the capital of a small island of the same name in the Mediterranean, is situated in E. long. 15°, N. lat. 35° 15'; consisting of three towns, separated by channels, which form so many peninsulas of solid rock, rising a great height above the sea.

Knights of Malta, otherwise called Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, a religious military order, whose residence is in the island of Malta. The order consists of three estates, the knights, chaplains, and servants at arms: there are also priests who officiate in the churches; friar-sevants, who assist at the offices; and donnes, or demicroffes; but these are not reckoned constituent parts of the body. The government of the order is mixt, being partly monarchical, and partly aristocratical: the grand master is sovereign. The knights formerly consisted of eight different languages, but now only seven, the English having withdrawn themselves. None are admitted into this order but such as are of noble birth: the knights are of two sorts, those who have a right to be candidates for the dignity of grand master, called grand croffes, and those who are only knights assistants: they never marry, yet have continued from 1090 to the present time. The knights are received into this order, either by undergoing the trials prescribed by statutes, or by dispensation.