Washington Irving relates a veritable ghost story concerning a fatal encounter which took place in this notorious Strada Stretta, as related to him by an old Knight who once lived upon the island of Malta, and whom he met somewhere in Italy. The basis of the story was the fact that two Knights of the Order of St. John, one of Spain and one of France, met and fought a duel here on a certain Good Friday, the latter losing his life in the conflict. There was always more or less active rivalry existing between the French and Spanish divisions of the brotherhood. In the instance referred to there was a woman in the case, for the Knights were as famous for their gallantry towards the ladies as for prowess in battle. In times of peace they occupied their leisure, not with any intellectual resort,--alas! that the truth must be told, few of them, comparatively speaking, could read and write,--but nearly all seem to have been experts at domestic intrigue and gambling, at wine-bibbing and dueling. Their only study was the effective handling of warlike weapons. The fencing-master, not the schoolmaster, was constantly "abroad." The story, which Irving tells at considerable length, represents the victor in the duel referred to as having suffered infinite remorse for his murderous act, and that he was pursued night and day by a terrible phantom visible only to himself. In vain was the severest self-imposed penance, in vain the confessional, in vain his prayerful regrets. He seemed doomed as a just punishment to endure a purgatory upon earth. The great onus of the whole affair, however, as made to appear in the narrative, was not the sacrifice of a human life under such circumstances, but that the act should have been committed on Good Friday! CHAPTER XI. The Famous Church of St. John.--By What Means it was Decorated.--Grand Mosaic Floor.--Roman Catholic Ceremonials. --Remarkable Relics.--Chapels of the Languages.--A Devout Artist.--Church Treasures.--Thieving French Soldiers.-- Poetical Justice.--The Hateful Inquisition.--Churches of Valletta.--A Forlorn Hope.--Heroic Conduct.--A Maltese Pantheon.--A Rival Dome to St. Paul's, London.--Some Fine Paintings.