HISTORY OF MALTA.

5

the palace of the grancl-master, who received him with the respect-ful attention due to so powerful a monarch. Solyman, in a visit soextraordinary in a sultan, treated If Isle Adam with the greatestaffability; exhorting him to support with courage this reverse offortune, and assuring him that he might embark his effects at hisown leisure; for, should the time agreed upon for that purpose in;the articles of capitulation be not sufficient, he w ould most w illinglyprolong it. Solyman, upon quitting LTsle Adam, turned to hisgeneral officer, saying, “ It is not without some degree of pain thatI force this Christian, at his time of life, to leave his dw elling.”

The small number of knights who had survived this murderoussiege, together with four thousand inhabitants, embarked on boardthe vessels belonging to the order*. The grand-master, after havingtaken leave of the sultan, like a tender parent watching over hischildren, was the last who entered the vessel; and thus abandonedthe island of Rhodes, where the order of St. John of Jerusalem hadreigned with so much splendor for near tvvo hundred years.

LTsle Adam carried with him the archives, together with-many celebrated relics, long held in profound veneration by thefaithful;, for the conqueror, in the bloom of youth, though termed abarbarian by the Christians, felt happy in restoring to the conqueredthose articles which would continually call to their remembrancethe acts of valour they had performed, and the piety for which theywere celebrated; and, in so doing, gave an example of moderation

* January 1, 1523.