Note 22 — Chapter V

“Such was the esteem with which the valour of the knights had inspired the Turks, that they refrained from defacing their armorial bearings and inscriptions on the buildings. For more than 300 years the Ottomans have treated the memory of their brave foemen with the same respect; and the escutcheons of the Knights of St. John, who fought against Sultan Solyman for Rhodes, still decorate the long-captured city.” “The street of the knights is uninjured,” writes Marshal Marmont, “and the door of each house is still ornamented with the escutcheon of the last inhabitant. The buildings have been spared, but are unoccupied; and we could almost fancy ourselves surrounded by the shades of departed heroes. The arms of France, the noble fleurs-de-lis, are seen in all directions. I observed those of the Clermont Tennerres, and of other ancient and illustrious families.” (Creasy, vol. i. p. 263.) “The Turks,” says Taaffe, “never destroyed so much of Rhodes as the French during their first days at Malta, pulling down all the statues of renowned heroes, and chiselling out the coats-of-arms every where, even over the palace.” Vol. iv. p. 217.