[1290] Boisgelin, on the authority of Matthew Paris, says that, in 1224, the Knights of St. John had 19,000 manors in different parts of Europe, while the Templars had but 9,000. Ancient and Modern Malta, (London, 1805, 4to.,) vol. II. p, 19.

[1291] For an account of the institutions of the order of St. John, see Helyot, Ordres Réligieux, tom. II. p. 58 et seq.; also the Old and New Statutes, appended to vol. II. of Vertot's History of the Knights of Malta.

[1292] The original deed of cession, in Latin, is published by Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. II. p. 157 et seq.

[1293] "Rhodes," from the Greek {Greek: rhodon ῥὁδον}. The origin of the name is referred by etymologists to the great quantity of roses which grew wild on the island. The name of Malta (Melita) is traced to the wild honey, {Greek: meli μἑλι}, of most excellent flavor, found among its rocks.

[1294] A recent traveller, after visiting both Rhodes and Malta, thus alludes to the change in the relative condition of the two islands. "We are told that, when L'Isle Adam and his brave companions first landed on this shore, their spirits sank within them at the contrast its dry and barren surface presented to their delicious lost Rhodes; I have qualified myself for adjudging that in most respects the tables are now turned between the two islands, and they certainly afford a very decisive criterion of the results of Turkish and Christian dominion." The Earl of Carlisle's Diary in Turkish and Greek Waters, (Boston, 1855,) p. 204;—an unpretending volume, which bears on every page evidence of the wise and tolerant spirit, the various scholarship, and the sensibility to the beautiful, so characteristic of its noble author.

[1295] For the account of Malta I am much indebted to Boisgelin, "Ancient and Modern Malta." This work gives the most complete view of Malta, both in regard to the natural history of the island and the military and political history of the order, that is to be found in any book with which I am acquainted. It is a large repository of facts crudely put together, with little to boast of on the score of its literary execution. It is interesting as the production of a Knight of St. John, one of the unhappy few who survived to witness the treachery of his brethren and the extinction of his order. The last of the line, he may well be pardoned, if, in his survey of the glorious past, he should now and then sound the trumpet of glorification somewhat too loudly.

[1296] "The galleys of the order alone resisted the fury of the waves; and when Charles the Fifth was told that some vessels appeared still to live at sea, he exclaimed, 'They must, indeed, be Maltese galleys which can outride such a tempest!' The high opinion he had formed of this fleet was fully justified; for the standard of the order was soon in sight." Boisgelin, Ancient and Modern Malta, vol. II. p. 34.

[1297] Ibid., p. 61 et alibi.

[1298] The value of the freight was estimated at more than 80,000 ducats.—"Se estimo la presa mas de ochenta mil ducados, de sedas de levante, y alombras y otras cosas, cada uno piense lo que se diria en la corte del Turco, sobre la perdida desta nave tan poderosa, y tan rica." La Verdadera Relacion de todo lo que el Año de M.D.LXV. ha succedido en la Isla de Malta, por Francisco Balbi de Correggio, en todo el Sitio Soldado, (Barcelona 1568,) fol. 19.

[1299] Ibid., fol. 17.

[1300] Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. II. pp. 192-195.—Sagredo, Monarcas Othomanos, p. 244.—Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 26 et seq.—Boisgelin, Ancient and Modern Malta, vol. II. pp. 71-73.—De Thou, Hist. Universelle, tom. V. pp. 51-53—J. M. Calderon de la Barca, Gloriosa Defensa de Malta, (Madrid, 1796,) p. 28.

[1301] Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. II. p. 197.—Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 28.—The latter chronicler, who gives a catalogue of the forces, makes the total amount of fighting men not exceed six thousand one hundred. He speaks, however, of an indefinite number besides these, including a thousand slaves, who in various ways contributed to the defence of the island.

[1302] "De modo que quādo los turcos llegaron sobre sant Ermo, hauia ochocientos hombres dentro para pelear." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 37.

[1303] Ibid., fol. 31.—Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. II. p. 198.

