Excerpt from Historical Guide to Malta and Gozo Formerly the bulwark of Christendom a gainst the bloody banner of Islamism and in fidelity, and exerting a salutary influence o'er the desolations of Africa, giving also decisive checks to the infamous piracies of the Barbary coast, Malta. Now also, in our own times, exerts a still nobler becausea moral influence, upon the shores of the Mediterranean, and occupies under the benign and all powerful flag of Great Britain, a prouder attitude than even during the most renowned days of her chivalrous story, under the sovereignty of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. A writer, then, who attempts some illustra tion of the past and present history of so re markable a country as Malta, together with the peculiar features of its social and political state, however humble his efforts, or eon tracted his plan, may venture, without the slightest charge of arrogance, to anticipate theblgood wishes and the support of the pu te. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.