■92 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



In the " History of the Knights of Malta," by the Abbe 

 Vertot, is the following relation : " In 1340 a.d. the Grand 

 Master of the Order, Helion de Villeneuve, from charity and 

 prudential motives, forbade all the knights, on pain of degra- 

 dation, to offer to fight a serpent or crocodile. This crocodile 

 was of monstrous size, did a vast deal of mischief in the 

 Island of Ehodes, and had even devoured some of the in- 

 habitants. For the better understanding so extraordinary 

 an incident, we shall barely relate what history says on the 

 subject. 



'* The haunt of this furious animal was in a cavern on the 

 edge of a marsh at the foot of Mount St. Stephen, two miles 

 from the city. He went often out to seek his prey. He ate 

 sheep, cows, and sometimes horses w-hen they came near the 

 water and. edge of the marsh; the inhabitants complained, like- 

 ■wise, that he had devoured some young shepherds that were 

 keeping their flocks. Several of the bravest knights of the 

 convent, at different times, and unknown to each other, went 

 singly out of the city to endeavour to kill him, but none of 

 them ever came back. As the use of firearms was not then 

 invented, and the skin of this kind of monster was covered 

 with scales that were proof against the keenest arrows and 

 darts, the arms, if we may so say, were not equal, and the 

 serpent soon despatched them. This was the motive wdiich 

 engaged the Grand Master to forbid the knights attempting 

 any more an enterprise that seemed above human strength. 



"They all obeyed him except one knight, of the language 

 of Provence, named Dieu-donne de Gozon, who, in breach of 

 this prohibition, and without being daunted at the fate of his 

 brother companions, formed secretly the design of fighting 

 this voracious beast, resolving to perish in it or deliver the 

 Isle of Ehodes. This resolution is generally ascribed to the 

 intrepid courage of the knight, though others pretend that he 

 was likewise pushed on to it by the stinging invectives with 

 which his courage had been insulted at Ehodes, because, 

 having gone several times out of the city to fight the serpent, 

 he had contented himself with taking a view of it at a dis- 

 tance, and had thereby employed his prudence more than his 

 valour. 



" Whatever were the motives that determined the knight 

 to try this adventure, he, to begin the execution of his project, 

 went into France and retired to the castle of Gozon, which is 

 still standing, in the Province of Languedoc. Having observed 

 that the serpent had no scales under the belly, he formed the 

 plan of his enterprise upon that observation. 



" He caused a figure of this monstrous beast to be made in 

 wood or pasteboard, according to the idea he had preserved of 

 it, and took particular care to imitate the colour of it. He 



