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state of Malloch's thoughts - if it were he - which thus kept him fixed on a rock in an agony between suicide and the terror of dying-the ridicule of surviving, and the disgrace of such a death. At this moment, we were joined by another person, who had been approaching along the ramparts. He was a tall, soldierlylooking man, in a dark military greatcoat, and was followed by a black servant. I was not aware of his presence, till informed by a kind of whispered intimation from an attendant. As soon as the stranger saw that he was observed, he asked what was the matter. I mentioned that a gentleman had thrown himself from the parapet, and pointed to the figure which we saw.

'Why does not some one go down to him?' he asked. 'A ladder will be brought directly,' I answered.

'A ladder! it will never do to wait for that. Mohammed, give me your turban; or tie your turban and girdle together, and give me the end of them.'

A rope was soon made of the long turbans and girdles of the natives, which was held fast by these people; while the stranger, throwing off his greatcoat, slid down the wall, and dashed into the sea. We lost sight of him instantly in the tumult of waves and the darkness, and could not tell what was to be the event. In the meantime, I inquired at the servant who his master was?

It is Mr Bellarmine, sir-arrived from Chunder.'

I had not time to recover from the astonishment caused by this stunning intimation, when I saw him emerge from the water on the little rock; and two figures were immediately seen standing together, and, after a little time, apparently struggling with each other. This, in other circumstances, was only what was to be expected, as Malloch, in his frenzy, might refuse to be saved; but if they should recognise each other in such a situation, what would be the event? The ladder had been now brought; so that, taking a rope in one hand, I hurried down the wall, and swam to the spot so often mentioned. As I approached, the water shallowed a little, and I could stand upon my feet, in which situation I could hear and

see what passed. Bellarmine was endeavouring to persuade Malloch to be saved; while the latter only answered by furious imprecations and oaths; at times saying: 'Is it the dead come alive?-or what are you? I am madmad-mad-to meet Bellarmine swimming about in the sea! Get you gone, sir-I never hurt you. It is falsefalse.' Bellarmine, who did not appear to recognise him, continued struggling to drag him towards the landingplace; and in the meantime I came up, and got the rope fastened round his waist and shoulders. With the assistance of the men pulling on the top of the parapet, we now guided him through the water; and though it looks a little grotesque, had him dragged up the wall like a bundle of wet rags. I prevailed on Bellarmine to ascend before me, and we were both safe landed in a few minutes. Malloch was lying on the grass of the ramparts, and seemed to all appearance either dead or in a swoon.

"Who is he? and what has caused this?' asked Mr Bellarmine.

Before I could get time to answer, a sergeant's wife, who attended as a nurse in Major Eastlake's family, interposed: 'Oh, it is Captain Malloch, sir; and he drowned himself, because he was jilted by that creature Mrs Bellarmine. I hope she may get a worse yet, now that her thriftless husband is dead, as Captain Malloch told me himself.'

The astonishment of Bellarmine at this abrupt intelligence cannot be conceived. He looked at me for explanation, which I gave him with the more awkwardness, that I had felt Malloch's pulse in the meantime, and perceived that he was only feigning insensibility, in order to escape being questioned. His odd situation may be conceived, in being thus tied down to hear the account which I had to give Bellarmine of his conduct.

The meeting which immediately took place between the long-lost Bellarmine and his wife cannot be described. This amiable and ill-used lady, in now recovering her beloved husband, felt herself fully rewarded for her constancy and affection. On an explanation being made by

Bellarmine, it appeared he was the bearer of documents which freed him from every shadow of blame. He was also able, in consequence of information which he had collected during his imprisonment among the Pindarees, to render services to government, which led to his speedy promotion. As for the wretched Malloch, the designer of so much evil, and whose infamous schemes had, in reality, proved ultimately beneficial to his victim, he was shunned by all who knew him; and shortly after, obtaining leave of absence, he departed to Europe, there to hide his shame, and to escape the ridicule of his various misadventures.

THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA.

