Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/340

310 escutcheons, most of which have been lately removed by a Turkish officer, supposed to have been an aide-do-camp of the sultan, and by him taken to Constantinople. Immediately beyond the auberge, a narrow staircase leads to a stone pulpit, from which the decrees of the council were promulgated. Most probably it was from this pulpit that the Greek archbishop called the inhabitants to arms during the siege of 1522, when the Turkish forces were driven from the bastions which they had carried.

Towards the middle of the street, the most striking object is the auberge of France, which is a very highly ornamented structure. Over the principal entrance are escutcheons bearing on one side the arms of the Order, and on the other those of the Grand-Master Amboise. On the first floor are the arms of France side by side with those of D’Aubusson. Over the former is the motto Montjoie Sainct Denis, and over the latter the cardinal’s hat. Beneath these escutcheons runs the legend Voluntas Dei Est, 1495. The arms of L’Isle Adam appear twice, dated 1511, whilst he was grand-prior of France. The arms of the celebrated engineer, Peter Clouet, whose talents had been so much in request at Rhodes, also appear in two separate places. The cornices, window-labels, and architraves are most elaborately ornate. The coping is battlemented, the line being broken by corbelled turrets, and by gargoyles in the form of fantastic dragons.

A little farther on, hidden at the end of a gloomy court, stood a sombre-looking building, bearing the quotation from the 74th Psalm, Exurge Dornine judica causam tuam. This was the court of justice of the convent. It has recently been destroyed by fire.

The auberges of Italy and England stood, the one by the side of the church of St. Catherine, the other opposite the Hospital. The auberge of Italy bore the arms of the Grand-Master Carretto, with the date 1519, but they have been removed by some unknown despoiler. The English auberge was also adorned with the arms of the kingdom and with those of several distinguished knights of the langue. These have all been removed of late years.

Newton describes the decorations of the auberges thus: