showed themselves most laudably anxious. At present the official language, where English is not used, is not Maltese but Italian; and this foreign tongue becomes, with a certain class, a shibboleth of disaffection. It is to be regretted, also, that this contracted view is fostered by many of the clergy, who, with gross ingratitude, forget that they enjoy privileges and immunities under English rule which in France or Italy would be denied them, and persist in posing as the representatives of a true Church, offended by the very presence of heretical interlopers. It is much to be hoped that the Government will steadily persevere in the introduction of the English language, in spite both of open opposition and covert discouragement; as there can be no question that it would not only strengthen the bond with Great Britain, but, by encouraging visits to this country on the part of Maltese, improve the standards of taste and intelligence which now prevail among the latter.
General Porter's book does not, of course, deal to any great extent with the modern condition of Malta, or even with its antiquarian aspect, apart from the period of the rule of the Grand Masters; but he inferentially adds another to the many testimonies of the value of the historical treasures for which England has made herself responsible, by her acceptance of the position once occupied by the Order of St John in Malta. That these traditions and relics are in some danger of being neglected is only too true. At home, although a spasmodic interest in them may be aroused at intervals by travellers like Lady Brassey, and savants like Professor Sayce, the feeling soon subsides, and we are content with a few specimens, deposited in our own museums or arsenals, and leave the people of Malta to do very much as they list with the great bulk of the archaeological treasures which are still in their original home: a very unsatisfactory mode of discharging our responsibility.
A melancholy spectacle of the little regard paid to literature is to be seen in the public library, rich in valuable works bequeathed by eminent members of the Order, and containing likewise a good modern collection of books of general information, for which an annual allowance is made from the Government estimates. The chairs in the great hall are occupied by urchins of ten or twelve, learning their lessons from dog's-eared primers, or amusing themselves with the engravings in illustrated newspapers, while adults are conspicuous by their absence. You are in search of some book, and learn that it has disappeared, or receive it in the form of a crumbling heap of dusty leaves, tied together with packthread, and honeycombed by the ravages of the Anobium pertinax and the Acaris eruditus, to say nothing of other varieties of the insect enemies of literature, which were described in an article in the 'Academy' about two years ago. Should you desire to see the museum of antiquities, you will be ushered into a series of dusky closets in the rear of the building, where the objects, some of them unique and priceless, are huddled together without arrangement or catalogue. This is to a great extent the result of the foolish parsimony of the English Government, who for many years provided a perfectly inadequate staff of custodians; but it is now in no small measure the vis inertiæ which opposes suggestions of improvement
