Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/344

314 containing on each floor spacious halls which are now inaccessible, the stairs leading to them being destroyed. On the outside of the gate are the arms of the Order, and also those of Peter Clouet, the engineer, above which is a baa-relief of St. Catherine with the wheel and knife, St. Peter with the keys, and St. John with the lamb. The latter has been much defaced. These figures are protected by a canopy. There is the following inscription on the gate:—“Reverendus D. F. Petrus Daubussonis Rhodi Magnus Magister Hanc Portam et Turres Condidit Magisterii Anno Primo.” From the gate of St. Catherine to that of St. Paul was the post of Castile.

Such was the city of Rhodes at the commencement of the sixteenth century, and it is strange how little injury has been done to the decorations by the Turks, who have been its inhabitants for upwards of 300 years. The escutcheons have nowhere been wilfully damaged; even the crosses have been left intact. The only wanton destruction of which they appear to have been guilty has been in the baa-reliefs and tombs of the Grand-Masters and other dignitaries. Most of these have either disappeared, or have been so defaced as to be quite undecipherable.

Next to the fortress of Rhodes the most important post in the island was the castle of Lindos, where it will be remembered that Fulk de Villaret retired when he set at defiance the decrees of the council. Biliotti thus describes it:—“The fort built by the knights stands on the same site as the old acropolis, in a position almost impregnable. It is in truth an eagles’ nest perched upon the summit of a crag. A steep path leads to the fort, thence a wide flight of steps loads to the outer enceinte and enters by a gate opening on to a platform of 120 paces in length by 80 in breadth. This platform is surrounded by a thick battlemented wall. After surmounting long flights of steps and numerous galleries, perpetually intercepted with machicolated gateways, we reach one leading to the second platform, the site of the old temple of Minerva. This temple had been succeeded by a Greek acropolis, so that the eye can now dwell on three different epochs of structure. The residence bf the present governor and some small houses for the garrison are the work of the architects of the Order. The materials of the older