Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/381

Rh the Host in the presence of the assembled multitude, and poured forth a prayer on behalf of the people committed to his charge, that the Almighty would deign to give them fortitude to defend His holy religion, and that the fire and sword, the slaughter and rapine, the destruction and slavery with which they were menaced, might through His infinite mercy be averted. L’Isle Adam was recognized as one of the first soldiers and most trusted leaders of the day. He was at the same time equally eminent for the fervour of his piety and the earnestness of his religious zeal. When, therefore, on this eventful morning he thus consecrated his cause to Heaven, and appealed to the Most High in terms of eloquent and touching supplication against the foe by whom his city and Order were menaced, all felt that under the leadership of such a man they were in good hands, and that if it were decreed that they should prosper, none could better carry the fiat into effect.

The religious ceremony concluded, the doors of the church were closed and the garrison directed to repair to their respective posts. The gates were shut, the bridges raised, banners were hoisted on the various bastions, and all stood awaiting the first scene of the bloody drama. The Grand-Master, clad in magnificent gilt armour, rode at the head of his guards with three knights beside him, one bearing the grand standard of the Order, the second a banner presented to D’Aubusson by the Pope, and the third a flag emblazoned with his own coat of arms. This latter was borne by a young English knight named Henry Mansell, who was killed early in the siege. Not a man, woman, or child on that eventful morning remained within doors. Every point from whence the motions of the hostile fleet could be observed was thronged with anxious gazers. Many there were within that crowd, men whose hair time had sprinkled with silver, who, looking back through a long vista of years, could call to mind a scene very similar to that on which their eyes were now bent, when forty-two years since their seas had been covered with the fleet of that proud empire between which and themselves an undying animosity was ever burning. Then the God of battles had declared for their side, and they had triumphed gloriously. He had aided them to