desertion in its stately hangings, its echoing
halls, and quaint vestibules. It must all have been very grand when the
renowned brotherhood were at the zenith of their fame and power, when
the head of the order presided here and ruled the proud organization in
regal state.

The interior of the palace is divided into broad passageways inlaid with
colored marble, picture galleries, banqueting hall, hall of justice,
hall of council, grand armory, and many other spacious apartments. Among
the most meritorious paintings are a series of striking views
representing the various sanguinary battles in which the Knights had
from time to time been engaged. This series is the work of Matteo da
Lecce. Other examples of superior workmanship are by Caravaggio,
Cavalier Favray, Giuseppe d' Arpino, and so on. There are no modern
paintings in the palace, all are mellowed by age. Indeed, there is
nothing new here in art or furniture; such would be quite out of place;
everything seems to have about it the tone of lapsed centuries, while
exhibiting a lavishness of original expenditure which the most limitless
means alone could warrant.

In one of the broad corridors near the armory hall, the gilded state
carriage formerly used by the Grand Masters may be seen. Its gaudy
construction shows the style kept up by the Knights in those days. The
tawdry, lumbering, gold-decked state carriage one sees at the State
Department of the City of Mexico, left by the ill-advised Maximilian, is
no more extravagant in character. The idea of supporting an official
carriage at all upon this circumscribed island is an obvious folly and
straining after effect. The most extensive journey such a vehicle could
make would be the length of the Strada Reale, or possibly from the
palace square through the Porta Reale into the suburb of Floriana, about
two miles. This useless carriage somehow recalled the ponderous gilded
car of Juggernaut, seen at Tanjore, India, the structure in which the
idol takes its yearly airing drawn by thousands of poor, deluded, and
fanatical Hindoos.

This edifice in the Square of St. George, it will be remembered, was the
official palace of the order, the headquarters of the Grand Master.
Each "language" or division of the Knights had also its separate palace.
Valletta, like Calcutta or Venice, was a city of palaces. In these
latter days the members of the fraternity lived in great splendor; their
tables were heavy with the richest viands