[1396] Vertot, Knights of Malta, vol. III. p. 42.
[1397] Ibid., pp. 42-48.—Boisgelin, Ancient and Modern Malta, vol. I. pp. 127-142.
[1398] An interesting description of this cathedral, well styled the Westminster Abbey of Malta, may be found in Bigelow's Travels in Sicily and Malta (p. 190),—a work full of instruction, in which the writer, allowing himself a wider range than that of the fashionable tourist, takes a comprehensive survey of the resources of the countries he has visited, while he criticizes their present condition by an enlightened comparison with the past.
[1399] "Lorsqu'on commence l'Evangile, le Grand-Maître la prend des mains du Page et la tient tonte droite pendant le tems de l'Evangile. C'est la seule occasion où l'on tient l'épée nue à l'Eglise." Helyot, Hist. des Ordres Religieux, tom. III. p. 93.
[1400] Boisgelin, Ancient and Modern Malta, vol. I. p. 35.
The good knight dwells with complacency on the particulars of a ceremony in which he had often borne a part himself. It recalled to his mind the glorious days of an order, which he fondly hoped might one day be restored to its primitive lustre.
[1401] Alfieri, Schiller, and, in our day, Lord John Russell, have, each according to his own conceptions, exhibited the poetic aspect of the story to the eyes of their countrymen. The Castilian dramatist, Montalvan, in his "Príncipe Don Carlos," written before the middle of the seventeenth century, shows more deference to historic accuracy, as well as to the reputation of Isabella, by not mixing her up in any way with the fortunes of the prince of Asturias.
[1402] This correspondence is printed in a curious volume, of the greatest rarity, entitled, Elogios de Don Honorato Juan, (Valencia, 1659,) p. 60 et seq.
[1403] "Egli in collera reiterò con maraviglia et riso di S. M. et de'circumstanti, che mai egli non saria fuggito." Relatione di Badoaro, MS.
[1404] "Reprehendio al Principe su nieto su poca mesura i mucha desenboltura con que vivia i trataba con su tia, i encomendòla su correcion, diziendo era en lo q̃ mas podia obligar a todos." Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. II. cap. 11.