords frustrated. Ori- 
 gin of the cities and of the third estate. Commerce 
 with the east by means of Italy and the Hanse towns. 
 Corruption of the clergy, at two epochs, after Charle- 
 magne and after Gregory VII. Mendicant orders and 
 the inquisition. Decline of the imperial dignity in Ger- 
 many and Italy. Desolation of these countries by 
 private warfare. Other kingdoms are now enabled to 
 obtain more solidity. The flourishing of new arts and 
 knowledge. Universities. The popes humbled by 
 their dependence upon France, and the great schism. 
 Councils at Constance and Basle. Subjection of the
 
 330 KNIGHTS AND SEA-KINGS. 
 
 Greek empire; hence the formidableness of the Turk- 
 ish power to the west of Europe ; and hence, also 
 the diffusion of learning by the fugitive scholars 
 of Constantinople. Printing. The discovery of the 
 New World, and of a way by sea to the East Indies. 
 The Reformation. 
 
 THE END.
 
 D. LOTHROP COMPANY'S 
 
 YONGE (Charlotte M.). 
 
 LANCES OF LYNWOOD. I2mo, illustrated, i.co. (4) 
 Recommended by the State Boards of several States for their public school libraries. 
 
 "'The Lances of Lynwcod' is con- " It is full of the ring and romance of 
 
 structed of fourteenth-century materials the feudal ages, describing the bright 
 
 gathered from historical and legendary side and ennobling influences of chiv- 
 
 granaries. It is one of the best books airy." Living Church, Chicago, 
 
 for our boys and girls. It opens up his- " There is a true adherence to nature 
 
 tory, quickens the imagination and fixes and great dramatic skill displayed in the 
 
 the love of reading." Syracuse Stan- exhibition of character" North Brit- 
 
 dard. ish Review. 
 
 GOLDEN DEEDS. I2mo, illustrated, cloth, i.oo; gilt top, 
 1-25- (4) 
 
 Heroic and noble actions mostly culled out of history, making fifty different tales of 
 lofty duty, for young and old. 
 
 THE PRINCE AND THE PAGE. I2mo, illustrated, i.oo 
 (4) 
 
 A story of the Last Crusade. 
 
 THE LITTLE DUKE: Richard the Fearless. I2mo, illus- 
 trated, i.oo. (4) 
 
 LITTLE LUCY'S WONDERFUL GLOBE. 23 full-page 
 illustrations, I2mo, cloth, .75. 
 
 HISTORICAL SERIES. 
 
 Recommended by the State Boards of several States for their public school libraries. 
 
 Miss Yonge, while always boldly and continuously outlining the course of historical 
 events, has the knack of seizing upon incidents which reveal the true character of his- 
 torical personages, so that these volumes are eminently calculated to teach as well as 
 to interest. The language is simple yet expressive, the freedom of treatment bold yet 
 accurate. The characters appear and disappear with all the serious brevity of moving 
 time, and seem to speak for themselves. 
 
 YOUNG FOLKS' BIBLE HISTORY. I2mo, illustrated, 
 1.50. 
 
 " The author presents in her dramatic " One of the best books for its purpose 
 
 style many of the striking incidents and which we have found." Christian 
 
 stories of the sacred book. It is not only Register. 
 
 entertaining, but as fascinating as any "We shall be much mistaken if this 
 
 romance, yet nothing of the spirit of the book does not prove to be useful in many 
 
 Bible is disturbed, and the lesson is only homes, in fixing the facts of Scripture 
 
 more vividly brought out by the genius history in the young minds and in giving 
 
 of the artist." Western Educational them a good perspective of that history 
 
 Journal, Chicago. as a whole." Independent, New York. 
 
 YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF ENGLAND. I2mo, 
 
 illustrated, 1.50. 
 
 Beginning with a period prior to the Christian era, it outlines English history 
 through the vicissitudes of the Roman, Danish and Norman invasions, through the 
 subsequent civil strifes, and a large portion of the peaceful reign of the good Victoria. 
 Only those facts are presented which are at once most picturesque, most interesting 
 and most easily comprehended. In the hands of the young it is an irresistible tempta- 
 tion to history. 
 
 YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF FRANCE. i2mo, illus- 
 trated, 1.50. 
 
 To arrange the confused facts of French history In such an order as to make them 
 comprehensible to children is a difficult task. Miss Yonge has undertaken to do this 
 and has succeeded admirably. She has done more than tell an interesting story, for 
 she has attached some real characteristic to each reijrn, and has translated the leading 
 political motives into something that can enter an intellect of seven or eight years old.
 
 SELECT LIST OF BOOKS. 
 
 CLARK (Edmund). 
 
 BIBLE LESSONS. For Sundayschool Concerts and Anni- 
 versaries. I2mo, i.oo. 
 
 CLARK (Rev. F. E.), President of the United Society 
 
 of Christian Endeavor. 
 OUR BUSINESS BOYS. i6mo, .60. 
 
