HISTORY OP MALTA.

23

assist his imperial majesty against the Turks. No one was moresensible than Charles V., how truly serviceable the knights were tothe neighbouring powers. In his first expedition to Africa, thegates of Tunis were thrown open to him by one of these knights;and in the second, a violent tempest having almost entirely destroyedand dispersed the Spanish fleet, the navy of Malta, which alonekept its post upon the raging waves, saved the remains of his army,which had fruitlessly endeavoured to rejoin their vessels upon acoast covered on all sides with the wrecks of the fleet. At thebattle of Lepanto, three of the galleys belonging to the order, con-formably to their right of pre-eminence, were placed in the post ofhonour, and maintained themselves in it in a manner worthy theirancient reputation. Every place, indeed, taken from the Venetiansby the Turks, can witness the generous efforts made by the knightsin its defence; who, during the long war in Candia, never failed tosend squadrons thither every year. The same navy was not merelysatisfied with spreading terror amongst the infidels, but was con-tinually employed in bestowing comfort on the Christians. Anearthquake having overthrown the city of Augusta, and even reachedMalta, which it damaged considerably, the order, insensible to itsown situation, immediately dispatched its galleys with relief to theunfortunate inhabitants. In 1783, Messina and Reggio, togetherwith the whole coast of Calabria, suffered the same calamity, and inso terrible a manner as to be almost unparalleled in the annals ofhistory. These two cities presented a dreadful spectacle, andw ere reduced to merely a heap of ruins : their miserable inhabitants,