Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/276

248 mony in debauchery, sought to restore his ruined fortunes by abandoning Christianity and taking service with the Turk. Some writers assert that he had formerly been a knight of St. John and was stripped of his habit for gross misconduct, but there is no authentic record of the fact. It is very clear that he had resided for a time at Rhodes, and that he carried away with him to Constantinople an accurate plan of the fortress. Whatever reward he may have received for this act of treachery he did not live long to enjoy, as he died of a loathsome disease on board a galley whilst accompanying the Turkish army to the scene of attack.

Another and far more gifted traitor presented himself in the person of Georges Frapant, commonly called Maître Georges. This man was by birth a German, and had been trained as an engineer, in which science he attained great skill. He has been described, by friends and enemies ailke, as being endowed with marvellous genius. In fact, the historians of the Order, even whilst heaping the most unmeasured, though well- deserved, abuse upon his unfortunate head, cannot refrain from drawing attention to his brilliant talents. Caoursin calls him a man of the most subtle ingenuity, whilst the honest soldier, Merry Dupuis, after recording of him that he was a most excellent director of artillery, proceeds to dilate on his personal advantages as “a fine fellow, well-formed in all his limbs, and of a lofty stature, with great gifts of language, being both willing and entertaining.” These opinions are endorsed by Bosio, Naberat, and Vertot, subsequent historians whose views were probably formed from what had been written by the above quoted authors. It is very evident that Maître Georges was no ordinary man, and the admirer of genius must regret the misapplied powers anti perverted energies of this gifted renegade.

The plans and projects which this trio of traitors submitted to Mahomet were accompanied by such tempting descriptions of