 "Here is a little book literally worth opinions touching the qualifications nee- 
 its weight in gold, and one which ought essary in a young man to command sue- 
 to be thoroughly read by every boy who cess Portland A rgiis. 
 contemplates a business career. The au- " This little book contains an amount 
 thor seeing how many boys are entering of valuable truth quite out of proportion 
 stores and counting-rooms instead of to its small compass . . . It is the 
 learning trades or remaining on farms, condensed testimony of the successful 
 took the pains to write to nearly a him- majority as to the qualities which go to 
 dred business men of this city for the the making of success." ChristianReg- 
 purpose of ascertaining their respective isier, Boston. 
 
 DANGER SIGNALS. i2mo, .75. 
 
 "The addresses which compose the Sappers and Miners of Character; Fri- 
 
 volume, on some of the sins most likely volity, Selfishness, Dishonesty." The 
 
 to affect the young in large cities, were Advance. 
 
 delivered to large audiences of young " There is enough to save a generation 
 people in Boston churches Many books of young men if they would give heed 
 of advice have been written for the young, thereto. Put this book in the trunk of 
 but there are exceedingly few that the the young man when he leaves home for 
 young will read. We believe that this business life, or college or even for a sum- 
 volume like Holland's Letters is likely to mer vacation." Christian Union. 
 prove an exception The several topics "Strong, clear, fatherly warnings." 
 treated are King Alcohol; Dirt in Ink; Union Signal. 
 
 Trash in Ink; The Low Theatre; The "It hits the nail on the head every 
 
 Gambling Den ; The Leper of Impurity, time." Congregationalist. 
 
 MOSSBACK CORRESPONDENCE. i2mo, i.oo. 
 
 A series of letters upon religious themes. They originally appeared in the Golden 
 Rule where they deservedly attracted a great deal of attention. The writer, Mr. Moss- 
 back, is what is commonly known as an "old fogy." Being such, he of course finds 
 a great deal to criticise in the methods of the church of that period ; in fact he spares 
 neither choir, pew or pulpit. But his satire is always kindly and its purpose is reform 
 While the letters are really serious there is so much spice withal that the seriousness 
 is delightfully obscured. Consequently the reader is helped without being bored. 
 
 CLARK (H. H., U. S. N.). 
 
 BOY LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES NAVY, izmc* 
 
 illustrated, 1.50. 
 
 This is the story of a young boy from Maine who shipped in the U. S. Navy. 
 
 "While telling his adventures, the tractive life that is little known to the gen, 
 author gives a detailed account of the eral public, and full enough of adven- 
 entire naval system from the boy's first tufts to please all boy readers. 1 ' Lite* 
 entrance ; information is furnished re- rary News, New York. 
 gardir^ wages, services required, mode The writer of this volume, while mak 
 
 of enlisting, studies^and the entire life ing an intensely interesting story, has 
 aboard the U. S training-ship Minnesota. avoided the danger of sensationalism." 
 The !>k is both interesting and instruct- Chicago Herald, 
 ivo ; it is a true picture of a healthy, at-
 
 D. LOTHROP COMPANY'S 
 
 BOYD (Pliny Steele). 
 UP AND DOWN THE MERRIMAC. Illustrated, I2mo, 
 
 1. 00. 
 
 A vacation trip upon one of the most charming rivers in the world, made in a dory 
 by the author and his two sons for the purpose of hunting, fishing and a good time 
 generally. 
 
 " The author is a shrewd thinker; his run through its pages render it peculiarly 
 reflections upon men and things which attractive/' Philadelphia Item. 
 
 BOYDEN (Anna L.). 
 ECHOES FROM HOSPITAL AND WHITE HOUSE. 
 
 I21T10, 1. 00. (4) 
 
 " Anna L. Boyden has undertaken to is a well-written, earnest account of Mrs. 
 
 commemorate the services of Mrs. Re- Pomroy's valuable work as a nurse, and, 
 
 becca K Ppmroy in the hospitals of the as such, an addition which all will be 
 
 army and in the family of President glad to have to the bibliography of the 
 
 Lincoln during the Rebellion The book late War.'' Chicago Tribune. 
 
 BOYESEN (Hjalmar Hjorth). 
 VAGABOND TALES. Square i2mo, 1.25. 
 
 A collection of characteristic novellettes by one of the most entertaining; and most 
 popular of modern story-tellers. No writer living scarcely excepting even the great 
 r.jornstem so thoroughly understands the Norse character and when into this is in- 
 fused the American element, the succes of Prof. Boyesen's tales is easily understood. 
 There is a breeziness, a vigor and a manliness about his characters that captivate the 
 reader at once and combine dramatic force with literary skill. Tha stories included in 
 this volume are: Crooked John; A Child of the Age; Monk Tellenbach's Exile; 
 A Disastrous Partnership; Liberty's Victim; A Perilous Incognito; Charity. 
 
 BOY'S WORKSHOP (A). 
 
