24.6 DR. HOOKER'S MISSION TO INDIA. 
muddy ; still the mud is clean mud, and there are plenty of good 
horses and caléches to carry the stranger about. 
The buildings all over the town of Valetta are truly noble, the 
majority of them having been erected by the Knights of Malta, 
and consisting either of the palaces of individuals, or public 
edifices belonging to that ancient community, with not a few 
Auberges, as the dwelling-houses of the different Nations of Knights 
are called. It seems strange that among so many grand structures 
there is not a single really fine church. I speak of their 
exterior, for many are gaudy enough within; but I should not 
have recognised even the church of St. John by its outward 
aspect. The church lately built by the English and founded by 
the Queen Dowager, is much the handsomest in Malta, and it is the 
only one which boasts of a spire. The Library, the Palace, and the 
Church of St. John are well worth a visit, though not fine of their 
kind; and I heard of some attractive “ Lions," in the shape of 
convents, and bodies of monks preserved and exposed to view, but 
neither these, nor the catacombs, had I time to visit. 
x* * * * * * 
Every part of the town is full of associations, but none so much 
so as the Governor's palace, the old residence of the Grand Masters 
of the Knights of St. John of Malta. It forms a large and hand- 
some quadrangle in Valetta, with one suite of show-apartments, 
none very fine, but many highly interesting. The walls of the 
Hall and best apartments are covered with rude frescos of the 
deeds of the Knights, attributed to Bolognése, who is said to 
have been brought over from Italy on purpose. The origin of the 
Knights, the siege of Ascalon, and the birth of St. John, are 
among the first of these. In another room are Richard Coeur de 
Lion receiving his mission and benediction from the Pope, the 
repairing the walls of Jerusalem, reception of the Emperor of 
Austria, siege of Damietta, King of Hungary receiving the 
grand-cross of the order (the only monarch to whom it was granted 
as an honorary distinction), the taking of Rhodes, and many other — 
subjects with which you are more familiar than I am; or, if you — 
