MALTA. 487 
disappeared, the invincibie Bonaparte having carried them with 
him to Egypt. The pavement is nearly covered by a beautiful mo- 
saic, composed of the arms of the different knights who lie under- 
neath. The revenues of the church are still continued to it, and its 
splendour must remain stationary, a monument of the power of the 
Order, and of its having passed away for ever. 
The library is a handsome building, and has a very valuable col«- 
lection of books. It was accumulated from the private libraries of 
the different knights who died on the island, to whom the Order 
was heir. It also received, as presents, most of the splendid works 
which were pubHshed by the Catholic sovereigns of Europe. It 
contains about eight thousand volumes, and is chiefly deficient in 
English literature. It would be politic, as well as liberal, to appro- 
priate a moderate annual income to remove the deficiency. The 
Maltese should not be permitted to discover, in any one respect, an 
inferiority in their present sovereign to their last. The splendor of 
their capital should be, by every means, increased, and not dimi* 
nished. The present arrangements for the use of the books is incon- 
venient, access to them being allowed only from nine to twelve, 
during summer. There is a small collection of medals annexed to 
the library, and some antiques of value, which are the more inter- 
esting, from having been found on the island. These, as well as the 
furniture of the palace, and every other article of value, would, pro- 
bably, have been carried to Paris, had it not been for the closeness 
of the blockade, which precluded all retreat, till the capitulation 
put an end to the power of plundering. 
The Maltese are frugal, temperate, and industrious. They proved 
themselves brave soldiers, during the blockade of La Valletta, when 
r 
