ACCOUNT 
a variety of other valuable stones, 
admirably joined together at an in- 
credible expence, and representing, 
in a kind of mosaic, the arms, in- 
signia, &c. of the persons whose 
names they are intended to comme- 
morate. In the magnificence of 
these, and other monuments, the 
heirs of the grand-masters, com- 
manders, &c. have long vied with 
each other.” Vol. ii. p. 226. 
Water, which in a climate like 
this is so great a luxury, is found 
every where in abundance, and 
scarcely a street is without one foun- 
tain at least. 
The works round this town, and 
the adjoining places, as Floriana, 
Cottoniera, and Vittoriosa, are, per- 
haps, the most extensive of any in 
the world, and, as I before ob- 
served, extremely strong. They 
were, however, in many parts, and 
especially at Floriana, in a. véry 
ruinous state; owing to the little 
attention paid to them ry the French, 
and to the very remj's administra. 
tion of the late gran¢| master Hom- 
pesch, who is exceyively disliked 
by the Maltese, and generally ac- 
cused of having occasioned the over- 
throw of the order. These works 
are also nearly deprived of their 
guns ; upwards of one hundred of 
the finest, and of the heaviest ca- 
libre, having been carried by the 
French to Egypt. A great num- 
ber, however, still remain in the 
arsenals, and might be mounted on 
the ramparts with very little dif_i- 
culty. The following particulars 
relative to the foundation and pre- 
sent state of the town of La Valette 
may, perhaps, be acceptable to the 
reader. 
**On the 18th of May, 1565, the 
Turkish fleet, having on board forty 
Vou. XLY. 
OF BOOKS. 945 
thousand men, appeared off Malta ; 
and, on the 24th of the same month, 
this formidable armament opened its 
batteries against Fort St., Elmo, 
which was taken on the 25th of 
June following, notwithstanding the 
almost incredible efforts ‘of the 
knights composing the garrison, eve- 
ry man of which was either killed or 
wounded. 
This did not, however, discourage 
the gallant La Valette, then grand 
master of the order. With a valour 
and constancy, that have rendered 
his name for ever celebrated, he con- 
tinued to resist and repel the reite- 
rated ‘attacks of his numerous ene-~ 
mies, and at@ength forced them to 
raise the siege on the 8th of Septem- 
ber in the same year, after having 
left thirty thousand men under the 
walls. 
This almost unexampled bravery 
and perseverance of a handful of 
knights, when compared with the 
multitude of the assailants, almost 
surpassed credibility ; and so damped 
the ardour of their inveterate ene- 
mies, as te secure the order for ever 
after from Turkish invasion. 
Previous to the siege, the princi- 
pal residence of the order was at 
Borgo, on the eastérn side of the 
great harbour; but La Valette, hay- 
ing experienced its inconvenience, 
formed the resolution of building the 
town that now bears his name, the 
first stone of which he laid in 1566, 
immediately after the fatigues of the 
glorious siege he had sustained. He 
died in 1568, before it was com- 
pleted, and his successor De Mont 
finished it in May 1571; on the 
18th of which month, the order left 
the Borgo, and took up their resi- 
dence in the new city, The king’s 
of France, Spain, and Portugal, and 
3P likewise 
