EGYPT, GREECE, AND TURKEY-1888-1889 441 



way, it is certainly the most overpowering of Christian 

 churches. Gibbon s pictures thronged upon me, and very 

 vividly, as I visited the ground where formerly stood 

 the Great Circus, and noted the remains of monuments 

 where the l Blues and Greens convulsed the city with 

 their bloody faction fights, and where squabbling Chris 

 tian sects prepared the way for that Turkish dominion 

 which has now burdened this weary earth for more than 

 five hundred years. 



From Constantinople, by Buda-Pesth, Vienna, Munich, 

 Ulm, and Frankfort-on-the-Main, to Paris, stopping in 

 each of these cities, mainly for book-hunting. At Munich 

 I spent considerable time in the Eoyal Library, where 

 various rare works relating to the bearing of theology 

 on civilization were placed at my disposal ; and at Frank 

 fort added largely to my library especially mono 

 graphs on Egypt and illuminated manuscripts of the 

 middle ages. 



At Paris the Exposition of 1889 was in full blast. As 

 to the American exhibit, there were some things to be 

 lamented. Our &quot;commission of experts&quot; was in part 

 remarkably well chosen; among them being a number 

 of the best men in their departments that America has 

 produced; but, on the other hand, there were some who 

 had evidently been foisted upon the President by politi 

 cians in remote States so-called &quot; experts, &quot; yet as un 

 fit as it is possible to conceive any human beings to be. 

 One of these, who was responsible for one of the most 

 important American departments, was utterly helpless. 

 Day in and day out, he sat in a kind of daze at the Ameri 

 can headquarters, doing nothing indeed, evidently in 

 capable of doing anything. One or two of his associates, 

 as well as sundry Frenchmen, asked me to aid in getting 

 his department into some order ; and this, though greatly 

 pressed for time, I did, devoting to the task several 

 days which I could ill afford. 



Very happy was I over one improvement which the 

 United States had made since the former exposition, at 



