ince my
departure from Vienna I had not seen one so neatly or so well built.
Afterwards I visited the church of St. John, and was much struck
with its splendour. This building is very spacious, and the floor
is completely covered with monumental slabs of marble, covering the
graves of the knights. The ceiling is ornamented with beautiful
frescoes, and the walls are sculptured from ceiling to floor with
arabesques, leaves, and flowers, in sandstone.

All these ornaments are richly gilt, and present a peculiarly
imposing appearance. The side-chapels contain numerous monuments,
mostly of white marble, and one single one of black, in memory of
celebrated Maltese knights. At the right-hand corner of the church
is the so-called "rose-coloured" chapel. It is hung round with a
heavy silk stuff of a red colour, which diffuses a roseate halo over
all the objects around. The altar is surrounded by a high massive
railing. Two only of the paintings are well executed--namely, that
over the high altar, and a piece representing Christ on the cross.
The pillars round the altar are of marble; and at each side of the
grand altar rise lofty canopies of red velvet fringed with gold,
reaching almost to the vaulted cupola.

The uncomfortable custom of carrying chairs to and fro during
church-time, which is so universal throughout Italy, begins already
at Malta.

The predilection for the clerical profession seems to prevail here,
as it does throughout Italy; I could almost say that every fifteenth
person we meet either is a clergyman or intends to become one.
Children of ten or twelve years already run about in the black gown
and three-cornered hat.

The streets are handsome and cleanly kept, particularly the one
which intersects the town; some of them are even watered. The
counters of the dealers' shops contain the most exquisite wares; in
fact, every where we find indications that we are once more on
European ground.

When we see the Fachini here, with their dark worked caps or round
straw hats, their short jackets and comfortable trousers, with
jaunty red sashes round their waists, and their bold free glance,--
when we contrast them with the wretched fellahs of Egypt, and
consider that these men both belong to the same class in society,
and that the fellahs even inhabit the more fruitful country, we
begin to have our doubts of Mehemet Ali's benignant rule.

The governor's palace, a great square building, stands on a
magnif