“Cyprus contains the renowned Paphos:  it is not quite so long an island as Candia, but it is ten miles broader.

“Rhodes is fifty miles long, and twenty-five broad.  At the north of the harbor stood the celebrated colossus of brass, once reckoned one of the wonders of the world.  It was placed with a foot on either side of the harbor, so that ships in full sail passed between its legs.  This enormous statue was 130 feet high; it was thrown down by an earthquake, and afterwards destroyed, and taken to pieces in the year A.D. 653.

“Of Majorca I have little to say:  its chief town is Majorca.

“Port Mahon is the capital of Minorca; and Iviza is the principal town in the island of that name.

“Malta—­”

[Illustration:  VALETTE.]

GEORGE.  “Excuse me for interrupting you, dear mamma; but I wish Grandy to tell me if Malta is the same island as the Melita mentioned in the 28th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where St. Paul was shipwrecked?”

GRANDY.  “Yes, my dear; it is commonly supposed to be the same.  It is a very rocky island, inhabited by a people whom most modern travellers describe as very selfish, very insincere, and very superstitious.  The population amounts to upwards of 63,000.  In the days of St. Paul, the inhabitants were, without doubt, an uncivilized race, for he calls them a barbarous people!  ’And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness:  for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.’  Here it was that from the circumstance of St. Paul experiencing no evil effects from the viper clinging to his hand, that the people concluded him to be a god; here too he was allowed to perform many mighty works, such as healing the sick, &c., which caused him to be ‘honored with many honors;’ and ’when they departed, they were laden with the bounty of the people.’  Can any one of you young folks tell me the name of the chief town in this little island?”

“Yes, madam,” replied Charles, “I know it; it is Valetta, so named from the noble Provencal Valette, who, after vainly endeavoring to defend the holy sepulchre from the defilements of the infidels, was by them driven with his faithful Christian army from island to island, until he ultimately planted the standard of the cross on this sea-girt rock, and bravely and successfully withstood the attacks of his enemies.  Malta was given to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in 1530 by the Emperor Charles V., when the Turks drove them out of Rhodes.  They have since been called ‘Knights of Malta.’  The island is in possession of the English.”

DORA.  “And so are the Ionian Islands, which include Zante, Cephalonia, and St. Maura:  they are all pretty spots near the coast of Greece.”

MR. WILTON.  “In the Mediterranean Sea lays the largest ship in the world, the ‘Mahmoud:’  it is floating off Beyrout.”

“I can tell you, papa,” said George, “the size of the largest ship in the time of Henry VIII.; it was called the ‘Henri Grace a Dieu,’ and was of 1000 tons burthen; it required 349 soldiers, 301 sailors, and 50 gunners to man her.”