Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 18, RHI-SCR

R H O [i
Hlio<!os. counted tlielr refpeflive breach with an undaunted bra-
1 very, the young fultan, to animate them the more, ha¬
ving ordered his throne to be reared on an eminence,
whence he could fee all that was done. The Rhodians,
on the other hand, were no lefs diligent in repulfing
them with their cannon and other fire-arms, with their
melted lead, boiling oil, ftink pots, and other ufual ex¬
pedients. The one fide afcend the fcaling ladders, fear-
lefs of all that oppofed them ; the other overturn their
ladders, and fend them tumbling down headlong into
the ditches, where they were overwhelmed with ftones,
or difpatched with darts and other miflile weapons.
The baftion of England proves the fcene of the greateft
{laughter and bloodihed •, and the grand-mafter makes
that his poll of honour, and, by his prefence and ex¬
ample, infpires his men with frefli vigour and bravery,
whilft the continual thunder of his artillery makes fuch
horrid work among the afiailants as chills all their cou¬
rage, and forces them to give ivay : the lieutenant-ge¬
neral, who commands the attack, leads them back with
frefli vigour, and mounts the breach at the head of all,
immediately after comes a cannon-ball trom the Spamfli
baftion, which overturns him dead into the ditch.^ This
difafter, inftead of fear and dread, fills them with a fu¬
rious defire of revenging his death : but .all their obfti-
nacy cannot make the Rhodians go one ftep back, whilft
the priefts, monks, young men and old, and even women
gygry rank and sge, aflift them with an uncommon
ardour and firmnefs ; fome in overwhelming the enemy
with ftones others in deftroying them with melted lead,
fulphur, and other combuftibles $ and a third fort in fup.
plying the combatants with bread, wine, and other re-
freftunents.
The aflault was np lefs defperate and bloody on the
baftion of Spain, where the knights, who guarded it,
not expe£ling to be fo foon attacked, and alharaed to
{land idle, were alfifting the baftion of Italy; which
gave the 1'urics an opportunity to mount toe breach,
and penetrate as far as their intrenchments, where they
planted no lefs than 30 of their ftandards on them.
The grand-mafter was quickly apprifed of it, and or¬
dered the baftion of Auvergne to play againft them j
which was done with fuch diligence, and fuch continual
fire, whilft the Rhodians enter the baftion by the help
of their cafemstes, and, fword in hand, fall upon them
with equal fury, that the Turks, alike bejet by the fire
of the artillery and the arms of the Rhodian knights,
were forced to abandon the place with a confiderablc
lofs. The aga with great bravery rallies them afreflq
and brings them back, by which titae the grand-maf-
ter likewife appeared. The fight was renewed with
greater fiercenefs j and fuch {laughter was made on both
iides, that the grand-mafter was obliged to draw 200
men out of St Nicholas tower to his afllftance ; theft
were commanded by fome Roman knights, who led
them on with fuch fpeed and bravery, that thdr very
appearance on the baftion made the janiflaries draw
back; which Solytmn obferving from his eminence,
caufed a retreat to be founded, to conceal the difgrace
of their flight. In theft attacks there fell about 15,000
of his be ft troops, befidea fcveral officers of diftinfUon,
The lofs of the befieged was no Hs eonfidcrable, if we
judge from the fmall number of their forcess, but the
greateft of all to them was that of fome of their braveft
4nd moft diftinguifhed knights and commanders, many
of whom were killed, and fcarce any efcaped unwound-
1 ] r h o
cd. But the moft dreadful fate of all had like to have
fallen on the favourite vizier Muftapha, w ho bad pro-
poftd this general aflault; the ill fuccefs of which had
fo enraged the proud fultan, that he condemned him to
be {hot with arrows at the head of his army which
dreadful ftntence was juft ready to be executed, when
the old baftiaw, by his intreaties, obtained a fufpenfion
of it, in hopes that, when his fury was abated, he ftiould
alfo obtain his pardon.
Solyman, however, was fo difeouraged by bis ill fuc-
ceffes, that he was on the point of raifing the fiege, and
would have actually done fo, had he not been diverted
from it by the advice which he received from an Alba¬
nian deferter, fome fay by a letter from the traitor d
Amarald, that the far greater part of the knights rvere
either killed or wounded, and thofe that remained alto¬
gether incapable of fuftaining a frefli affault. This ha¬
ving determined him to try his fortune once more, the
command of his forces was turned over to the bafliaw
Achmed } and, to {how that he defigned not to ftir till
he was mafter of the place, he ordered a houfe to be
built on the adjacent mount Philermo for his winter-
quarters. Achmed marched dire&ly againft the baftion
of Spain, which had fuffered the moft •, where, before
he could open the trenches, his men fell thick and three¬
fold by the conftant fire both of fmall and great guns
from the baftion of Auvergne. He loft {fill a much
greater number in rearing a rampart of earth to cover
the attack, and give him an opportunity of fapping the
wall; and, as foon as he faw a large piece fall, ordered his
men to mount the breach. They were no fooner come to
the top, than they found a new work and intrenchraents
which Martinengo had reared; and there they were wel¬
comed with fuch a brilk fire from the artillery, that they-
were glad to recover their trenches with the utmoft preci¬
pitation, after having loft the much greater part of their
men. The attack was renewed, and a reciprocal fire conti¬
nued withgreatobftinacy, till a mulket-fliot deprived that
indefatigable engineer of one of his eyes, and the order of
his aftiduous fervices for fome time. The grand-mafter,
having ordered him to be carried to his palace, took his
place, and kept it till he was quite cured, which was not
till 34 days after ; and continued all the time in the
intrenchments with his handful of knights, fcarcely al¬
lowing himfeif reft night or day, and ever ready to ex-
pofa iumfeif to the greateft dangers, with an ardour more
becoming a junior officer than an old worn out fove-
reign $ which made his knights more lavjfh of their own
lives than their paucity and preftnt circumftanees could
well admit of.
Soon after this, the treafon of d’Amarald was dif*
covered, and he was condemned to death and executed;
but by this time the city was reduced to the laft ex¬
tremity, The pope, emperor, and other crowned heads,
had been long and often importuned by the grand-maf.
ter lor fpeedy atfiftance, without fucceis; and, as an ad*
dition to all the other difalters, thofe- fucoours which
were Cent to him from France and England periflied at
lea, The new fupply which he had ftnt for of provi-
flom from Candia had the fame ill fate ; ft that the
winds, f@RR, and every thing, feemed combined to bring
on the deftru£lion 01 that city and order, The only re*
fource which could be thought of, under ft difmal a fi-
tnation, was, to fend for the few remaining h nights and
forces which were loft to guard the other iHands, to
como to the defence of their capital, in hopos that, if
Rhode*.
V