Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/645

Rh art, he did not consider himself gifted with such high talents as would enable him to convert a bad work into a good one, and he was compelled, therefore, to suggest the enclosure of the first line within a second, the trace of which should be more in accordance with his ideas of perfection. The council was taken completely by surprise at this unlooked-for report. The knights had been accustomed to regard the enceinte of Valetta, with its very deep ditch and stupendous esearp, as a most powerful front, the whole of the stone for the building of the city having been quarried there so that it had attained proportions greater than those of any other similar work in Europe. They could not conceive that a line which they had always looked on with such high favour could, in reality, be so defective as was reported by Floriani; they therefore nominated a commission to investigate the matter. The report of that body was adverse to the scheme of Floriani, notwithstanding which the influence of the engineer was so great with the Grand-Master that the new project was adopted, and the work pushed forward for a long time with much vigour. After that it was suspended, and remained in an incomplete state until the year 1721, when it was finally completed. The suburb enclosed between the two lines has received the name of Floriana, after its designer. Floriani was admitted into the Order by Lascaris as a reward for the zeal and talent he had displayed in the work.

Malta is indebted to this Grand-Master for the splendid public library which ho established in 1650, and which gradually increased until it attained proportions exceeded by few similar institutions in Europe. This rapid augmentation was the result of a decree that on the death of a knight his hooks should not be sold with the rest of his property for the benefit of the treasury, but should be sent to the public library, either to swell its extent, or, in the case of duplicates, to be exchanged. This library is situated in a very fine building erected for the purpose by Lascaris. In addition to the usual assortment of works, it is particularly rich in old and rare books, as well as in illuminated missals, some of them of the most beautiful workmanship, and also in manuscripts of every description.

In the year 1652 the Order of St. John for the first time