GHAP. I.]

ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM.

281

well knew how, in despite of all his fine words, thedifferent sovereigns and their greedy nobles wouldin some way or other contrive to get most of the restof it; that no reason whatsoever to expect that thecardinals and Papal prelates would not do, as withtheir oily discourse they had always been in thehabit of doing—namely, under various pretexts,wriggle themselves, they or their relatives, into therichest commanderies and other benefices of theorder, and dispense graces to favourites at no al-lowance, and in substance pursue with ungratefulpertinacity their own best defenders ; and even theworse ill-treat them, the more they are sure of theirdevotedness, and that they would submit to anyinjustice, rather than rise against their spiritualchief; that they ought not to close their eyesagainst what he had just received, this copy of theFrench king’s letter to the Pope, by which it isevident he desired to extinguish the Hospital aswell as the Temple, and he read to them his trueexpressions . 1

“ Now if by reform that same was purely meant,you know I should not object; but it is that I knowhe means reform such as he used with the Templars.Clement praised those unfortunate gentlemen tothe last, until they were entrapped into destruction.

1 Cod. Dipl- Geros., ii., Num. xxvii.—Appendix, exvii.