God of heaven; wheat, falt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerufalem, let it be given them day by day without fail; that they may offer facrifices of sweet favours unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and of his fons. Alfo I have made a decree, that whofoever fhall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and, being set up, let him be hanged thereon; and let his houfe be made a dunghill for this. And the God that hath caufed his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people that shall put to their hand to alter and to deftroy this house of God which is at Jerufalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with speed. Then Tatnai, governor on this fide the river, Shetharboznai, and their companions, according to that which Darius the king had fent, fo they did speedily. And the elders of the Jews builded, and they profpered through the prophefying of Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the fon of Iddo; and they builded and finished it according to the commandment of the God of Ifrael, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Perfia. And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the fixth year of the reign of Darius the king," and in the year of the world 3489.

CHAPTER III.

Obfervations on the Orders of Knights Templars, and Knights of Malta.

ACCORDING to the Abbe de Vertot, the order of knights of Malta, who were originally called hofpitallers of St. John of Jerufalem, took its rife about the year 1099; from which time to the year 1118, their whole employment was works of charity, and taking care of the fick.

Some time after the establishment of this order, nine gentlemen (of whose names two only remain on record, viz. Hugho de Paganis and Godfrey Adelman) formed a fociety to guard and protect the Christian pilgrims who travelled from abroad to vifit the holy fepulchre.

These men were encouraged by the Abbot of Jerufalem, who affigned them and their companions a place of retreat in a chriftian church, called the church of the holy temple, from which they were called templars, and not from the temple of Jerufalem, that having been deftroyed by Titus Vefpafian, 982 years before the fociety of Templars was inftituted.

The fociety increased rapidly, and was much refpected; but had neither habit, order, or mark of diftinction, for the fpace of nine years, when pope Honorius II, at the requeft of Stephen, patriarch of Jerufalem, laid down a rule and manner of life for them; and ordained that they fhould be clothed in white; to which garment pope Eugenius III added a red cross, to be worn

on the breast, which they promised by a folemn oath to obferve for ever.

Incited by the example of the knights templars, about the year 1118, the hofpitallers alfo took up the profeffion of arms, in addition to their original charitable profeffion; occupying themselves at one time in attending upon the fick, and at others in acts of hoftility against the Turks and Saracens. At this time they took the name of knights hofpitallers.

Both orders flourished and increased daily; but that of the templars, though the youngest of the two, having from its original establishment been wholly employed in the profeflion of arms, was by many esteemed to be the moft honourable; and therefore many noblemen, princes, and perfons of the higheft diftinction, who thought the service of tending the fick too fervile an employment, entered themselves among the knights templars, in preference to the other

order.

Both orders, for years, generally took the field together, and as well by themselves as in conjunction with the troops of the crufaders, won many battles, and performed prodigies of valour. The emulation, however, which fubfifted between them, often occafioned warm difputes, which rofe to fuch a height as produced frequent fkirmishes between detached parties of the two orders. This occafioned the pope and the refpective grand mafters to interfere; who in a great meafure fuppreffed thefe quarrels ; but the knights of the different orders ever afterward continued to view each other with jealous eyes.

Some time after thefe difficulties were thus partially fuppreffed, the Turks affembled a great force, and drove the whole of the chriftians out of Palestine. The laft fortrefs they had poffeffion of was that of St. John D'Acre. This was long and bravely defended by the knights templars against their befiegers. The Turks, however, at laft forced three hundred knights, being all that remained of the garrifon, to take refuge in a ftrong tower, to which alfo the women fled for fafety. The Turks hereupon fet about undermining it, which they in a fhort time fo effectually accomplished, that the knights faw, in cafe they held out any longer, they muft all inevitably perifh. They therefore capitulated, ftipulating, among other things, that the honour of their women fhould not be violated. Upon this, the tower being opened, the Turks marched in; but, in total breach of the terms of capitulation, they immediately began to offer violence to the women. The enraged knights inftantly drew their fwords, hewed in pieces all the Turks who had entered, fhut the gates against those who remained without, and refigned themfelves to inevitable death, which they foon met with, by the tower being undermined and thrown down upon their heads.

After this defeat, the two orders found an afylum in the island of Cyprus; from whence, after fome time, the knights templars, finding their number fo diminished as to leave no hopes of effecting any thing towards the recovery of the holy land, without new crufades, (which the christian princes did not seem inclined to fet on

foot) returned to their different commanders in the various parts of christendom.

From this time the two orders feparated; the knights hofpitallers remained a while at Cyprus, from whence they afterwards went to Rhodes, and thence to Malta; which name they then affumed. The knights templars difperfed themfelves throughout all Europe, but ftill enjoyed princely revenues, and were extremely wealthy.

Vertot fays, that pope Boniface the VIII, having engaged in a warm difpute with Philip, king of France, the two orders, as had too frequently happened before, took oppofite fides. The knights of Malta declared in favour of king Philip, while the knights templars espoused the cause of the pope. This conduct, Philip, partly from a revengeful difpofition, and partly from the hope of getting poffeffion of the vaft wealth of the knights, never could forgive; but formed, thenceforward, the defign of fuppreffing the order whenever a proper opportunity fhould offer. This however did not occur till after the decease of pope Boniface.

Immediately on the death of that pontiff, the cardinals affembled to elect his fucceffor; but party disputes ran fo high in the conclave, that there feemed no probability of again filling the papal chair very speedily. At length, through the intrigues and machinations of the friends of Philip, the cardinals were all brought to confent to the election of any prieft that he should recommend to them.

This was the darling object the monarch had in view this being accomplished, he immedi