Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chivalry,
Knights remained quiescent . At last all were reconciled , and the entire fee-simple and sovereignty of the islands of Malta and Gozo , with Tripoli , on the coast of ifciea , were , by a deed signed by the Emperor at Syracuse , on the 24 th of March , 1530 , ceded to the
Knights of St . John . Few islands have known a greater succession of masters than Malta : first , the Phoenicians held it for 800 years , when it was wrested from them by the Greeks ; it subsequently fell into the hands of the Carthaginians , who in their turn were dispossessed by theEomans ; the Eomans lost it for a short time , but recovered it about 216 B . C ., and retained it about 800 years , during which occurred the shipwreck of St . Paul . It afterwards fell into the hands of the Goths , then of
the Vandals , from whom it was rescued by Belisarius , Next came the Arabs , then the Normans , who were succeeded by the "French ; and finally , by the Spaniards ; and by them , as we have stated , Malta was ceded to the Hospitallers . Erom Boisgelin ' s account , it does not appear that the Emperor , in bestowing Malta upon the Order , conveyed a dependency of great value , as in the year 1516 the entire revenue the imperial governmentgot from it w as forty-one ducats .
The loss of Ehodes , and some domestic quarrels after the Knights w ere settled in Malta , preyed on the spirits of the venerable Grand Master , and his health declined ; ¦ whilst ,- to add to his grief , the rupture between the Pope and the King of England inflicted a greater loss on the Order than even Ehodes . Henry VIII ., being refused the sanction of the Church to carrv out his libidinous desires , and
not from a love for a purer faith , determined to throw off the supremacy of Eome ; and as the Knights of St . John held the Pope as their superior , the Order was one of the first objects of his tyranny and wrath . They were commanded to abjure their faith , and , on a refusal , four perished on the scaffold , two died in a dungeon , others
abandoned their country for ever , stripped of their property , and sought an asylum in Malta . An Act of Parliament , in 1534 , abolished the Order in England , and their possessions were parcelled out among the tyrant's greedy minions . Sir William "Weston , the Lord Prior , died of grief . He was buried in the chancel of the old church of St .
James , Clerkenwell , where an altar-tomb was erected over his remains . He was represented on it by an emaciated figure lying on a winding-sheet ; and in 1788 the grave was opened , and the Knight ' s mouldering remains were found in a state similar to the figure on the tomb . The treatment the Order received from the King of England completed the Grand Master ' s sorrow , and he expired , to the regret of all the Brethren , on the 21 st of April , 1534 . ( To be continued . )
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chivalry,
Knights remained quiescent . At last all were reconciled , and the entire fee-simple and sovereignty of the islands of Malta and Gozo , with Tripoli , on the coast of ifciea , were , by a deed signed by the Emperor at Syracuse , on the 24 th of March , 1530 , ceded to the
Knights of St . John . Few islands have known a greater succession of masters than Malta : first , the Phoenicians held it for 800 years , when it was wrested from them by the Greeks ; it subsequently fell into the hands of the Carthaginians , who in their turn were dispossessed by theEomans ; the Eomans lost it for a short time , but recovered it about 216 B . C ., and retained it about 800 years , during which occurred the shipwreck of St . Paul . It afterwards fell into the hands of the Goths , then of
the Vandals , from whom it was rescued by Belisarius , Next came the Arabs , then the Normans , who were succeeded by the "French ; and finally , by the Spaniards ; and by them , as we have stated , Malta was ceded to the Hospitallers . Erom Boisgelin ' s account , it does not appear that the Emperor , in bestowing Malta upon the Order , conveyed a dependency of great value , as in the year 1516 the entire revenue the imperial governmentgot from it w as forty-one ducats .
The loss of Ehodes , and some domestic quarrels after the Knights w ere settled in Malta , preyed on the spirits of the venerable Grand Master , and his health declined ; ¦ whilst ,- to add to his grief , the rupture between the Pope and the King of England inflicted a greater loss on the Order than even Ehodes . Henry VIII ., being refused the sanction of the Church to carrv out his libidinous desires , and
not from a love for a purer faith , determined to throw off the supremacy of Eome ; and as the Knights of St . John held the Pope as their superior , the Order was one of the first objects of his tyranny and wrath . They were commanded to abjure their faith , and , on a refusal , four perished on the scaffold , two died in a dungeon , others
abandoned their country for ever , stripped of their property , and sought an asylum in Malta . An Act of Parliament , in 1534 , abolished the Order in England , and their possessions were parcelled out among the tyrant's greedy minions . Sir William "Weston , the Lord Prior , died of grief . He was buried in the chancel of the old church of St .
James , Clerkenwell , where an altar-tomb was erected over his remains . He was represented on it by an emaciated figure lying on a winding-sheet ; and in 1788 the grave was opened , and the Knight ' s mouldering remains were found in a state similar to the figure on the tomb . The treatment the Order received from the King of England completed the Grand Master ' s sorrow , and he expired , to the regret of all the Brethren , on the 21 st of April , 1534 . ( To be continued . )