Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/578

544 finding an offender against this statute “enacting the vagabond” was bound to secure him and give notice of his imprisonment to the grand-prior under whose jurisdiction he was. The same regulation held good in the convent at Malta.

Members were strictly prohibited from making use of letters of recommendation, either to the Grand-Master or to members of his council, with a view to secure priority of nomination to any office or dignity, under the penalty of the loss of ten years’ seniority. No privateering expeditions against the infidel were permitted without sanction having previously been obtained from the Grand-Master and council. This sanction was, however, always readily granted, and the time spent in such cruises allowed to count as part of the necessary caravans to be fulfilled by each knight during his stay at the convent. No safe conduct was to be given to any infidel or corsair except by the Grand-Master and council, who alone were authorized to establish truces with the natural enemy of the Order. No member was to intermeddle in the wars of Christian princes, or to take any part therein, even on the side of his own native country.

Any member appearing in public without the distinctive dress of his profession—that is, the Cross in white linen sewn upon his robe—was for the first offence to undergo the quarantaine, for the second to be imprisoned for three months. and for the third to be stripped of his habit. The following (leeree was made against turbulence in the auberges:—“ If any of the brethren behave insolently and in a turbulent manner in the auberges where they dine, and if amidst the tumult and noise they break the doors, the windows, the chairs, or the tables, or any articles of that nature, or if they upset or disarrange them with reckless audacity, they shall be punished by the Grand-Master and council in such manner as may be decreed, even to the loss of their seniority. If they conduct themselves still more outrageously, and beat the pages, the servants, or the slaves of the conventual bailiffs, for the first offence, if no blood be spilt, they shall be punished with the quarantaine, for the second they shall be imprisoned, and for the third they shall lose two years’ seniority. If, on the other hand, blood shall have been spilt, no matter how slight the wound may have been, for the first offence they shall undergo