'/8 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



fence of those superb ramparts, the monuments of 

 the glory of the Order, and of their enemy's shame, 

 was confided to foreign and mercenary soldiers ; 

 and that social energy, which had made one of the 

 greatest empires of the universe to tremble, was no 

 longer exemplified, except in the sparks of cou- 

 rage occasionally struck from a few individuals. 



A horde of priests environed the Order of Malta. 

 Every where ambitious and restless, more audacious 

 under a sky which, with its temperature, heated 

 the imagination, they bore with impatience the 

 yoke of the chevaliers. They had oftener than 

 once attempted to shake it off, by making use of 

 their favourite arts, perfidy, superstition, and false- 

 hood. Reckoning on relaxation of discipline and 

 improvidence, they had dared, not long before our 

 arrival, to take possession of one of the forts which 

 defend the very city. This unexpected stroke 

 roused nevertheless, for a moment, that ancient va- 

 lour, the exercise of which seemed to be lost. Fifty 

 knights, with the commander d'Anonville at their 

 head, carried the fort by escalade, and seized the 

 greatest part of the insurgents. This revolt is still 

 the subject of much conversation at Malta, and to 

 which the bishop of the island was no stranger. 



The sovereignty, at the same time, exercised by 

 the Order of Malta, over the two little isles under 



their 



