own in this
little island?"

"Yes, madam," replied Charles, "I know it; it is Valetta, so named
from the noble Provencal Valette, who, after vainly endeavoring to
defend the holy sepulchre from the defilements of the infidels, was
by them driven with his faithful Christian army from island to
island, until he ultimately planted the standard of the cross on
this sea-girt rock, and bravely and successfully withstood the
attacks of his enemies. Malta was given to the Knights of St. John
of Jerusalem in 1530 by the Emperor Charles V., when the Turks drove
them out of Rhodes. They have since been called 'Knights of Malta.'
The island is in possession of the English."

DORA. "And so are the Ionian Islands, which include Zante,
Cephalonia, and St. Maura: they are all pretty spots near the coast
of Greece."

MR. WILTON. "In the Mediterranean Sea lays the largest ship in the
world, the 'Mahmoud:' it is floating off Beyrout."

"I can tell you, papa," said George, "the size of the largest ship
in the time of Henry VIII.; it was called the 'Henri Grace a Dieu,'
and was of 1000 tons burthen; it required 349 soldiers, 301 sailors,
and 50 gunners to man her."

MR. WILTON. "That was the first double-decked ship built in England;
it cost L14,000, and was completed in 1509. Before this, twenty-four
gun-ships were the largest in our navy; and these had no port-holes,
the guns being on the upper decks only. Port-holes were invented by
Descharges, a French builder at Brest, in the year 1500."

CHARLES. "That was a useful and simple invention enough: it must
have been very inconvenient to have all the guns on the upper decks;
besides, there could not be space for so many as the vessels of war
carry now. Pray what is the size of a first-rate man-of-war, and how
many guns does she carry?"

MR. BARRAUD. "The 'Caledonia,' built at Plymouth in 1808, is 2616
tons burthen, carries 120 guns, and requires 875 men without
officers. You can imagine the size of a vessel that could contain so
many men. But all are not so large: that is a first-rate: there are
some sixth-rate, which only carry twenty guns, are not more than 400
tons burthen, and their complement of men is only 155. The
intermediate ships, 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th rate, vary in every respect
according to their size, and are classed according to their force
and burthen. Only first and second-rate men-of-war have three decks.
Ships of the line include all vessels up to the highest rate