tbeir swords had been constantly employed in defending the "ΛΊ-ΛΙΙΜ m - Holy Land from the profane tread of the unbelieving Moslem ; ^"i^" . the sacred territory of Palestine had been everywhere moistened with the blood of the best and bravest of their knights, and, faithful to their vows and their chivalrous engagements, they now prepared to bury themselves in the ruins of the last stronghold of the christian faith. William de Beaujeu, the Grand Master of the Temple, a veteran warrior of a hundred fights, took the command of the garrison, which amounted to about twelve thousand men, exelusive of the forces of the Temple and the Hospital, and a body of five hundred foot and two hundred horse, under the command of the king of Cyprus. These forces were distributed along the walls in four divisions, the first of which was commanded by Hugh de Grandison, an English knight. The old and the feeble, women and children, were sent away by sea to the christian island of Cyprus, and none remained in the devoted city but those who were prepared to fight in its defence, or to suffer martyrdom at the hands of the infidels. The siege lasted six weeks, during the whole of which period the sallies and the attacks were incessant. Neither by night nor by day did the shouts of the assailants and the noise of the military engines cease ; the walls were battered from without, and the foundations were sapped by miners, who were incessantly labouring to advance tbeir works. More than six hundred catapults, balista?, and other instruments of destruction, were directed against the fortifications; and the battering machines were of such immense size and weight, that a hundred wagons were required to transport the separate timbers of one of them.* Moveable towers were erected * The famous Abul-feda, prince of Ilamah, eumamed Amod-ed-deen, (Pillar of Religion,; the great historian and astronomer, superintended the transportation of the military engines from Hasn-cI-Akrah to St. Jean d'Actt.