Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/512

478 the present age without recalling to the mind the picture of the scenes enacted there during the summer of 1565. English hearts and English swords now protect those ramparts whereon the ensigns of the Order of St. John fluttered; and should occasion ever demand the sacrifice, the world would find that the blood of Britain could be poured forth like water in the defence of that rock which the common consent of Europe has intrusted to her hands.