prepared to repel an active and daring enemy, and
even to withstand successfully a protracted siege.

Only the skeleton of a once great and thriving metropolis now remains.
The place has no commerce and no special industry, but is slowly fading
away into the dimness of the past.

In wandering about the doleful streets of the ancient capital to-day,
one meets a swarm of plethoric priests, sandaled monks, and hooded
friars, while escorted from point to point by sad-looking, ragged,
importuning beggars. Where the first of these elements abound, the other
is sure to do so. This is a universal experience. Nowhere are the people
more absolutely subservient to the control of the priesthood, or more
completely subject to the exacting ordinances of the Roman Catholic
Church. The priests receive rental for at least one third of the land
which is occupied or cultivated on the islands. Unfortunately, this
money is not expended in a way to benefit, even indirectly, the
inhabitants of Malta. Nearly all the income from this source flows into
that great pecuniary receptacle and avaricious maw, the pontifical
treasury at Rome. There is no other palace in the world which is so
rich in hoarded treasures as the Vatican, the thrice voluptuous Roman
home of the Pope, where he lives surrounded by a populace which leads a
life of penury and semi-starvation. Little heeds he of such trifling
matters, while he "quaffs his Rhenish down." Appreciative travelers
speak of the "cold wilderness of the Vatican." This sensation is easily
accounted for. It is because this grand palace is so much more of a
museum than a home, or human habitation. It has been called, not
inappropriately, a congress of palaces, and, with two exceptions, is the
largest in the world. The Royal Palace at St. Petersburg and that of
Versailles exceed it somewhat in proportions, but by no means in the
richness and intrinsic value of its hoarded wealth. The accumulation of
original paintings and statuary, by the great masters of art, which are
stored in the Pope's palace would alone bring over thirty million
dollars, if sold to be added to the grand national collections open to
the public in various European cities. The value of other treasures of
the Vatican one would hardly dare to estimate, but the aggregate figure
would far exceed that named in connection with the paintings and
statuary. The gold in the Pope's plethoric treasury is to be added to
this estimate. With this enorm