s it is to take care of the Women Pilgrims in a Hospital apart
from that of the Men. As the Order look upon the Turks as the Great
Enemies of Christianity, they think themselves obliged to be in a state
of perpetual Hostility with that people, and, for Centuries, have never
so much as signed the preliminaries of a Peace with 'em. They have
performed innumerable and astonishing exploits against their much-hated
Enemies, the Insolence of whose Rovers they continue to Restrain and
Chastise, except when the Rovers, as sometimes happens, get the better
of 'em. They have Seven Galleys belonging to the Order, each of which
carries Five Hundred Men, and as many Wretches in Fetters tugging away
at the Oar, for Dear Life. Every one of these Galleys mounts Sixteen
Pieces of Heavy Artillery; and besides these they fit out a great many
Private Ships, by license from the Grand Master, to cruise up and down
among the Turks, doing great Havoc, and thereby growing very Rich. Thus
it will be plain to the Reader that a Knight of Malta is a kind of
Medley of Seaman, Swashbuckler, and Saint--Admiral Benbow, Field-Marshal
Wade, and Friar Tuck all rolled up into one.

I did become acquainted with one of these Holy Roystering Cavalieros,
by the name of Don Ercolo Amadeo Sparafucile di San Lorenzo, that was a
perfect Model of all these Characteristics. He Confessed with almost as
great regularity as he Sinned. The Chaplains must have held him as one
of the heartiest of Penitents; for he never came back from a Cruise
without a whole Sackful of Misdeeds, and straightway hied him to St.
John's Church, to fling his Sinful Ballast overboard and lighten ship.
How he swore! I never heard a man take the entrails of Alexander the
Great in vain before; but this was an ordinary expletive with Don
Ercolo. He belonged to the Italian Language, though I suspected he had a
dash of the Spanish in him; and many a Gay Bout over the choicest of
Wines have I had with him at his Inn, as their College-halls are
sometimes called. He could drink like a Fish, and fight like a Paladin.
He was a good Practical Sailor and Master of Navigation; Rode with ease
and dexterity; and was a Proficient in that most difficult trick of the
_Manege_, that of riding a horse _en Biais_, as the French term it, and
of which our Newcastle has learnedly treated; was an admirable Performer
on the Guitar and Viol di Gamba; Sung very sweetly; Fenced exquisitely;
must have been in his Youth (he