Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/404

374 reverted to the power of the Moslem. All the skill which engineering science had developed upon its massive fortifications, all the beauties which art had lavished on its buildings, were now lost to the Order and to Christianity. That lovely island, the garden of the East, that city whose ramparts had so long frowned with proud disdain upon its foes, now no longer acknowledged the sway of the friars of the Hospital. Still bearing the traces of its former grandeur, and still displaying in its buildings the magnificence of those who had raised it to what it was, it passed for ever from the rule of those gallant warriors, who were once more doomed to seek their fortune on the wide world.

To the nations of Europe the loss of Rhodes was a subject of the deepest shame. Apathy and indifference had been suffered to continue during the six long months that this memorable struggle lasted, and its unfortunate issue remains a blot on the history of the sixteenth century. To the knights of St. John the event bears with it no such memory of disgrace. The gallantry which had so long withstood overwhelming and desperate odds was everywhere recognized and enthusiastically hailed by admiring nations. As the struggle progressed, and its ultimate issue became more and more certain, men gazed with astonishment and awe upon that touching scene of heroism and endurance. When at length, driven from their home, sadly reduced in number, and ruined in prospects, the relics of that gallant band wandered westward in search of a new resting-place, they were everywhere greeted with rapturous welcome. The feeling of all was well expressed by Charles V., who, on hearing of the disastrous issue of the siege, turned to his courtiers and exclaimed, “There has been nothing in the world so well lost as Rhodes.”