were all subject to a Grand Master of their own election. It was an evil in their organization, that they formed a class so distinct from most of their subjects. Still their little dominion continued flourishing, and they had large revenues from different parts of Europe, until near the close of the last century.

In 1798, the French under Bonaparte, made themselves masters of the island, and abolished the order. The English succeeded to the possession of it, in 1800, and at first, thought of re-establishing the knights. The Maltese seemed however, to be averse to this, and the island was confirmed to Great Britain by the treaty of 1814. The knights have now become nearly extinct, though some recent propositions have been made to collect and reorganize them, in different parts of Italy.

Most of the natives still speak a corrupt dialect of the Arabic, though numbers in the towns, likewise use the Italian. M. Vassali, one of their very few men of learning, has been principally instrumental in rendering the Maltese, a written language. His grammar which was published in 1791, fixed its before unsettled alphabet.* The vowels are seven, and the consonants twenty six. To express these, the Roman letters are employed, with several additional characters for the Arabic sounds. M. Vassali thinks that the Maltese language resembles the old Arabic, of the sixth century of the Mahometan era. Unquestionably it has much affinity with the modern dialects of the Arabic,

* M. Vassali published also a lexicon of the language in 1796, and a second edition of his grammar in 1827. He was engaged in a translation of the New Testament into Maltese, at the time of his death, the present year.

which are spoken on the coast of Barbary. The natives of this coast, and the Maltese, who have much intercourse with each other, readily converse together. Hence, Malta may be even more important than Gibraltar, as a place of preparation for missionaries, destined to the Barbary States.

Valletta, on the eastern side of the island, the principal city and the exclusive seat of its commerce, contains about twenty five thousand inhabitants. It derives its name from one of the most distinguished of the Grand Masters, by whom it was founded in 1566. It is built on a small elevated peninsula, enclosed by two excellent harbors, which are themselves almost entirely surrounded by land.

Numerous fortifications guard the entrance to these harbors, and among others, Fort St. Elmo, at the extremity of the peninsula, which also answers the purpose of a light house. This is the only part of the island that was not taken by the Turks, during their last famous siege. Valletta is defended on the land side, by a triple wall and ditch. Similar works extend around the suburbs, on the opposite side of the great harbor. The ditch has been cut in the soft rock of the island, of sufficient dimensions to receive a village church. The materials which were taken from it, form a corresponding line of walls within. The wall is carried along on the water side, except where precipices render it unnecessary. By art, therefore, Malta has become, what Gibraltar is by nature, one of the strongest fortresses in the world. The French obtained possession, it is said, by the treachery of some of its ill prepared defenders, and the English by a blockade of two years. During the siege, the garri

son was reduced to the greatest extremity for the want of provisions. Since then, several years' supply of grain is kept constantly stored in its granaries. These are deep pits in the rock, over whose mouths, sealed so as entirely to exclude the air, you pass in some of the public walks. Water is brought in an aqueduct seven or eight miles from the city, but an inexhaustible supply of rain water can be secured in case of a siege.

The streets of the city cross each other at right angles, and though they would be called narrow in America, are wide for the Mediterranean. They are also well paved, and kept remarkably clean, being swept every day by convicts. These are chained by the leg, two and two together, each pair being under the direction of a single soldier with a drawn bayonet in his hand.

The houses are built entirely of the light colored limestone of the island. Even the flooring, stairs, and roof, are made of this, or of a cement which becomes as hard as the stone itself. Hence you have, that which is equally novel and agreeable, a fire proof city. The roofs of the houses are invariably flat, and being surrounded by a strong wall two or three feet in height, afford a safe promenande, and a delightful prospect. That occupied by our friends, being higher than those in the vicinity, is as favorable for retirement as for exercise. On such a house-top, Peter might conveniently have gone up to pray. Most of the buildings are of two or three stories; the lower floors are often appropriated to mechanics and shop keepers, while the upper, which is entirely separate, forms a very agreeable residence for private families. The height of the apartments increases, as you ascend; the upper being

from twelve to twenty feet. From this, also, balconies project over the street, furnishing a convenient look-out, in unfavorable weather.

But leaving the city with the clamor of its beggars, and the Babel speech of its inhabitants-Maltese, Italian, English, French, and Greek, let me take you to visit the surrounding country. You should first, however, go back with me three hundred years in its history, to the beginning of the "time of the religion," as the people still call the reign of the knights. It was then little more than a barren rock for fishermen. To change the wilderness into a fruitful field, has not been the labor of a day. The surface of the rock must first be removed to the depth of a foot or more; since it is so hardened by the weather, as bibe the least moisture from dews or rains. cess is not so difficult as you might imagine; the stone when fresh, being cut almost as easily as wood. In the city, you often see workmen with their axes, fashioning it for the purposes of utility, or ornament. The fragments of the rock obtained from thus paring the field, are then broken up, and with the aid of a little compost, brought formerly perhaps from Sicily, but now from the city, invest it with a fine soil.

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But the task of the husbandman is not yet accomplished. If simply spread over his field, the first great rain would soon wash the earth to a "returnless distance" from its rocky foundation. Hence the necessity of walls at frequent intervals, from four to ten feet high, by which the hill is divided into terraces of a quarter, to several acres in extent. Take your stand at the foot, and looking up, you will see nothing but a constant series of these brown walls. But as the

soil is made level with the top of the wall, ascend the hill and look down, and your eye now rests only upon the most delightful succession of fields of cotton, wheat, vegetables, and clover.

Now then we have a suitable soil and foundation for it, and, if you please, the seed bountifully scattered. All these, however, will avail little, without a proper supply of water. This the clouds and sky will afford you at some seasons of the year. In others you must be at the pains of digging cisterns and securing them with cement, from which you can draw water for your orange and lemon groves, and vegetables: the fig tree and the mulberry will grow by the way-side, with less attention; or, you may take advantage of some rill, flowing in a few instances from a natural fountain, and treat it according to Virgil's directions in the Georgics. After all, a great part of the interior is still uncultivated, and there is little in its scattered villages, to invite your attention.

I had purposed next, to give you a glimpse of the superstitions of this people; to shew you the splendid churches, with their thousand idle priests, some of whom are boys sporting in the streets, dressed precisely in the style of those venerable clergymen whom we knew in our childhood, with the three cornered hat, long skirted coat, small clothes, knee buckles, &c. Or I might point you to the images of the saints at every corner, or the gorgeous processions of the different orders of priests parading the streets, and by way of contrast to their silks and gold, surround you with hundreds of beggars, from whose importunity, neither giving nor an hour's withholding, will afford you any escape. As a more grateful spectacle, I would