Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/338

308 gilt, a lamb in gold, statues of the Virgin Mary and of St. John the Baptist also in gold, a golden chalice valued at 320 crowns, superb missals and rich reliquaries, chief amongst which was the magnificent ivory casket containing the hand of St. John. The windows were ifiled with stained glass, adorned with the escutcheons of the most celebrated knights; in many eases, probably, the arms were those of the donors of the windows. This church was, unfortunately, compktely destroyed at the end of the year 1856 by an explosion of powder stored in the vaults beneath the building. This powder is supposed to have been left there by the knights at the close of the siege in 1522, and it is asserted that its existence was unknown to the Turkish authorities until the explosion took place. It seems somewhat doubtful whether gunpowder would retain its explosive qualities for a period of 334 years, the more so as in those early days it was probably of a rough and inferior manufacture. Be this as it may, an explosion did undoubtedly take place on the date named. The descriptions, therefore, of the building given to us by Newton and Biliotti are all the more interesting and valuable.

The clock tower referred to by the former was, in reality, a campanile, quite distinct from the church. It was used as a military observatory in both sieges. It will be seen further on that it was on this account subjected to such heavy fire in the siege of 1522, that it was nearly destroyed. It bore the escutcheons of several Grand-Masters who had at different times restored and adorned it.

Newton continues his description with the following account of the present condition of the Grand-Master’s palace:—“Opposite the church of St. John is the entrance to the palace of the Grand-Master, through a gateway flanked by two towers facing the south. On entering under this gateway we come to an open space covered with cisterns, in which the Turks keep stores of grain. In front is a confused mass of numerous buildings, of which the plan can no longer be made out. On the left are