ciiap. il]

ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM.

35

fusillades and everything of the kind; for on theday (which God forbid !) of such a calamity, Maltaand all belonging to it, may consider themselvescompletely ruined.”

The whole of that night, and the next day, theMoslem artillery were being dragged up Scheb-Erras,while ours had some houses thrown down for theaim; and high over the old platform, containing theguns, on a level with the water, to defend the chain,was erected a new one, nearly as lofty as Scheb-Erras itself; and on that novel eminence wereplaced the weightiest of our cannon, and thestoutest, and were pointed against the spot madeready by the Turks for their batteries; only we wereforced to economise our powder a little, and keepit for the assaults, for, although a good provisionof it had been laid in, yet it was not sufficient, aswas visible towards the end of the siege; so vast theconsummation necessary for muskets, cannonades,mines, and all sorts of military fireworks, rockets,and mortars, the endless items of a protractedleaguer.

With wondrous rapidity and ingenuity, the mis-believers continued, and deserved encomium ofindefatigable and transcendant ability in trenches,and underground works, of what denominationsoever. Although nearly the whole island of Malta

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