Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/666

630 of the same name, whose short rule of seven years presented no incident worthy of record. He was in his turn succeeded, in 1697, by Raymond Perrelos, a knight of Aragon, and bailiff of Negropont, whose first efforts on assuming office were directed towards the introduction of reforms into the mode of life at the convent. Several sumptuary laws were by his influence passed in council, as also strict prohibitions from indulging in games of chance and other similar amusements. These regulations were, however, totally unheeded. The days when a Grand-Master could impress his own religious austerities upon the knights were long past. The young, hot-headed, and thoughtless cavaliers who were now living in Malta were not to be deterred by any decrees in council from such roystering joviality and dissipation as they considered adapted to their age and social position.

In the year following the election of Perrelos the Order was honoured by a special mission from an ambassador of Peter the Great. The Czar, whose empire was in such near contiguity to that of the Moslem, was anxious to secure support in his frequent collisions with his aggressive neighbours. With this view he determined to cultivate friendly relations with the knights of Malta, and, having selected a boyar named Kzeremitz, one of his leading generals, as his envoy, he despatched him to the court of Rome, with instructions to extend his journey to Malta, and enter into negotiations with the Grand-Master. Kzeremitz arrived in the island on the 12th May, 1698, and remained there a week. During his stay he was invested with the grand-cross by the hands of Perrelos himself. The decoration was touched by a piece of the true cross, then by the hand of St. John the Baptist, and eventually placed round the neck of the Russian, suspended from a massive gold chain.

The naval exploits of the knights continued throughout the rule of Perrelos, but they found themselves no longer able to compete, as they formerly did, with the Turkish fleet. It is true that in the year 1701 a man-of-war of eighty guns was captured, and this feat was considered to redound so greatly to the fame of a knight named Richard, to whose daring the result was principally attributable, that it was decreed the colours of