Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/582

548 class of follies, as in the present day:—“Whoever shall enter into the house of a citizen without being invited, and against the wish of the head of the family, or who shall disturb the social gatherings of the people during their festivals, dances, weddings, or other similar occasions, shall lose two years of seniority without hope of pardon; and if, either by day or by night, they do any damage to the doors or windows of the people, then, in addition to the above-named penalties, they shall suffer a rigid imprisonment for as long as may be decreed by the Grand-Master and council. Any member of the Order joining in masquerades or ballets shall suffer loss of seniority.” This statute was still further defined by an addition made by the Grand-Master Claude de la Sangle, probably in consequence of the prevalence of the practices alluded to:—“If any one shall be so bold as to damage doors or windows by night, or shall stop them up with plaster or stain them with dirt, or shall throw stones at them, shall lose three years of seniority, leaving it to the discretion of the Grand-Master and council to decree, if they see fit, a severer punishment.”

The original profession of a member of the Order of St. John having included the three vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity, the statutes, after having decreed such penalties as were necessary to check any transgression of the two first of these vows, proceeded to deal with the last. The question of chastity was one not so easy to legislate for in an institutions constituted like that of the Hospital. On the one hand, as a religious fraternity devoted to the service of God and the practice of charity and all good works, it was impossible to recognize any license or infraction of the strictest laws of continence and chastity. The monk, in his cloistered retreat, mortifying all sensual appetites by constant fasts and ever-recurring vigils, was not supposed to be more free from earthly passions than the knight of St. John. We all know, however, how widely even the secluded inmates of the monasteries constantly strayed from the strict paths of virtue, and it was not to be anticipated that the members of the military Orders, surrounded as they were with such vastly increased temptations, could have maintained themselves more free from vice and immorality. Even Raymond du Puy, in his original rule,