CHAP. V.]

ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM.

275

him a fleet , 1 and unveiling his breast to Assaly,now Grand Master, he met with an easy, perhapsimmoral assent . 2 Even if the entire political plandid not succeed, of the utter conquest of Cairo,and to make it a provincial town, dependent onJerusalem, still great riches would be acquired bythe pillage of all Egypt. Yet the grand mastercould do nothing without a general council of hisknights; and that his opinion would be theirs, wouldbe extremely problematic; so, to gild the pill, it wasaccompanied by the royal offer, that if they tookHeliopolis , 3 the first city the Christian army wouldbesiege in Egypt, and finest, except the Cairos—itwould be given to the Hospitallers; and of thebeauty of Heliopolis and its signal advantages,which would soon render it the centre of Euro-pean commerce, Assaly spoke at great length, andhow fit a residence it would be for the order, ifever it was driven from Jerusalem; as we see hadalready become a possibility . 4 These false reason-ings, and probably some not unambitious feelingin the younger knights, and the influence of thegrand master and his partisans, checked every op-position from the elders of the assembly ; 5 so, shut-

1 Michaud : Hist., ii. 232.

2 Vertot: ii. 193.

3 Cod. Dipl. Geros., Hum. xlvii. Hum. xlviii.

4 Vertot: ii. 195. 5 Vertot: ii. 196.

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