52 THE HISTORY OP THE ORDER OF [book ill.

no records -whatever were taken during that con-fusion, and no one more in the case to know it thanhimself, who had for duty to affix the state seal toeach document admitted into the archives. In acopy of his book, deposited there to reply to itswant of documents regarding that interestinginterval, he left these words written: “The city ofRhodes, while blocked and besieged so cruelly bythe Turks, in such perturbation and fear, the pub-lic acts were not written; but the victory won, thehistory was edited by William Caoursinus, Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes, which the press has divulgedall over the world, but in that interval nothing waswritten. So it is; William Caoursinus, Vice-Chan-cellor.” 1 Then perhaps just as well keep to thecertain, and content myself with giving what isparticular enough, and which I think neither Bosionor Bouhours, nor any of the order’s historianscould ever have seen (since it was found muchlater in the archives of Germany) D’Aubusson’sown despatch immediately after the siege, to the

emperor, as Christendom’s chief in temporals_

military affairs particularly . 2 And if, notwith-standing he had been born a subject to the King ofFrance, he directed himself on this occasion to im-

1 Seb. Paoli, al Lettore, ii.—Appendix, clxxi.

2 Cod. Dipl. Geros., ii., t\ T um. cxxvi.—Appendix, clxxii.