soon caused the king of that country to regret the step he had taken
against the Knights of St. John. After he had lost many vessels to the
Knights and Turks combined, he humbly sued for peace, and made such
ample reparation as was demanded of him for the needless war which he
had caused.

Looking at the current of events from our own standpoint, and through
the distance of time, it would seem that the Knights must have found it
a rather uncongenial business to fight a so-called Christian power, side
by side with their life-long enemies, the infidel Turks. True, it was
but a temporary union, the object of which having been accomplished, the
old spirit of enmity between the Knights and the Ottomans was resumed,
and found expression in an immediate renewal of hostilities.

From this period the glory of the Knights of St. John seems to have
gradually waned. Their religious zeal and simplicity of living had long
since departed. Is not all growth toward ripeness also toward decay,
unless directed heavenward? There was no longer any violent opposition
to overcome by energetic action and self-abnegation, no enemy with arms
in his hands whom they must conquer. The one power whom they had always
antagonized was comparatively exhausted and undemonstrative. True
manhood feeds upon--is supported by--antagonism, and opposition is the
spur to heroic deeds. The life of constant warfare and the savage use of
arms which the Knights had so long been accustomed to quite
over-shadowed their priestly instincts, and as peace now reigned, they
sought unholy excitement in various forms, such as were ill-suited to
the vows and professions of the order. They now dwelt in sumptuous
palaces, lapsing by degrees into utter idleness and libertinism. They
had become the richest and most powerful brotherhood in the world. It is
true that the outward forms of their religion were observed with more or
less regularity, but it was an empty, heartless ceremony. The portraits,
still extant, which were painted of them at this period, show that their
dress was changed from steel armor and shirt of mail to velvet and
gold-wrought fabric, of an effeminate character. Their chivalric
impulses had departed. They gave way to the pleasures of the table and
to the demoralizing wine-cup. Those who have written of the order
understandingly as regards this period tell us that morality was at the
lowest ebb with the individual members of the fraternity. In these
latter