Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/511

Rh writers in the interest of the Order, everything has been sacrificed to add to its glory. The history of the struggle must, in justice, be indissolubly interwoven with that of the Maltese inhabitants, and they have cause to this hour to remember with feelings of pride and satisfaction the noble deeds of their ancestors in 1565.

The 8th of September, the day on which the siege was raised, was always subsequently celebrated with great rejoicings by the knights. It was already a high festival of the church, as the day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but from the year 1565 it became to them the most important anniversary in the calendar. On that day a solemn mass was celebrated for the souls of those who had fallen. The names of such amongst them as had attained to any dignity in the fraternity were registered in the records of the conventual church. The following is the number of knights of the various langues who fell either at St. Elmo or subsequently:—

Only three Englishmen were present, viz., Edward Stanley, John Smith, and the knight Oliver Starkey; neither of these was killed. The total, therefore, was 217 out of 516 who are known to have been present, including the reinforcement which arrived under de Robles. Possibly some others had also found their way into the fortress during the siege of St. Elmo.

The heroic spirits who conducted the defence have long since returned to dust, and the names even of but too many of them have been lost to the world, but the memory of their great deeds remains as fresh and green as though it were a thing of yesterday; and the island of Malta is never mentioned even in