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chap. i. J ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM. 289

though it was in a distant country, respectingRhodes, and on treacherous ground, where it wasrequisite to weigh well every word; with the recentexample of the Templars before their eyes interrorem , and supported by high authority on thereasonable plea of equalising the commanderies;still there was no small minority against it, butnevertheless the majority made it a standing law.We for the future shall have to speak of Languages,for the present only seven , 1 exact conformity withHallam, but soon eight, and of Inns belonging eachto a Language. Consider them like what our ownInns of Court once were, European, not Easterninvention. No peculiarity of the order, which inthat respect only kept clearly in the wake ofcustom ; not merely for meals, but also for debating,each exclusively in its own language. That at thegrand master’s and in the chapters being Latin,French, or Italian, or a mixture of all three—a sortof Lingua Franca, varying according to time andplace. “ Unwilling am I,” said a knight, “ to findfault in this chapter general, with whatever is thepractice. Yet are there many who like me preferstaying here at home in Europe, where there aremany occasions of usefully exerting bravery andmilitary skill—where our religious rites can be more

1 Hallam : Lit of Europe, i.

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