194 THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF [book ii.

excellent and charming epistle, cries the Ma-hometan ! How courteous! What delicate irony!Severe blame and cutting to be sure, but in themost agreeable, placid, elegant words! 1

Their immense expenses increasing in immensityevery day, while all their feudal rent-roll in variousparts of Syria had been for some time diminishing,and lately extinguished altogether, so that theywere absolutely reduced to what they got from theirestates in Europe, or European generosity, whichat the best rendered them subject to the un-certainties of a long voyage; how were the Hos-pitallers to get on ? It was a severe weight on poorDe Lorgne’s shoulders. They must have beenstrong, not to have broken down sooner. Thevineyards on the hills, fine gardens, villas andverdure, and fruit in the vicinity of Acre, had beenseverely injured long before by Bibars; and thegates continually kept shut, all intercourse withland was over, and the population had to livewholly on what was imported. Their port closed,and they must have died of famine. By degreesall the succours this side of the sea had been re-moved, and of all the towns won by Godfrey deBouillon or his successors, Acre alone remained

1 Arab. Chron., 507, 511. And truly the original is held re-markable for its elegance.