Cv . ( 84 ) 



ASIA MINOR. - ' 



JOURNEY FROM PARIUM TO THE TROAD. — ASCENT TO THE SUMMIT OF 

 IDA. — THE SALT SPRINGS OF TOUSLA. — RUINS OF ASSOS. 



CHAP. I. 



Libraries at Constantinople. — Departure from that city. — Sea oj Marmora. — Cephus of the 

 ancient Greeks. — Parium. — Lampsacus. — Dardanelles. 



An opinion had long been prevalent that the libraries in the palaces 

 of the Grand Seignior, and in the city of Constantinople, contained 

 some valuable Greek manuscripts which had escaped the destruction 

 occasioned by the Turks in the year 1453. The imperial mosques 

 there, particularly that of Saint Sophia, the libraries of the Patriarchs 

 of the Eastern church, and of the Greek monasteries in the Levant, 

 were also supposed to contain many curious inedited writings. This 

 general belief of the existence of unexplored literary treasures in Tur- 

 key induced the English government to appoint a person well versed 

 in classical, biblical, and oriental literature, to accompany the Earl of 

 Elgin's embassy to the Ottoman Porte in the year 1799. The plan 

 originated with Mr. Pitt and the Bishop of Lincoln, who thought that 

 an embassy sent at a time when Great Britain was on the most 

 friendly terms with the Porte, would afford great facilities for ascer- 

 taining how far these hopes of literary discovery were well founded. 

 They trusted that the ambassador's influence would obtain permission 

 for the transcription at least, if not for the acquisition of any unpub- 

 lished work that might be found. 