 By a Boy and his Friends. With an introduction by Henry Ran- 
 dall Waite. Illustrated, I2mo, i.oo. 
 
 Written by ' a boy and his friends,' and do a great many other things. It is a 
 
 takes ? on right into A Boy's Workshop; book that every boy would like to have, 
 
 tells y-iu how to make and to use a saw- and that he ought to have." Ai/7>aitct t 
 
 horse and a work-bench ; how to use Chicago. 
 
 tools nnd to care for them; lets you into " Next to actual service with an intel- 
 
 the secret of book-rests, foot-rests, tables, ligent carpenter or cabinet-maker this 
 
 cabinets, catch-alls, etc. ; shows you how book is to be valued for its instruction in 
 
 to build wooden tents, make a fernery, the art and mystery of tools." CArit- 
 
 construct a railway and train, bind mag- tian Advocate, New York, 
 azines, take photographs, tie knots, and 
 
 BRAVE GIRLS. 
 
 lamo, illustrated, 1.50. 
 
 When young people see the name of Nora Perry, Mary Hartwell Catherwood or 
 Frank H. Converse appended to a story, they prick up their ears at once, for they 
 have learned to expect something of unusual interest. They will not be disappointed 
 when they open this book and read about Glen Hastings, Kate Oxfotd, Sharly Kay. 
 mond and Bessy May brave girls every one, but in divers ways. Other writera 
 almost as well known as these favorites have helped in no slight degree to swell thia 
 tribute to the girta.
 
 SELECT LIST OF BOOKS. 
 
 DIAZ (Mrs. A. M.), continued. 
 BYBURY TO BEACON STREET. I2mo, 1.25. 
 
 "Mrs. Diaz uses all her j owers of conflicting claims of home, society, char- 
 earnestness and humor to induce women ity and shopping, as poor Mrs. Lammer- 
 to elevate their own lives and to care for kin's of liybury by those of cooking, sew- 
 something besides material things, while ing, baby-tending, etc., which all seem to 
 making their homes sweet, orderly and require attention at once. Amusing as 
 "igood to live in. Her illustrations are well as distressing are the stories of their 
 original and to the point. This last book tormented hours. Sunlight in the house, 
 is one of the most amusing and also one simplicity in dress and diet, self-respect 
 of the'.wost useful that Mrs. Diaz has instead of the worship of wealth and 
 writfcn ; and it must be that hundreds of fashion, education of women in skilled 
 families will find in the author a true labor, are among the things Mrs. Diaz 
 helper. " Boston Post. advocates by the mouths of her speakers. 
 " Sensible and humorous is Mrs. A. These and other topics are touched with 
 M. Diaz's ' Bybury to Beacon Street.* the bright insight and penetrating com- 
 The villagers of Bybury are supposed to mon sense which are the worst enemies 
 meet together, and to talk and write of stupidity and folly. The social lump 
 about their experiences, as well as to dis- needs plenty of such leaven. We hope 
 cuss various subjects. We hear also from that both in city and country the book 
 the busy Beacon Street woman, whose will be widely read." New York Na- 
 days are as painfully subdivided by the tion. 
 
 THE CATS' ARABIAN NIGHTS. 8vo, illustrated, boards, 
 1.25. 
 
 The wonderful cat story of cat stories told by Pussyanita that saved the lifes of all 
 the cats, the funniest, wittiest story that ever was [so says Pussyanita] ; and that is 
 why it is so wonderfftl. King Grimalkum must have been a credulous fellow; but 
 nobody blames him for losing his wits to such a teller of cat stories. 
 
 "This is the most extensive and de- ever seen." Woman's Journal. 
 lightful collection of cat stories we have 
 
 THE JIMMYJOHNS AND OTHER STORIES. 121110, 
 
 illustrated, i.oo. 
 
 A book to enchant young folks and old folks with young hearts. 
 
 " Every respectably brought-up girl and of what children like to read, and no one 
 boy has read the Jimmyjohns and had knows better than she how to prepare it." 
 heaps of enjoyment out of it. Mrs. Dia*. Boston Transcript. 
 seems to have an instinctive knowledge 
 
 FIRESIDE CHRONICLES. 8vo, illustrations by Boz, 1.25. 
 
 Fifteen different chronicles, every one of them funnier than the last one, and five 
 times as many pictures of what they're about. A great deal of wisdom in with the fun. 
 
 LUCY MARIA.* I2mo, illustrated, i.oo. 
 
 A STORY BOOK FOR CHILDREN.* i2mo, illustrated 
 i.oo. 
 
 STORY TREE SERIES. 180 stories illustrated with 180 
 pictures. 6 vols., iSmo, 1.50. 
 
 MERCY JANF.. LRAVE LITTLE GOOSE GIRL. 
 
 JAMIE AND JOE. THE ELLSON CHILDREN. 
 
 TAB AND HER KITTENS. THE PROCESSION.
 
 , , . ; 
 
 -Jl'Q. 
 /
 
 Isi