ABEY. III.] ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM. 249

such a wretched state, he dressed in deep mourningand all his people too in the same weeds, beholdersinvoluntarily burst into tears. Every kind careand all sorts of honour they experienced on ap-proaching beloved Messina. A prince so good, sogrand, so valiant, of such benevolent and unspottedfame, and his company of the flower of the mostnoble and illustrious families in all Christendom!The mixture of wonder and compassion producedmighty effects in all ranks. The first sounds thehapless navigators could distinguish coming fromshore, were sobs and bitter weeping. Mixed withthe grandees from Messina, were seven hundredknights of the order, who had gathered there fromevery part of Europe, to sail for Rhodes, buttoo late! They were only in time to read his de-spatch from Candia . 1

Scarcely can be described the reverential sorrow ofthe people waving round him, when he landed. Theweeping was universal, and not to be calmed exceptby knights sent by himself to persuade the multitude.And besides all these demonstrations of grief andlove from the people, most ample were the respect,honour, and favour, displayed by the chiefs of theSicilian nobility, and particularly the viceroy, bothby letter and person; for with the Archbishop of1 Bosio: par. iii., lib. i. 8.