[1304] "En este tiempo ya todos los esclauos assi de sant Juan como de particulares estauan en la carcel, que seriā bien mil esclauos. Y quando los sacauan a trabajar a las postas adonde se trabajaua, los sacauan de dos en dos, asidos de vna cadena." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 37.

[1305] Ibid., fol. 23.

[1306] Ibid., fol. 21.—Vertot says, of a hundred and sixty pounds'weight. (Knights of Malta, vol. II. p. 202.) Yet even this was far surpassed by the mammoth cannon employed by Mahomet at the siege of Constantinople, in the preceding century, which, according to Gibbon, threw stone bullets of six hundred pounds.

Since the above lines were written, even this achievement has been distanced by British enterprise. The "Times" informs us of some "monster guns," intended to be used in the Baltic, the minimum weight of whose shot is to be three cwt., and the maximum ten.

[1307] Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 26.—The old soldier goes into the composition of the Turkish force, in the general estimate of which he does not differ widely from Vertot.

[1308] Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 84.

[1309] Ibid., ubi supra.

[1310] Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 37 et seq.—Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. II. pp. 200-202.—- Calderon, Gloriosa Defensa de Malta, p. 42.—Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 24.

[1311] In Vertot's account of this affair, much is said of a nondescript outwork, termed a cavalier,—conveying a different idea from what is understood by that word in modern fortifications. It stood without the walls, and was connected with the ravelin by a bridge, the possession of which was hotly contested by the combatants. Balbi, the Spanish soldier, so often quoted,—one of the actors in the siege, though stationed at the fort of St. Michael,—speaks of the fight as being carried on in the ditch. His account has the merit of being at once the briefest and the most intelligible.

[1312] Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 40, 41.—Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. II. pp. 203-205.—Calderon, Gloriosa Defensa de Malta, p. 48 et seq.—Segrado, Monarcas Othomanos, p. 245.—Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 24.—Herrera, Historia General, lib. XII. cap. 4.

[1313] Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 39

[1314] Ibid., fol. 39-42.—Calderon, Gloriosa Defensa de Malta, p. 46.—De Thou, Hist. Universelle, tom. V. p. 58.—Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. II. p. 204.—Miniana, Hist. de España, p. 350.

[1315] For the preceding pages, setting forth the embassies to La Valette, and exhibiting in such bold relief the character of the grand-master, I have been chiefly indebted to Vertot (Knights of Malta, vol. I. pp. 309-312). The same story is told, more concisely, by Calderon, Gloriosa Defensa de Malta, pp. 60-67; Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 25; De Thou, Hist. Universelle, tom. V. p. 61; Campana, Filippo Secondo, par. II. p. 159; Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 44, 45.

[1316] The remains of Medran were brought over to Il Borgo, where La Valette, from respect to his memory, caused them to be laid among those of the Grand Crosses.—"El gran Maestre lo mando enterrar era una sepultura, adonde se entierran los cavalleros de la gran Cruz, porque esta era la mayor honra, que en tal tiempo le podia hazer, y el muy bien la merecia." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 51.

[1317] The invention of this missile Vertot claims for La Valette. (Knights of Malta, vol. II. p. 215.) Balbi refers it to a brother of the Order, named Ramon Fortunii. (Verdadera Relacion, p. 48.)

[1318] The first shot was not so successful, killing eight of their own side!—"Mas el artillero, o fuesse la prissa, o fuesse la turbacion que en semejantes casos suele sobre venir en los hombres el se tuvo mas a mano drecha, que no deviera, pues de aquel tiro mato ocho de los nuestros que defendian aquella posta." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 50.

[1319] Ibid., fol. 49-51.—Calderon, Gloriosa Defensa de Malta, p. 72 et seq.—Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. II. pp. 214-216.—Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 25.—Sagredo, Monarcas Othomanos, p. 245.—Herrera, Historia General, lib. XII. cap. 6

[1320] "En este assalto y en todos me han dicho cavalleros, que pelearō no solamente ellos, y los soldados, mas que los forçados, bonas vollas, y Malteses murieron con tanto animo, como qualquiera otra persona de mayor estima." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 51.

