Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/326

296 dressed in black and carrying lighted torches; after these the knights bearing his banners, which they now trailed upon the ground; then came the bier with the corpse, borne on the shoulders of grand-crosses, none others being allowed that privilege. Immediately following the body came the members of the Order generally, whose extended files completed, the melancholy procession. As the revered remains were lowered into their last resting place, the baton of his office and the gold spurs of his knighthood were broken over the grave by the officers appointed for that purpose. After a long look at all that now remained of one who had gained the. love of so many hearts, and achieved so much for the welfare of his brethren, the grave was slowly and sadly closed, and the touching ceremonial brought to an end. He was gone out of their sight, and another would shortly occupy the place he had so worthily filled, but his memory was to remain green and unfading. Wherever the annals of the Order are recorded there will ever be found, high amongst those who even in that fraternity of chivalry and renown had raised themselves above their fellows, the name of Peter D’Aubusson.

It was during his rule that the relic so highly prized by the knights was first brought to Rhodes. After D’Aubusson had succeeded in arranging the treaty with Bajazet, that monarch, anxious to testify his gratitude, presented the Grand-Master with the right hand of St. John the Baptist, which had fallen into the possession of his father at the capture of Constantinople. This relic, which was enclosed in a magnificent casket of Cyprus wood lined with crimson velvet and richly studded with precious stones, was addressed to D’Aubusson in the following terms:—“Bajazet, king of Asia and emperor of emperors, to the very wise and illustrious Grand-Master of Rhodes, Peter D’Aubusson, most generous prince and father of a very glorious empire.”

Few of the relies which during the middle ages were scattered throughout Europe can have their authenticity traced with such minuteness of detail as the one thus presented to the Grand-Master. Its history runs as follows:—The body of St. John the Baptist had been buried in the town of Sebasta