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INTRODUCTION.

and it is greatly to be regretted, that the man who has so forciblydescribed the religious and military actions of the pious personagesand celebrated warriors who have raised the glory of the Order toso high a pitch, from the first moment of its institution to thebeginning of the eighteenth century, should no longer exist, torecord the fatal events which have so cruelly annihilated it. Healone could do justice to Malta, render the last honours to hermemory, and throw over her the funereal pall; which, it is muchto be dreaded, will never be removed.

How truly should I value and admire the pen which could traceto posterity, and to the whole Christian world, the sentiments ofaffection and esteem felt for the knights of Malta by the surround-ing nations !—sentiments so justly due to their hospitality andmilitary prowess, and of which the inhabitants of Calabria and Sicilymust most particularly partake*. To them, indeed, I may withjustice appeal, since by them the hospitable virtues of the knights ofSt. John can never be forgotten. Neither the severity of theweather, nor the passage through the Faro of Messina, which atthe season of the year when the earthquake happened is extremelydangerous, could abate the zeal of the Order : and, notwithstanding

* ^ ee ‘^ ie account of the earthquake in Calabria and Sicily, and the reliefafforded the inhabitants by the knights of Malta, Yol. III. p. 12.