[1321] "Que si su señoria Illustrissima tenia otra persona, para tal cargo mejor, q̃ la embiasse, quel lo obedeceria como a tal, mas quel queria quedar en sant Ermo, como privado cavallero, y por sa religion sacrificar su cuerpo." Ibid., fol 44.

[1322] "La escuridad de la noche, fue luego muy clara, por la grāde cātidad de los fuegos artificiales, que de ambas partes se arojavan, y de tal manera que los que estavamos en san Miguel, veyamos muy claramente sant Ermo, y los artilleros de sant Angel y de otras partes apuntavan, a la lumbre de los fuegos enemigos." Ibid., fol 48.

[1323] Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 53.

[1324] Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. II. p. 214.

[1325] Ibid., pp. 216, 217.—Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 54.—Calderon, Gloriosa Defensa de Malta, p. 80 et seq.—Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 25.

[1326] "Ellos como aquellos q̃ la mañana navia de ser su postrer dia en este mūdo, unos con otros se confessavan, y rogavan a nuestro señor que por su infinita misericordia, la tuviesse de sus animas, pues le costaron su preciossissima sangre para redemirlas." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 54.

See also Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. II. pp. 217, 218;—Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 25.

[1327] Vertot, whose appetite for the marvellous sometimes carries him into the miraculous, gives us to understand that not one of the garrison survived the storming of St. Elmo. (Knights of Malta, vol. II. p. 219.) If that were so, one would like to know how the historian got his knowledge of what was doing in the fortress the day and night previous to the assault. The details quoted above from Balbi account for this knowledge, and carry with them an air of probability. (Verdadera Relacion, fol. 55.)

[1328] "Luego que entraron los Turcos en sant Ermo, abatieron el estādarte de san Juan, y en su lugar plantaron una vandera del gran Turco, y en todo aquel dia no hizieron otra cosa, que plantar vāderas, y vanderillas por la muralla, segun su costumbre." Ibid., fol. 55.

See also, for the storming of St. Elmo, Calderon, Gloriosa Defensa de Malta, pp. 81-84; Miniana, Hist. de España, p. 351; Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 25; Campana, Filippo Secondo, par. II. p. 159; Sagredo, Monarcas Othomanos, p. 245; Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. II. p. 219 et seq.

[1329] "A todos nos pesava en el anima porque aquellas eran fiestas que solian hazer los cavalleros en tal dia, para honor deste su santo avogado." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 55.

[1330] Ibid., fol. 58.—Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. II. p. 220.

[1331] Balbi has given a catalogue of the knights who fell in the siege, with the names of the countries to which they respectively belonged. Verdadera Relacion, fol. 56.

[1332] Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. II. p. 219.

No name of the sixteenth century appears more frequently in the ballad poetry of Spain than that of Dragut. The "Romancero General" contains many romances, some of them of great beauty, reciting the lament of the poor captive chained to the galley of the dread rover, or celebrating his naval encounters with the chivalry of Malta,—"las velas de la religion," as the squadrons of the order were called.

[1333] Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 33.

[1334] The two principal authorities on whom I have relied for the siege of Malta are Balbi and Vertot. The former was a soldier, who served through the siege, his account of which, now not easily met with, was printed shortly afterwards, and in less than three years went into a second edition,—being that used in the present work. As Balbi was both an eye-witness and an actor, on a theatre so limited that nothing could be well hidden from view, and as he wrote while events were fresh in his memory, his testimony is of the highest value. It loses nothing by the temperate, home-bred style in which the book is written, like that of a man anxious only to tell the truth, and not to magnify the cause or the party to which he is attached. In this the honest soldier forms a contrast to his more accomplished rival, the Abbé de Vertot.

This eminent writer was invited to compose the history of the order, and its archives were placed by the knights at his disposal for this purpose. He accepted the task; and in performing it he has sounded the note of panegyric with as hearty a good will as if he had been a knight hospitaller himself. This somewhat detracts from the value of a work which must be admitted to rest, in respect to materials, on the soundest historical basis. The abbé's turn for the romantic has probably aided, instead of hurting him, with the generality of readers. His clear and sometimes eloquent style, the interest of his story, and the dramatic skill with which he brings before the eye the peculiar traits of his actors, redeem, to some extent, the prolixity of his narrative, and have combined, not merely to commend the book to popular favor, but to make it the standard work on the subject.

