an duty to provide
for the restoration of Malta.[1395] La Valette superintended the
operations in person. He was ever to be seen on the spot, among the
workmen. There he took his meals, discussed affairs of state with his
council, and even gave audience to envoys from abroad.[1396]

In the midst of these quiet occupations, there were some occurrences
which distracted the attention, and greatly disturbed the tranquillity,
of La Valette. One of these was the disorderly conduct of some of the
younger knights. Another was a dispute in which he was involved with the
pope, who, in the usual encroaching spirit of the Vatican, had
appropriated to himself the nomination to certain benefices belonging to
the order.

[Sidenote: SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF LA VALETTE.]

These unpleasant affairs weighed heavily on the grand-master's mind; and
he often sought to relieve his spirits by the diversion of hawking, of
which he was extremely fond. While engaged in this sport, on a hot day
in July, he received a stroke of the sun. He was immediately taken to Il
Borgo. A fever set in; and it soon became apparent that his frame,
enfeebled by his unparalleled fatigues and hardships, was rapidly
sinking under it. Before dying, he called around his bed some of the
brethren to whom the management of affairs was chiefly committed, and
gave them his counsel in respect to the best method of carrying out his
plans. He especially enjoined on them to maintain a spirit of unity
among themselves, if they would restore the order to its ancient
prosperity and grandeur. By his testament, he liberated his slaves, some
fifty in number; and he obtained the consent of his brethren to bequeath
a sum sufficient to endow a chapel he had built in Valetta, to
commemorate his victory over the infidels. It was dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin; and in this chapel he desired that his body might be
laid. Having completed these arrangements, he expired on the
twenty-first of August, 1568.

La Valette's dying commands were punctually executed by his brethren.
The coffin inclosing his remains was placed on board of the admiral's
galley, which, with four others that escorted it, was shrouded in black.
They bore the household of the deceased, and the members of the order.
The banners taken by him in battle with the Moslems were suspended from
the sterns of the vessels, and trailed through the water. The
procession, on landing, took its way through the streets of the embryo
capi