This etext was produced by Martin Robb (MartinRobb@ieee.org) PREFACE. MY DEAR LADS, The order of the Knights of St. John, which for some centuries played
a very important part in the great struggle between Christianity
and Mahomedanism, was, at its origin, a semi-religious body,
its members being, like other monks, bound by vows of obedience,
chastity, and poverty, and pledged to minister to the wants of the
pilgrims who flocked to the Holy Places, to receive them at their
great Hospital -- or guest house -- at Jerusalem, dedicated to St.
John the Baptist, and to defend them on their passage to and from
the sea, against attack by Moslems. In a comparatively short
time the constitution of the order was changed, and the Knights
Hospitallers became, like the Templars, a great military Order
pledged to defend the Holy Sepulchre, and to war everywhere against
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