[1335] By another ordinance, La Valette caused all the dogs in La Sangle and Il Borgo to be killed, because they disturbed the garrisons by night, and ate their provisions by day. Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 29.

[1336] Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. p. 2.

[1337] Ibid., p. 4.—Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 64.—Calderon, Gloriosa Defensa de Malta, p. 94.—Sagredo, Monarcas Othomanos, p. 296.

[1338] Calderon, Gloriosa Defensa de Malta, p. 91.—Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. p. 3.—De Thou, Histoire Universelle, tom. V. p. 67.—Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 26.—Sagredo, Monarcas Othomanos, p. 246

[1339] Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 61, 62, 68.—Calderon, Gloriosa Defensa de Malta, pp. 95-100.—Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. pp. 4-7.—Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 26.—Herrera, Historia General, lib. XII. cap. 7.

[1340] "No avia hombre que no truxesse aljuba, el que menos de grana, muchos de tela de oro, y de plata, y damasco carmesi, y muy buenas escopetas de fez, cimitaras de Alexandria, y de Damasco, arcos muy finos, y muy ricos turbantes." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 70.

[1341] "Cargadas de gente muy luzida, vista por cierto muy linda, sino fuera tan peligrosa." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1342] "Nuestro predicador fray Ruberto, el qual en todo el assalto yva por todas las postas con un crucifixo en la una mano, y la espada en la otra: animandonos a bien morir, y pelear por la fe de Iesu Christo: y fue herido este dia su paternidad." Ibid., fol. 73.

[1343] "Echo nueve barcas delas mayores a fondo que no se salvo ninguno, y auria en estas barcas ochocientos Turcos." Ibid., fol. 72.

[1344] This seems to have been Balbi's opinion.—"En conclusion, la casa mata del comendador Guiral fue este dia a juyzio de todos la salvacion de la Isla, porque si las barcas ya dichas echavan su gēte en tierra, no les pudieramos resistir en ninguna manera." Ibid., fol. 73.

[1345] Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. p. 13.

[1346] Compare Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. p. 13, and Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 73.—The latter chronicler, for a wonder, raises the sum total of the killed to a somewhat higher figure than the abbé,—calling it full four thousand.

[1347] The particulars of the assaults on St. Michael and the Spur are given by Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 61-74; and with more or less inaccuracy by Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. pp. 8-13; Calderon, Gloriosa Defensa de Malta, pp. 110-116; De Thou, Histoire Universelle, tom. V. pp. 72-74; Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. V. cap. 26; Herrera, Historia General, lib. XII. cap. 7; Sagredo, Monarcas Othomanos, p. 246; Campana, Vita di Filippo Secondo, tom. II. p. 160.

[1348] Cruel indeed, according to the report of Balbi, who tells us that the Christians cut off the ears of the more refractory, and even put some of them to death,—pour encourager les autres.—"Han muerto en esta jornada al trabajo mas de quinientos esclavos; mas los pobres llegaron atal de puros cansados y acabados del trabajo continuo, que no podían estar en pie, y se dexavan cortar las orejas y matar por no poder trabajar mas." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 66.

[1349] Ibid., fol. 67, 77.—Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. p. 18.—Campana, Vita di Filippo Secondo, tom. II. p. 160.

[1350] "En fin era in todo diligente, vigilante y animoso, y jamas se conoscio en su valeroso semblante ninguna señal de temor, antes con su presencia dava esfuerço y animo à sus cavalleros y soldados." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 77.

[1351] "Luego que todas estas baterias començaron de batir, y todas en un tiempo, era tanto el ruydo y temblor que parecia quererse acabar el mūdo, y puedese bien creer que el ruydo fuesse tal, pues se sentia muy claramente dende Caragoça, y dende Catania, que ay ciento y veynte millas de Malta a estas dos ciudades." Ibid., fol. 78.

[1352] Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. pp. 21, 22.

