The traveller who visits Malta at the present day finds no object more interesting than the stately cathedral of Valetta, still rich in historical memorials and in monuments of art, of which even French rapacity could not despoil it. As he descends into its crypts, and wanders through its subterranean recesses, he sees the niche where still repose the remains of La Valette, surrounded by the brave chivalry who fought, side by side with him, the battles of the Faith. And surely no more fitting place could be found for his repose, than the heart of the noble capital which may be said to have been created by his genius.[1398]
The Knights of St. John continued, in the main, faithful to the maxims of La Valette and to the principles of their institution. For more than two centuries after his death, their sword was ever raised against the infidel. Their galleys still returned to port freighted with the spoils of the barbarian. They steadily continued to advance in power and opulence; and while empires rose and crumbled around them, this little brotherhood of warlike monks, after a lapse of more than seven centuries from its foundation, still maintained a separate and independent existence.
In the long perspective of their annals, there was no event which they continued to hold in so much honor as the defence of Malta by La Valette. The eighth of September—the day of the nativity of the Virgin—continued to the last to be celebrated as their proudest anniversary. On that day the whole body of the knights, and the people of the capital, walked in solemn procession, with the grand-master at their head, to the church of St. John. A knight, wearing the helmet and mailed armor of the ancient time, bore on high the victorious standard of the order. A page by his side carried the superb sword and poniard presented by Philip the Second. As the procession passed into the church, and the standard was laid at the foot of the altar, it was announced by flourishes of trumpets and by peals of artillery from the fortresses. The services were performed by the prior of St. John's; and, while the Gospel was read, the grand-master held the naked sword aloft, in token that the knights were ever ready to do battle for the Cross.[1399] When the ceremony was concluded, a fine portrait of La Valette was exhibited to the[{456}] people; and the brethren gazed, with feelings of reverence, on his majestic lineaments, as on those of the saviour of their order.[1400]
But all this is changed. The Christians, instead of being banded against the Turk, now rally in his defence. There are no longer crusades against the infidel. The age of chivalry has passed. The objects for which the Knights Hospitallers were instituted have long since ceased to exist; and it was fitting that the institution, no longer needed, should die with them. The knights who survived the ruin of their order became wanderers in foreign lands. Their island has passed into the hands of the stranger; and the flag of England now waves from the ramparts on which once floated the banner of St. John.
CHAPTER VI.
DON CARLOS.
His Education and Character.—Dangerous Illness.—Extravagant Behavior.—Opinions respecting him.—His Connection with the Flemings.—Project of Flight.—Insane Conduct.—Arrest.
1567, 1568.
We must now, after a long absence, return to the shores of Spain, where events were taking place of the highest importance to the future fortunes of the monarchy. At the time when the tragic incidents described in the preceding Book were passing in the Netherlands, others, not less tragic, if we may trust to popular rumor, were occurring in the very palace of the monarch. I allude to the death of Don Carlos, prince of Asturias, and that of Isabella of Valois, Philip's young and beautiful queen. The relations in which the two parties stood to each other, their untimely fate, and the mystery in which it was enveloped, have conspired with the sombre, unscrupulous character of Philip to suggest the most horrible suspicions of the cause of their death. The mystery which hung over them in their own time has not been dissipated by the researches of later chroniclers. For that very reason, it has proved an inexhaustible theme for fiction, until it might be thought to have passed from the domain of history into that of romance. It has been found especially suited to the purposes of the drama; and the dramatic literature of Europe contains more than one masterpiece from the hand of genius, which displays in sombre coloring the loves and the misfortunes of Carlos and Isabella.[1401]