THE institution of the Knights of Malta was one of greater importance and utility in its day than is generally imagined. However slight may be the merit accruing from the Crusades for the recovery of the Holy Land, they are entitled to share in it largely; but they have higher claims, of a much later date, upon the gratitude of the Christian world. Almost by the unaided exertions of this band of brothers, the Ottoman power was held in check, and its extension materially impeded, on the eastern coasts of Europe. This was a great service to the whole of that continent. The knights of Malta effected, on the bosom of the Mediterranean, what John Sobieski effected on the plains of Austria; and their names should be embalmed along with his in the memory of Christendom.

Towards the middle of the eleventh century, when the Holy Land was entirely in the power of the Mohammedans, the Egyptian caliph, Monstaser-Billah, was induced to permit the erection of a Christian chapel in the city of Jerusalem, with two hospitals, one of them dedicated to St John the Almoner. These were intended for the relief

of the numerous pilgrims who then visited Palestine from all Christian countries. After Godfrey of Bouillon conquered the Holy City in 1099, the Hospital of St John became a place of great note as an establishment for healing the wounded and the sick, and was converted by Gerard, its rector, from a secular to a religious institution. He, with his brothers and sisters of charity, formally abjured the world, and assumed as their dress a black gown, having on the left breast a white cross. At the same time, a number of illustrious crusaders, burning with pious zeal, entered the body; and Godfrey of Bouillon endowed it with lands in Brabant. His example was speedily followed by other princes and barons of Europe, until the order grew wealthy, and founded many new houses both in Asia and Europe. The next step was the conjunction of the military with the religious character. Raymond du Puis succeeded to the rectorship; and having been a brave soldier in his day, he was induced by the reiterated attacks made on the Christians at their first settlement in the East, to propose to his companionsmost of them old soldiers like himself—to join the profession of arms to their other duties. The summons sounded like a trumpet in the ears of the veterans, and Raymond du Puis became the first Grand-master of the Order of the Knights-Hospitallers of St John. Three classes were established in the order-that of the Knights, who were required, at first at least, to prove a noble extraction; that of Chaplains, who were non-military; and that of HalfKnights, or Serving-Brothers, who were not of high birth, and whose duties lay both in the hospital and the field. The establishment of commanderies, as the houses were called, in different countries, rendered it proper to establish divisions called Languages in the order—as one for England, one for Germany, and so on. These were at first seven, and finally nine in number. Noble youths from all Europe soon swelled the order of the Hospitallers into a numerous force, and one of great strength, in times when a single mounted knight, cased in armour, was a match for half-a-dozen of the ordinary soldiery. Their

wealth also enabled them to hire large bodies of mercenaries to aid in their enterprises; and their European houses, or commanderies, served as depôts, whence auxiliaries were continually drafted to the wars.

This formidable body remained in Palestine during the entire period of its occupation, complete or partial, by the Latin Christians, witnessing the whole of the nine crusades, rendered necessary by the inveterate determination of the Mohammedans to recover their lost possessions. During all this time, they existed but to fight, having scarcely one month of perfect repose; and in fight they exhibited the most desperate valour on all occasions, though the abstemiousness of their rules was relaxed by degrees. They remained in the Holy Land after kings and barons had all yielded up the cause in despair. At length, in the year 1291, the Sultan Saladin drove them from their last stronghold of St John d'Acre, and compelled them to take refuge in Cyprus, then under a Latin King. They there summoned all their commanderies to send members and supplies, and were soon enabled once more to establish themselves as a powerful naval as well as military body. Their views were to harass the Mohammedans of Syria and Egypt by sea. One expedition more they made against the Saracens of Jerusalem; but they found both that city and the other fortresses of the country to be in so ruinous a state, that the approach of the Egyptian sultan forced them to fly to their ships. It was immediately after this step that Fulk de Villaret, twenty-fourth grand-master of the order, seeing the hopelessness of any secure settlement of it on lands not its own, projected a great and important conquest-that of the Island of Rhodes. Rhodes is about 120 miles in circumference, and close on the coast of Asia Minor. It was at this time nominally a possession of the Greek emperor, Andronicus, but in reality was in the power of Saracenic pirates, mixed with Greeks of the same stamp. Fulk de Villaret gathered his war-galleys, and made a bold descent on the isle. The resistance was obstinate, and years elapsed ere the knights succeeded in planting the standard of the

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