her disputant could object
to any member of the Court, whereupon that member's langue chose a
substitute. After hearing the evidence, which was entirely oral, the
Court discussed the case behind closed doors and came to a decision.
The litigants were called back, and if they agreed to accept the
verdict the Court's decision was announced and was deemed final; if
they refused to accept it, an appeal lay to another Court, called the
Renfort of the Egard, which was constituted by each langue electing
another member, thus doubling the original number. The same procedure
was carried out as in the first Court, and if the litigants expressed
themselves still dissatisfied, a new Court was summoned, called the
Renfort of the Renfort, which was formed by the election from each
langue of another member, thus making twenty-five with the President.
If their decision was not accepted a final Court of Appeal, called
the Bailiffs' Egard, was formed by the addition of the conventual
bailiffs, or, if absent, their lieutenants, and their decision was
final. This admirable Court of Equity existed almost unaltered right
down to 1798.

The Hospital was a characteristic institution of the Order, and
deserves some mention. Originally the chief scene of their activities,
the Hospital was never forgotten by the Knights. Their first duty,
wherever they went, was always to build a Hospital to tend the sick,
and to the end every Knight at the Convent, in theory at least, went
to take his turn in attending at the Hospital for one day in the week.
The site of the Hospital, on the south-east side of Valetta, has been
condemned by science as unhealthy, and it is very easy with modern
knowledge to find many faults in its organisation. Howard, in his
"Lazarettos in Europe," in 1786, gave a vivid description of its
condition and exposed its defects. At that time, however, the Hospital
was sharing the general decadence of the Order, and discipline had
become very lax. But, even so, the Hospital was far superior to most
other hospitals in Europe and still kept much of that distinction it
had acquired in the great days of the Order. We must remember that
hospital organisation is a very recent science, and it would be unfair
to accuse the Knights of neglecting what had not yet been discovered.
Their Hospital was one of the most famous in Europe, and was used
by many from Sicily and Southern Italy as well as by the natives of
Malta. It was open to all who wis