white cross on the walls of Rhodes. But they persisted in the siege till they made it their own.

The fate of the Knights-Templars, almost at this very moment, shewed the importance and necessity of such a fixed settlement. Returning to its European commanderies, this wealthy order, the rival of that of the Hospitallers in fame and power, became soon a subject of jealousy and avaricious envy to the monarchs of the time, and especially to Philip of France. In concert with the pope, that sovereign, under colour of forged charges of criminality, wrested its property from the order, and subjected its members to imprisonment, tortures, and death. Other countries also abolished the order, but without the same accompanying barbarities. Philip of France was partly disappointed, for the pope forced him to accede to a general edict, giving the Templar possessions to the Knights of St John.

The latter body was greatly increased in power by these accessions, and it became more common than ever for the younger nobility of Europe to enter the order of the Hospitallers. Riches brought with it augmented luxury and many evils, but the knights were still kept in high military condition. A new race of the followers of Mohammed appeared against them. Othman (the BoneBreaker), who gave a permanent name to the Turkish nation, possessed, with a tribe of Turkomauns, the region of Asia Minor adjoining Rhodes. He attacked the knights in their city; but, though one of the most tried and renowned warriors of his race, he failed to make the slightest impression on them. Similar assaults were renewed in more alarming shapes in the course of the years immediately succeeding. Betwixt the year 1310, when the order settled at Rhodes, and the year 1453, when the Turks took Constantinople, and founded a new empire, the Knights of St John fought many great battles, by sea and land, with the two Mohammedan powers in their neighbourhood—the Egyptian and Turkish. It is amazing to reflect, that this comparatively small body of men should not only have foiled so many efforts made by

these powerful sovereignties to reduce them and take their stronghold, but should have even obtained possession of Cos and other Greek islands, captured Smyrna, and held it for a long period, and made various expeditions against Syria and other places, as if possessed of the population and resources of a strong and warlike nation. They proved an unextractible thorn in the sides of the foes of Christianity.

Our space will only permit of a mere sketch being given of the career of the order; but we may allude specially to one event, the most important in its annals. The hour came at length for the fall of Rhodes, after the knights had held it for more than 200 years. Solyman the Magnificent resolved at any price to oust them from their stronghold. We quote from Sutherland's history of the order, in the passage that follows. In June 1522, ‘a signal from Mount St Stephen intimated to the Rhodians that the Turkish fleet was in sight. Countless sails studded the Lycian Strait; and tumult and wailing instantly rose from every quarter of the city. The gates were formally shut, and public prayers were offered up in the churches, imploring Heaven to grant the victory to the champions of the Cross. This done, the whole population hurried to the ramparts and towers, to behold the terrible armament that threatened them with destruction. Four hundred sail swept past the mouth of the haven with the pomp and circumstance of a triumphal pageant; and on board this mighty fleet were 140,000 soldiers, exclusive of 60,000 serfs, torn from the forests of the Danube, to serve as pioneers. Six hundred knights, with less than 5000 regular troops, and a comparatively weak body of citizens and peasants, formed the whole force prepared to oppose this immense armament, the leader of which, Solyman, in person, told his troops that he had come to Rhodes, to conquer or die. For upwards of three months, the most awful scenes of carnage took place daily, after the siege had begun. For one man who fell among the knights, twenty fell among the Turks; but even this proportion was ruinous to the former. In one

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assault, 15,000 Turks were slain. By degrees, every one of the ramparts of Rhodes was in ruins; yet still the knights and their grand-master, a venerable old man, were unconquerable. They filled the breaches with their mailed bodies. Frequently Solyman half resolved to give up the struggle, and frequently he threatened his officers with death for their want of success. proposed various capitulations, and by capitulation was the siege finally closed. The knights were unvanquished, but Rhodes was untenable. Twelve days were given them to embark their property; and on the 1st of January 1523, the remnant of the Rhodian Christians went on board their galleys, a homeless band. fore that departure, Solyman, who had in him great points of character, sought an interview with L'Isle Adam, the grand-master. For a time the two warriors eyed each other with piercing glances. The venerable and majestic port of the grand-master won the admiration of the youthful despot, and he magnanimously requested his interpreter to console the Christian chief with the assurance, that even the bravest of men were liable to become the sport of fortune. He invited him, at the same time, to embrace the Mohammedan faith, and enter his service, since the Christian princes, who had abandoned him in his extremity, did not merit the alliance of so redoubted a chief; and, by way of a bribe, promised to advance him to the highest dignities in his empire, and make him one of his chosen counsellors. The grandmaster answered, that were he to dishonour his gray hairs by becoming a traitor and renegade, he would only shew how unworthy he was of the high opinion which his conqueror entertained of him; and that he would far rather retire into obscurity, or part with life itself, than be accounted a recreant and apostate by his own people. Solyman dismissed the venerable knight with honour; and said to Achmet Pacha, who was in attendance: "It is not without regret that I drive this unfortunate old man, full of sorrow, from his home."

