On the following day the assault was renewed by day-break, and after defending the breach for four hours, only sixty men remained to man it. At 11 o'clock, the Janissaries made themselves masters of the cavalier, and the Turkish commander entered the fort. Not one knight was left alive, and the few remaining soldiers perished in the breach. The loss of the enemy is estimated at 8000, while the Order lost 300 knights and about 1300 soldiers.

The inhuman Turk, wishing to revenge the death of his troops, ordered a search to be made among the dead and wounded for the knights, whose hearts he had ripped out, and after cutting their breasts in the shape of a cross, commanded them to be set afloat on boards, designing that the tide should carry them over to St. Angelo towards Borgo. By way of reprisal, La Valette ordered all the prisoners to be put to death, and loading his cannon with their still bleeding heads, fired them into the enemy's camp.

In the following year, after the reimbarkment and defeat of the Turkish expedition, when the first stone of the city of Valetta was laid, the Fort of St. Elmo was repaired and fortified, and built in a more regular form than it was before. In the year 1687, under the Grandmaster Carafa, the fortress was almost rebuilt, and in the

commencement of the eighteenth century, the surrounding bastions were added by the Grandmaster Raimondo de Perellos e Roccaful. These bastions, as also the fort, are built of a very hard limestone, called by the natives zoncor, and are well supplied with bombs and cannon, and other pieces of artillery. On the angles of the ramparts which command the entrance into both harbours are two turrets, formerly intended for the purpose of watching the vessels which entered and left the harbour. At present, the entrances to these are closed up with two marble slabs, one bearing an inscription to the memory of Admiral Sir A. Ball, once governor of Malta, below which are interred his remains surrounded by an iron railing; and the other in memory of Sir Ralph Abercrombie, whose embalmed body is enclosed in a barrel within the turret, just as it was brought from Aboukir. From this circumstance, the ramparts to the west are called after the name of the former, Ball's bastions, and those to the East, Abercrombie's bastions.

From the watch-tower surmounting the fort vessels may be seen at a great distance; the quality of the sail in sight is marked by different signals, and the points from which they are coming may be known by the position in which these signs are placed, on a stand prepared for the

purpose. This custom existed in the time of the Order, and is continued to the present day. Men-of-war are signified by two balls suspended on a small pole, a packet by one, and a merchant vessel by a small square white flag.

The treble row of magazines, nineteen on each story, now forming a barrack for two regiments of the line, was erected, under the auspices of the Grandmaster Emmanuel Pinto, and intended for store-houses of ammunition for the Order, and a safe asylum for females in case of a siege. These magazines are bomb proof, and are built within the walls, under the western wing of the Fort, from a design by the Cavalier Tigné. The terrace of this building is well paved, and forms a delightful walk, enjoying an extensive view of the sea. In the square, in front of the barracks, is a fine fountain, surmounted by four large stone shells, from which the water was formerly made to spring. Over the two gates which open the descent to the square, were placed the arms of the Grandmaster Pinto, surrounded with warlike trophies and other ornaments. Those on the north-western side have been thrown down; but those opposite, towards the town, are still to be seen, though somewhat destroyed by the hand of time.

The fort of St. Elmo is at present garrisoned

by English Artillery, and a small detachment of infantry. The quarters which they occupy are very healthy; those on the walls are open to the air, and those below are built with spacious corridors along the ranges of rooms. There was a small chapel in the fort, which is now used for a different purpose. The light-house, which rises from one of the angles, has lately been improved by the English Government.

Since the year 1565, when St. Elmo unhappily fell into the hands of the Turks, but was afterwards retaken by the knights, the fort was siezed upon by a mob of priests and malcontents amounting to between three and four hundred persons. This event took place during the short reign of the Grandmaster Francis Ximenes de Taxada; but the conspirators were soon obliged to abandon their position. On being seized by the Bailiff de Rohan, who had the charge of the attack, some were executed, whilst others were either banished or imprisoned.

The next object of interest to which I would direct the attention of the traveller is the

PALACE.

It was the original intention to erect a residence for the Grandmaster of the Order on the

site now occupied by the Auberge de Castile; but P. de Monte preferred the present spot, situated on the most level part of the town, with a spacious square in the front, called Piazza St. Giorgio. The ensemble of the exterior presents nothing striking, the whole forming a pile of unadorned architecture, about three hundred feet square, surrounded on every side by four of the principal streets, and almost enclosed on three with a line of open and covered balconies. It has two principal entrances on the front, each opening into an open court, and one in the centre of the three remaining sides. That on the back is never opened, on account of the stalls of the market, which are fixed up the whole length of the wall, and which not only give the building a very mean appearance, but destroy a great part of the street, with the nuisance necessarily attending such a place of public resort. It is to be regretted, that another spot has not yet been selected for a market, and its present locality put to some other and cleaner purpose.

The interior of the Palace was very much improved by the Grandmaster Emmanuel de Pinto. It consists of a lower and upper story, each containing a range of apartments running round the building, and another transversely, which divides the space within into two almost equal divisions.