310 THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF [book IV.

fession . 1 When Homedez lay on his bier, there wereabout four hundred knights at Malta, but those ofEngland were circumscribed to one alone, Sir Os-wald Massingbert, Lieutenant of the Turcopolier-ship; so to represent the English Language recoursewas had to two foreign knights. While the variousceremonies went on, clearer and clearer it becamethat there would be no contest; but the recom-mended concord be strictly preserved. Theelection of Strozzi, Prior of Capua, was consideredcertain. And well both his antecedents and hislate and present conduct justified the choice, quiteunanimously. One of the most remarkable menof his age, and in the full bloom of manhood, ad-miral of France, where he had served with muchdistinction; and when he left it openly for the purepurpose of transferring the homage of his swordand the bright fame he had won to the corps towhich he belonged, and whose rights over him heflew to acknowledge, he too being a knight ofMalta, the whole world applauded his noble reso-lution; and to this worth and magnanimity corre-sponded his whole bearing ever since he had cometo Malta. The cordial obedience he had always dis-played to his superiors in the order and his liberaldashing popular manners that made him universally

1 Bosio: par. ii., lib. xvi. 330.