64 THE HISTORY OE THE ORDER OF [BOOK I.

and highly probable. Yet nothing remains thatthe Paolis could discover, to prove it. Still a com-paratively modern has “ Our valiant King Richardregained Acre, and gave it to the knights of St.John of Jerusalem; ” 1 and it is to be supposed hehad a legitimate authority for what he assertsfrankly, though it has baffled the present writer’sresearches. He who gratuitously gave Cyprus tothe Temple, could scarcely not have nobly remu-nerated the Hospitallers, to whom he was so publiclyand affectionately devoted, although no such deed ofgift be now extant. His scrupulous and earliest care,on regaining freedom (even before reaching Nor-mandy or England), was to write a formal decla-ration of his gratitude, and to confess he owed themmuch, and took care to deposit that legal documentso securely, that it has been lately printed, andtherefore is now out of danger for ever, and shall beborrowed for the Appendix . 2

A weeping train of the entire population of Acreaccompanied him to the shore, where they badefarewell to him whom they loved and revered asno human creature. It cannot but strike everyreader of those times that maritime matters musthave been far less behind than we think, when such

1 Comm. Geograph., ii. 18, Ed. London, folio, 1709.

2 Appendix, Kum. xxxix.