8 THE HISTORY OE THE ORDER OF [book m.

erected and endowed a princely infirmary at Rhodes,on the foundations of the former one, in the truespirit of the order, as was practised formerly, andshall he in the far future; where the sick andwounded of the knights themselves might betreated as became noble gentlemen, worthy ofevery respect and attention, as representatives ofthe warriors who had won the island, and of thosewho were its sovereigns, and defended it daily atthe price of their blood.

This was the precise climax of the period whenthe order is said to have been more flourishingand rich than it ever was; and the majority in oneof those chapters general (after a circular whichbrought an unusual flow) amounted only to fourhundred and fifty-five knights; to Avhom if you add(but it must be on supposition, for I find it nowhereon record) a strong minority and the servants-at-arms, you may perhaps come to Yertot’s thousand,certainly not surpass. But they were the choiceofficers of all Christendom, and enough to lead theirhired troops,which were likewise excellent, as pickedout from every Christian nation. The grand masterwas then held to be the most powerful Christiansovereign in the Levant; and for above a century(why not repeat it?) no mendicant is said to havebeen in Rhodes or any one of its numerous islets.