Every Thing Was Perfectly Clean;
The Bedsteads Of Iron, Furnished With Mosquito-Curtains; And We Were
Supplied Immediately With Every Article That We Required.
As the rolling of the Megara had prevented the possibility
of forming a sentence, we sat down to write
Letters, and having
despatched a few of the introductions to residents, with which my
friends in England had supplied me, I was agreeably surprised by some
visits which I had scarcely expected, as we found that we should be
obliged to embark for Alexandria in the evening.
I did not hear very flattering accounts of the state of society at
Malta, which, like that of all other confined places, is split into
factions, and where there seems to be a perpetual struggle, by the
least fortunate classes, to assert equality with those whose rank is
acknowledged; thus every person attached to the government assumes
eligibility for the entre into the best circles, while the
magnates of the place are by no means inclined to admit them to these
privileges. It appeared that the endeavours of the Commissioner to
produce a greater degree of cordiality between the Maltese inhabitants
and the English residents, so far from succeeding, had tended to
widen the distance between them, and that the Maltese were by no means
grateful for the efforts made for their improvement. However, though
the fruits may not at present appear, the seed having been sown, we
may entertain a strong hope that they will show themselves in time.
While an undertaking so gigantic as the diffusion of the English
language throughout India has been attempted, it seems rather
extraordinary that the efforts of the committee should not have
been directed to the same result in Malta, and that the progress of
education should not have been conducted in the language that promised
to prove the most useful to subjects of the British crown; but it
appears that the committee decided otherwise, and complaints are
making, that the instruction now supplied at the schools is of the
most superficial nature, and by no means calculated to produce the
desired end.
Every object in Malta bears witness to the ingenuity and industry of
its inhabitants. The softness of the stone renders it easily cut, and
the Dowager Marchioness of Hastings (who has left imperishable marks
of her desire to benefit those who came under her observation), in
supplying the best designs, has filled the shops of Malta with a
tasteful species of bijouterie, which is eagerly sought after by
all the visitors. The carved work of Malta is sold very cheap; but the
same quality, which renders it so easily cut, occasions it to chip,
and, therefore, great care is necessary in packing these fragile
articles.
As soon as possible, we sallied forth to inspect the far-famed church
of St. John, and found our expectations more than gratified by the
interior of this gorgeous edifice. It was not, however, without
melancholy feelings, that we reflected on the miserable remnant of
those valiant knights, who had made Malta celebrated throughout all
history, and who, on the suppression of the order, were suffered to
languish out the remainder of their existence in obscurity.
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