[1353] "Dixo publicamente, que el no aguardava socorro ya sino era del omnipotente Dios el qual era el socorro verdadero, y el que hasta entonces nos havia librado, y que ni mas ni menos nos libraria por el avenir, delas manos delos enemigos da su santa fee." Balbi, Verdadera Relación, fol. 81.

[1354] "Esta habla del gran Maestre luego fue divulgada, y asi toda la gente se determino de primero morir que venir a manos de turcos vivos, pero tambien se determino de vender muy bien sus vidas, y asi ya no se tratava de socorro." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1355] "No quedo hombre ni muger de edad para ello que no lo ganasse con devocion grandissima, y con muy firme esperança y fe de yr ala gloria, muriendo en la jornada." Ibid., fol. 71.

[1356] "Tenia mandado, que en todos los dias de assalto se llevassen por todas las postas adonde se peleasse, muchos buyvelos de vino aguado, y pan para refrescar su gente, pues de gente no podia." Ibid., fol. 91.

[1357] "Si todas estas buenas ordenes no uviera, no baeraran fuerças humanas para resistir a tanta furia pertinacia, principalmēte, siendo nosotros tan pocos, y ellos tantos." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1358] "El gran Maestre sin mudarse, ni alterarse de su semblante valeroso, dixo, Vamos a morir alla todos cavalleros, q̃ oy es el dia." Ibid., fol. 90.

[1359] Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. p. 24.

[1360] Vertot speaks of this last attack as having been made on the eighteenth of August. His chronology may be corrected by that of Balbi, whose narrative, taking the form of a diary, in which the transactions of each day are separately noted, bears the stamp of much greater accuracy. Balbi gives the seventh of August as the date. For the preceding pages see Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 89-93; Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. pp. 18-24; Calderon, Gloriosa Defensa de Malta, pp. 146-150; De Thou, Histoire Universelle, tom. V. p. 83 et seq.; Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 27; Campana, Vita di Filippo Secondo, tom. II. p. 16; Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 450.

[1361] "Y sino solenne como en esta religion se suele hazer, alomenos cōtrita a lo que las lagrimas de muchos hombres y mugeres davan señal." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 94

[1362] "Y como el comendador era hombre de linda disposicion, y armado de unas armas doradas y ricas, los turcos tiraron todos a el." Ibid., fol. 76.

[1363] Ibid., ubi supa.—Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. p. 14.

[1364] Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 66, 82.

[1365] Ibid. fol. 78.

[1366] "Muchas vezes solo se yva a san Lorenço, y alli en su apartamiento hazia sus oraciones. Y eneste exercicio se occupava quando se tenia algun sosiego." Ibid., fol. 84.

[1367] Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. p. 29.

[1368] "Lo qual sabido por el gran Maestre como aquel que jamas penso sino morir el primo por su religion, y por quitar toda sospecha despues de aver hecho llevar en sant Angel todas las reliquias y cosas de mas valor, mando quitar la puente, dando a entender a todo el mundo que enel no avia retirar, sino morir en el Burgo, o defenderlo." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 94.

See also Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. p. 29.; Calderon, Gloriosa Defensa de Malta, p. 167 et seq.

[1369] "Ya seles canocia, que les faltavan muchas pieças que avian embarcado, y cada noche se sentia como las retiravan, ala sorda sin los alaridos que davan al principio quando las plantaron." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 101.

[1370] Ibid., fol. 106 et seq.—Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. p. 33.—Calderon, Gloriosa Defensa de Malta, pp. 172-176.—De Thou, Histoire Universelle, tom. V. p. 88.—Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 28.—Campana, Vita di Filippo Secondo, tom. II. p. 166.

[1371] "Como nuestra armada estuvo en parte q̃ la descubriamos claramente, cada galera tiro tres vezes." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 104.

[1372] "En el retirar su artilleria, tan calladamente que no se sentia sino el chillido de las ruedas, y Dios sabe lo que al gran Maestre pesava, porque siempre tuvo especrança de ganarle parte della, si el socorro se descubriera." Ibid., fol. 105.

