CHAP. I.]

ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM.

97

Islam that it broke Safadin’s heart when he

heard of it on the banks of the Lake of Galilee; 1

so his corpse was borne secretly into the citadel, at

Damascus, and buried at night, in private, for fear

of a sedition; so loved and venerated was he by

every class. 2 That the Grand Master was away is

implied by there being a locum-tenens , in his stead,

during those years, as in one document; 3 and, by

another, that Montacute was still in Egypt, in May

of 1221; 4 by a third, that he was still there in

June; 5 and by a fourth, that he was back in Acre,

in October of that year, since his travelling ^ „

J 1 ° 1219

companion was. 6 Brienne’s expedition went

on swimmingly at first, taking Damietta after a

good defence, to his exultation, except that it was

found to be an immense charnel house, scarcely

containing a human creature alive; but the streets

choked up with loads of carcasses, in various

stages of putrefaction, dead of plague, or famine, or

1 Arab. Chron., 392.—Michaud: Hist., iii. 320. Note.

2 Arab. Chron, 393. Note 1.

3 Cod. Dipl. Geros.—Hum. xii.—Giunta: i. 290.—Ap-pendix, lx.

4 Cod. Dipl. Geros.—Hum. cviii.—Giunta: i. 114.—Appen-dix, lxxxvii.

5 Cod. Dipl. Geros.—Hum. xiii.—Giunta : i. 291.—Ap-pendix, lxi.

6 Cod. Dipl. Geros.—Hum. cvii.—Giunta: i. 113.—Appen-dix, lxxxviii.

VOL. II. II

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