7 6 



A Relation of the Chap. XV. 



The Grand 



Seignor's 

 Quarter. 



Araurath's 

 Belvedere. 



Between the Chamber, where thefe noble Relicks are to be feen, and that of the 

 Forty Pages, of which I have given an account at the beginning of this Chapter, you 

 have the Profpecf of a treble portal of Porphyry, that is, three doors at a fmall di- 

 ftancc one from the other, whereof that in the middle gives entrance into the Grand 

 Seignor's Appartment. The two others lead to the Lodgings of the Chokadar-Aga?zx\à 

 the Riquabdar-Aga, and thofe Lodgings are very dark, becaufe they are not in a place 

 where light can be brought into them, and that at the firft building thereof they could 

 afford each of them but one little Window. But, abating that inconvenience, they are 

 well enough furnilh'd, according to the mode of the Country, you tread'on nothing 

 but Silken Carpets => there's no want of Brokado-Cuthicns, and emboyder'd ones, and 

 the Walls, which are all of White Marble, entertain the Eye with pots of Flowers 

 plainly painted, at certain equal diftances, about which there has been an ingenious 

 application of Gold and Azure. 



The Grand Seignor's Quarter begins with a Hall, which is fpacious enough, and 

 the embellishments of the in-fide of it are correfpondent to thofé of the out-fide. It 

 is an iucruftation of Marble, of feveral colours, and the Floor of it is cover 'd only 

 with the large Woollen Carpets, which are brought out of Perfia? but fuch as are 

 more fumptuous, and much more highly efteem'd, than thofe which are made of Silk. 

 All about the Hall, for the fpace of Five foot, there are fpread Coverlets of Silk, of a 

 light colour, fome Tufted, fome Embroyder'd, and upon the Coverlets there are fe- 

 veral forts of Rich Cufhions, four foot in length, and between two and three, in 

 breadth. 



Of the two Doors, which are within the Hall, one goes to the Appartment of the 

 Pages? the other to the Quarter of the SultanejJ'es? and as you go out by this laft 

 mentioned, you enter into a Flower-Garden, in the midft whereof there is a Bafin 

 with its water-work. From one of the ends of the Garden you pafs to the Rev an- 

 KoHcbki, that is to fay, a Chamber fupported by Pillars. It is a Belvedere? or fpacious 

 Room, having a delightful ProfpecT: of all fides, which the Sultan Amuratb caus'd to 

 be built, at his return from the Perfian War, after he had taken the City of Babylon 

 from Shacb-Sefi? the King of that Kingdom, ruin'd the Province of Taitris? and added 

 that of Erivan to his Conquelis, by the perfidioufnefs of the Governour. I lhall give 

 you an account anon, how he was juftly punifh'd, for that ad: of Treachery, and I 

 referve the compleat hiftory of his bafenefs, for the Relations of my Travels. 



This Room, or Arbour, which we call the Belvedere? from the delightfulnefs of its 

 Profpecl, is built in an Eminent placp, upon a fteepy Rock. It is a noble Arched 

 Roof, and the Walls, which are rais'd no higher then that a man may reft his Elbow 

 on them, are all of White Marble, with fome Arabian Verfes thereon, cut, and gilt. 

 It is open of all fides, and the Lattices, all about it, hinder thofe that are within it from 

 being feen* by fuch as are on the out-fide, and afford them withal one of the moft deli- 

 cate Profpedts in the World. For, from that Room, they have the fight of all Galata 

 and Pera? all that pleafant Landskip of Afia, about Scutaret? and Chalcedon? the Port 

 of Conjiantinople, one of the nobleft of all Europe? and the Channel of the Blacky Sea^ 

 which, at the point of the Seraglio, is intermixt with the Waters of the Mediterranean, 

 where there is obfervable in the midft, as it were, a white foamy ftreak, which feems 

 naturally to denote the Confines of Europe and Afta. 



the Excellent 

 Wines ff/Te- 

 nedos. 



'Twas in this pleafant Arbour, that Amuratb was~often wont to divert himfelf, with 

 that Governour of Erivan? who had taught him to drink Wine, whereto he had fo 

 eafily accuftom'd himfelf, that, many times, he fpent three days together, in a continued 

 debauch. The only Wine he drunk was that of the llland of Tenedes? the moft excel- 

 lent of any of the Iflands of the Arcbiphclago? and the leaft intoxicating -, and he foon 

 became as good a proficient in the drinking of it, as the Mafter, who had taught him to 

 do it. This Perftan Governour was a man extreamly inclin'd to debauchery, infomuch 

 that before his perfidious delivery of the place to Amuratb 1 ?^ I pafs'd through Erivan, 

 in one of my Voyages to Perfia., he intreated me to make my abode there for the fpace 

 of fifteen days, and, to humour him, there was a neceffity of fpending whole nights in 

 drinking, fo that I faw him not all the day long, which I queiiion not but he employ'd 

 in the management of his affairs, and taking his repofe. But, 