[1373] The armory, in the government palace of Valetta, still contains a quantity of weapons, sabres, arquebuses, steel bows, and the like, taken at different times from the Turks. Among others is a cannon of singular workmanship, but very inferior in size to the two pieces of ordnance mentioned in the text. (See Bigelow's Travels in Malta and Sicily, p. 226.) Those glorious trophies of the great siege should have found a place among the national relics.

[1374] "Yo no creo que musica jamas consolasse humanos sentidos, como á nosotros consolo el son de nuestras campanas, alos ocho, dia dela Natividad de nuestra señora. Porque el gran Maestre las hizo tocar todas ala hora que se solia tocar al arma, y avía tres meses que no las aviamos oydo sino para arma." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 105.

[1375] "Esta mañana pues tocaron la missa, la cual se canto muy de mañana, y en pontifical, muy solemnemente, dando gracias á nuestro señor Dios, y á su bendita madre por las gracias que nos avian hecho." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1376] "No dexando de pelear aquel dia, y en sangrentar muy bien sus espadas." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 119.

[1377] "Lo qual se vio claramente dende a dos o tres dias porque los cuerpos que se avian ahogado subieron encima del agua, los quales eran tantos que parecian mas de tres mil, y avia tanto hedor en todo aquello que no se podia hombre llegar ala cala." Ibid., fol. 120.

As an offset against the three thousand of the enemy who thus perished by fire and water, the chronicler gives us four Christians slain in the fight, and four smothered from excessive heat in their armor!

[1378] For the preceding pages see Balbi, (Verdadera Relacion, fol. 117-121,) who contrived to be present in the action; also Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. pp. 35-37; De Thou, Histoire Universelle, tom. V. p. 89; Miniana, Hist. de España, p. 353; Campana, Vita di Filippo Secondo, tom. II, p. 160; Herrera, Historia General, tom. I. p. 591; Calderon, Gloriosa Defensa de Malta, p. 180 et seq.

[1379] "Se vinieron al Burgo, tanto por ver la persona del gran Maestre tan dichosa y valerosa, como por ver la grandissima disformidad y llaneza de nuestras baterias." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 121.

[1380] Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. p. 39.

[1381] "Al entrar del qual despues que la Real capitana uvo puesto sus estandartes los pusieron todas las demas, y muy ricos, la Real traya enla flama un crucifixo muy devoto." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 122.

[1382] "Fueronse para Palacio, adonde dio el gran Maestre a todos muy realmente de cenar, porque ya el governador del Gozo le avia embiado muchos refrescos, y don Garcia y todos los capitanes del armada le presentaron de la misma manera." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1383] Balbi expresses his satisfaction at the good cheer, declaring that the dainties brought by the viceroy, however costly, seemed cheap to men who had been paying two ducats for a fowl, and a real and a half for an egg. Ibid., ubi supra.

[1384] Herrera, Historia General, vol. I. p. 592.

[1385] Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. p. 38.

[1386] Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 121.—De Thou reduces the mortality to twenty thousand. (Hist. Universelle, tom. V. p. 592.) Herrera, on the other hand, raises it to forty thousand. (Historia General, tom. I. p. 90.) The whole Moslem force, according to Balbi, was forty-eight thousand, exclusive of seamen. Of these about thirty thousand were Turks. The remainder belonged to the contingents furnished by Dragut and Hassem. Conf., fol. 25 and 121.

[1387] Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 128.—Balbi gives a list of all the knights who perished in the siege. Cabrera makes a similar estimate of the Christian loss. (Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 28.) De Thou rates it somewhat lower (Hist. Universelle, tom. V. p. 90); and Vertot lower still. (Knights of Malta, vol. III. p. 38.) Yet Balbi may be thought to show too little disposition, on other occasions, to exaggerate the loss of his own side for us to suspect him of exaggeration here.

[1388] "En todo este sitio no se a justiciado sino un solo Italiano Senes el qual mando justiciar Melchior de Robles: porque dixo publicamente estando en el mayor aprieto, que mas valiera que tomaramos las quatro pagas que los turcos nos ofrecian, y el passage." Balbi, Verdadera Relacion, fol. 128.

[1389] For this act of retributive justice, so agreeable to the feelings of the reader, I have no other authority to give than Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. p. 18.