narcn Jim» ni- The character of this pontiff has been painted by the A'D'IIÎOG Romish ecclesiastical historians in the darkest colours: they represent him as wedded to pleasure, eaten up with ambition, and greedy for money ; they accuse him of indulging in a criminal intrigue with the beautiful countess of Perigord, and of trafficking in holy things.* On the Cth of June, A. D. 1306, a few months after his coronation, this new French pontiff addressed letters from Bourdeaux to the Grand Masters of the Temple and Hospital, expressing his earnest desire to consult them with regard to the measures necessary to be taken for the recovery of the Holy Land. He tells them that they are the persons best qualified to give advice upon the subject, and to conduct and manage the enterprize, both from their great military experience and the interest they had in the success of the expedition. " We order you," says he, " to come hither without delay, with as much secrecy as possible, and with a very little retinue, since you will find on this side the sea a sufficient number of your knights to attend upon you."y The Grand Master of the Hospital declined obeying this summons; but the Grand Master of the Temple forthwith accepted it, and unhesitatingly placed himself in the power of the pope and the king of France. He landed in France, attended by sixty of his knights, at the commencement of the year 1307, and deposited the treasure of the order which he had brought with him from Cyprus, in the Temple at Paris. He was received with distinction by the king, and then took his departure for Poictiers to * Questo Papa- fue huoino molto cupido dì moneta, e fiie lusurioso, si dicea che tenea per amica In contessa di Pnragnrdo, bellissima donna ! ! Villani, lib. ix. cap. S8. Fuit airois cupiditatibus deditus. . . Sajict. Ani. l'ior, de Condi, Vion. tit. 21. sec 3. Circa thesaurus colb'gendos insndavit, says Kniahum apud X script, col. 2491. Fleuri, 1. 92. p. 239. Chrm, tie Namgis, adran. 1305. t Itainalâ. torn. xv. ad aim. 1306, η. 12. Fleuri, Hist. Ecclee. torn, xix, p. 111.