le of the Order of St. John, it was required that each new
Grand Master of the Knights should come hither to be inaugurated, and
here, the precedent having been established, each new bishop of the
island is still consecrated. There are several other official acts which
are not considered binding unless they are first promulgated at Citta
Vecchia. So in Russia there are certain state ceremonials, such as the
crowning of a new Czar, or the marriage of a royal pair, which must be
performed at Moscow, the ancient metropolis of the empire,
notwithstanding the fact that St. Petersburg is so much more populous,
and is the capital as well as the royal residence. But in this instance
the old Muscovite capital is in perfect condition, so to speak,
picturesque and beautiful, and never more populous and prosperous than
it is to-day. Citta Vecchia, one can easily see, must once have been a
proud and stately city, surrounded by high walls and stout bastions, but
its glory has long since departed. Ptolemy eulogized it in his day under
the title it then bore,--Melita. The once formidable walls are now in a
crumbling, neglected condition. Indeed, the charm of the old place
consists in its memories alone. It was growing less populous yearly when
Valletta was begun, more than three hundred years ago; the completion of
the new city acted as a finishing stroke to its social and commercial
interests. So rapidly was the ancient capital deserted by its
inhabitants, who sought homes in the new metropolis, that, as we have
intimated, ingenious laws were devised to make it more attractive to its
residents.

During the dominion of the Knights, Citta Vecchia was governed by a
ruler chosen from the native Maltese citizens by the Grand Master, a
custom which was cunningly designed to satisfy the native population by
holding forth the idea that it was an independent, self-governing
district. When the Knights first came to Malta, they were specially
considerate of the native people, conciliating the populace in every
possible way, but after they had thoroughly established themselves upon
the island and become firmly seated, they ruled the natives with a rod
of iron. In later years they had become so arbitrary and exacting that
the Maltese were quite ready, when the time came, to bid them farewell,
and to welcome their new masters, the English.

The Grand Master, Matino Garzes, made Citta Vecchia a place of refuge,
as it were. It was decreed that all p