1799-] 
monarchs. Both in the privy-council, 
where political meafures which required 
fecrecy, and where affairs of the, greatett 
importance were managed, as alfo in what 
was called the Great Council, he could 
propofe what he thought fit, and carry 
every point, without being hinfelf re- 
fpontible for any itep. In this latter 
council, it was requifite that every quef- 
tion to be difcuffed fhould be propofed in 
the firft inftance by the grand matter him- 
felf, fo that he could let it remain alto- 
gether unnoticed, if he did not with to 
have it determined upon: he alfo diftri- 
buted all the lucrative offices and faveurs 
of the order; and could not only create 
any places he thought neceffary, but even 
appoint as many honorary baillies as he 
‘had occafion for votes to defeat his op- 
ponents. His titles were Serene High- 
nefs and Eminence. He nominated to 
twenty-cne commanderies and one priory 
(fome of which were worth upwards of 
2000]. a year) every five years; and as 
there were always a great number of ex- 
pectants or ambitious pretenders, much 
exterior fubmiflion was paid to him, and 
he was exceedingly carefled and courted. 
In 1770, the Chevalier Don Pinto, a 
Portuguefe, who had prefided over this 
fingular little nation upwards of thirty 
years, had during that time difpofed of 
126 commanderies, befides priories and 
other offices of profit. In fact, the fitu- 
ation of the grand mafter was the highett 
and beft appointment to which any pri- 
yate individual in Europe could legally 
afpire, the papacy excepted. 
He was chofen by a committee of 
twenty-one knights, the committee being 
nominated by the feven nations, three out 
of each nation. The election, by their 
ftatutes, was to be over, within three days 
after the death of the former grand matter. 
During thefe three days, f{carcely an in- 
dividual flept in the ifland, all was cabal 
and -intrigue; and moft of the knights 
were maiked in order to prevent their par- 
ticular attachments and connections trom 
being difcovered. . 
As Malta was an epitome of all Eu- 
rope, and an aflemblage of the younger 
brothers, (who are commonly, perhaps, 
the beft) of its firft families, it was cer- 
tainly one of the beft academies for po- 
litenefs on the furface of the globe. All 
the knights and commanders had much 
the air and deportment of gentlemen and 
men of the world. It was curious, how- 
ever, to obferve the effect produced upon 
the various people that compofed this 
heterogeneous mixture, by the familiar 
Hiftory and Defeription of Malta. 
45 
intercourfe and collifion of the individuals 
of different nations with each other. No 
particuiar charaéier was to be met with 
here in the extreme. The French. fkip 
and afuming air, the German ftrut,, ftub- 
bornneis, and pride, the Spanifh ftalk, 
taciturmity, and folemnity, were ftill to 
be perceived, although blended in {mall 
proportions: the original characteriftics 
were retained, arid might be diftinguifhed, 
although their exuberance, and what made 
them appear extravagant and ridiculous, 
was worn off and had difappeared. ‘The 
great politenels obfervable here might 
alfo partly be afcribed to this ; that as the 
knights were entitled by Jaw, as well as 
cultom, to demand fatisfaction of each 
other for the leaft breach of it, every one 
of courfe was under a neceflity of being 
very exact and,circum{pect with regard 
tc his words and actions, as well as to the 
exterior punétilios of decorum. 
This fingular order, which was a com- 
pound of the military and ecclefiaftical 
policy, has now fubfitted with great eciat 
about 7oo years. It was initituted at 
Jerufalem by Godfrey of Boulogne, (to 
protect the pilgrims vifiting what was 
called the holy fepulchre, and to main- 
tain an everlafting war with the Ma- 
hometans), under the name of the Order 
of the Knights Hofpitalers of the Priory 
of St. John; which building ftood im- 
mediately beyond the Chartreux-houfe in 
that city. After the lofs of Jerufalem, 
the knights retired from place to place, 
until having made a conqueit of the ifland 
of Rhodes, tuey fixed tlrere, and were 
thenceforward ityled Knights of Rhodes: 
in 1522, however, they loft that ifland to 
the Turks. ‘The order formerly confifted 
of eight nations, of which England was 
one, and poffeffed great riches here, as 
well as in other catholic countries, having 
at one time 19,00 manors in various 
parts of chriftendom ; but on the fepara- 
tion of this country from the church of 
Rome, Henry VIII. confifcated all their 
poffeflions. ‘Their priory-houfe in Lon- 
don ftood in the Strand, and contributed 
its materials to build the {pacious palace 
of the Protector Someriet, in the reign of 
Edward VI. 
Travellers who have been prefent at the 
celebration of their church fervice (parti- 
cularly in the church of St. John) fpeak 
of it as infinitely more charged with pa- 
rade and ceremony than what is obferved 
in, the other catholic countries. The 
number of genuflexions before the altar, 
the kiffing of the prior’s hand, the hold- 
ing up of his robes by the fubaltern 
priefis, 
