08 THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF [noOK ill.

never permitted them to keep him from action;hearing the opinion of every one with a most en-couraging smile, before he formed his own decisionas commander-in-chief; but which, once taken,never changed, or even was permitted to be recon-sidered. Sovereign dictator; how he survived thefatigue, with such short snatches of sleep, duringso many weeks of over-exertion, is a problemwhich at least shows how little suffices nature.

To cite a few of the many anecdotes told of himin those dreadful scenes suffices. Learning somemutinous knights had spoken of an honourable capi-tulation, he sent for them, and quietly said,“ Gentle-men, if you choose to leave us, do so; there is the port,and however severely blockaded we be, I undertaketo send you out of it safe and sound ; but shouldyou prefer remaining, listen well to my warning;that, in case you speak a word about capitulatingon whatever terms, I will have every one of youput to death!” These, and that he called themgentlemen, as if they were no longer knights, andhis brethren, struck them with such remorse, thatone and all they threw themselves at his feet, andwere patterns of valour and discipline ever after.His helmet having been broken from his head by a'cannon-ball, he calmly stooped down and put onthe hat of a soldier, who had just been killed near