96 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



and to have the best intentions for the general good of the 

 whole Order; and, after having seriously considered the mat- 

 ter, ... I declare that I find nobody better qualified for 

 the government of our Order than myself.' He then made 

 a fine harangue upon his own virtues ; the fight against the 

 serpent vpas not forgotten, but he insisted chiefly on his con- 

 duct from the time that the Grand Master Villeneuve had 

 made him his lieutenant " ; and in the end he was elected to 

 that high dignity, and, the historian adds, "he was solemnly 

 acknowledged as Great Master to the satisfaction of the 

 convent, and especially of the citizens of the Town of Ehodes 

 and the inhabitants of the island, who, since his victory over 

 the serpent, looked upon him as the hero of the Order." 



There are several pages in this work showing how well he 

 presided and wrought. He died suddenly in December, 1353 ; 

 on which Vertot says, " If that term ' sudden ' may be allowed 

 with regard to so good a man, who had always been more 

 watchful over his own conduct than over that of the knights 

 under his care. His funeral was celebrated with the just 

 eulogiums of his brother knights, and the tears of all the 

 inhabitants of the isle, and of the poor especially, to whom he 

 was indeed a father. All the inscription put on his tomb was 

 this : ' Here lies the Vanquisher of the Dragon.' " {L.c, vol. i., 

 pp. 249-263.) 



While engaged in writing this paper I have thought that, 

 on hearing this clearly-written and plain statement concern- 

 ing the knight Gozon and the dragon, tw^o main thoughts or 

 ideas were likely to arise within your minds — one, the great 

 similarity in several circumstances between this narration and 

 those ancient Maori stories concerning the slaying of mon- 

 strous dragons or crocodiles ; and the other, the likeness and 

 suitability of much of the relation to illustrate the old English 

 story of "St. George and the Dragon." This tale of the 

 IDatron saint of England is, perhaps, just as truthful as those 

 Maori recitals ; for it has baffled all antiquarian research — 

 I mean with reference to his terrible fight with the monster, 

 with which (it is just barely possible) Gozon's combat with the 

 dragon may have had something to do by way of embellish- 

 ment, as the date of the fight was during the time of the 

 Crusades, in which, of course, the knights of Malta were 

 largely occupied. Moreover, we are told in history how St. 

 George came to be the patron saint of England ; which I 

 may also briefly state, as it is a kind of evidence in support of 

 my notion just mentioned : — 



" When Eobert, Duke of Normandy, son to William the 

 Conqueror, was prosecuting his victories against the Turks, 

 and laying siege to the famous City of Antioch, which was 

 like to be relieved by a mighty army of the Saracens, St. 



