154 THE HISTOEY OF THE OEDEE OE [book iv.

ful Candians, who were almost the whole popu-lation—and vied in fidelity with the Rhodiansthemselves—Candia had to surrender. The Frenchbeaten in a sally with the death of the Duke ofBeaufort, the Duke of Noailles, deaf to the warmestentreaties of the valiant captain general, Moro-sini, recited at length by the historical chroniclersof that time, obstinately determined on departingfrom the place in its most needful crisis, and em-barked to return home; “ a conduct so irregular,proceeding either from want of fidelity or ofcourage, was ruinous to our republic,” exclaims theexasperated historian without another word on thesubject . 1

If in speaking of Lepanto, there was reason tocomplain of the too slender mention of the Hos-pitallers, far worse is it with regard to Candia.In both cases it was unfair, but in the latter par-ticularly so. For though the English authorallows the departure of the French to have pre-ceded, he leaves it to be inferred, that also theHospitallers withdrew unnecessarily from the hap-less city; without saying that they had struggled asmuch as the bravest and most devoted men could,that of four hundred knights, who little by little hadjoined the siege within those few months, very few1 Tentori: Istor. Yen., x. 130.