The Knights of St John had still their commanderies,

rich and powerful, over Europe, though Henry VIII, about this very time, abolished the order in England. But their importance was yet sufficient to procure for them the cession of the island of Malta, where their numbers were soon recruited. Removed in some measure, however, from the sphere of Turkish and Egyptian operations, the knights came now into hostility with new enemies of their faith. The African coasts swarmed at this time, as they also did at a much later date, with pirates, who filled their coffers with gold, and their dungeons with captives, from the European states. In concert with the Emperor Charles, the Knights of Malta undertook a great expedition against the two Barbarossas, the most famous pirates of the day, who had gained sovereign power in Algiers and Tunis by expelling the rightful princes. Tunis and Goletta were conquered on this occasion, chiefly by the dauntless valour of the Knights of St John, and the rightful governments were re-established. But in a future expedition, the order lost a great force before Algiers, and a garrison of theirs was expelled with vast loss from Tripoli.

For the next half century, the knights waged incessant war with the piratical Mohammedans, both of Africa and the Turco-Grecian islands. The importance of their services to European commerce was fully shewn by the renewed attempts of the Ottoman Porte to suppress them. In 1565, one great attempt was made by 30,000 Turks on the island. The assault of the small fort of St Elmo will shew the bravery of the knights in a fair light :- At daybreak on the 16th of June, the Turkish galleys commenced a furious cannonade against the seaward rampart; and at the same time the land-batteries shattered into ruin the still remaining fortifications. This done, the Osmanlis entered the ditch to the sound of their proud but barbarous music; and, at the discharge of a signalgun, rushed impetuously to the assault, covered by 4000 arquebusiers and cross-bowmen, who, from their post in the trenches, shot down every Christian soldier who shewed himself in the breach. Behind that deadly gap

stood the knights and their scant battalion, armed with pikes and spontoons, and forming, as it were, a living wall. Between every three soldiers stood a knight, the better to sustain the courage of those who had nothing of chivalrous renown to uphold them. In vain did the Turks dash themselves on this impenetrable phalanx. When swords and pikes were broken, the Christian soldiers grappled with their antagonists, and terminated the death-struggle with their daggers. The burning hoops were of eminent service in this combat; and the cries of the wretches whom they begirt, added greatly to the horror of the fight. It was a cheering circumstance to the defenders of the fort, that the conflict was maintained under the eyes of their friends in the Bourg, who, they feared, had begun to doubt their bravery. Amid the thunder of the artillery, and the groans of the dying, their ears were gladdened at intervals by encouraging shouts wafted across the haven from the distant ramparts; and the guns of Forts St Angelo and St Michael played incessantly, and with considerable effect, on the Turkish lines. At the end of six hours, the knights, covered with wounds, and blistered by the scorching rays of the sun, had the consolation to hear a retreat sounded from the enemy's trenches; and the Turks reluctantly retired, leaving behind them 2000 dead.' When the last defender fell, the Turks became masters of St Elmo. But they were ultimately driven from the island, with a loss of 25,000 men.

The order was congratulated by all Europe on this occasion. For the next century, it continued to maintain maritime combats of lesser note, chiefly in contest with the African pirates. But its utility and its wealth gradually departed. The other powers of Europe became owners of great fleets, which reduced the galleys of St John to total insignificance; and there being no longer occasion for their services, the possessions of the knights slipped by degrees from their grasp. Besides, islands could no longer be wrested even from Mohammedans, or expeditions made against them: treaties and alliances bound both parties to peace. At length, in the time of the sixty