ASIA MINOR. 85 



The Rev. Mr. Carlyle, Professor of Arabic in the University of 

 Cambridge, was prevailed upon to engage in this service ; and the 

 choice reflects great credit on the judgment of those who applied to 

 a person so peculiarly qualified for the task. During our residence 

 at Constantinople, Mr. Carlyle and myself visited all the monasteries 

 of the Greek monks, or Caloyers, on the Princes' islands, in the sea 

 of Marmora. Their names are Prinkipo, Chalke, Prote, Antigone, 

 Oxia, Platia. The manuscripts in their libraries did not contain a 

 single classical fragment ; but there were many copies on paper and 

 vellum of different parts of the New Testament, written apparently 

 about the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries ; the most beautiful of these 

 we bought from the monks, who use printed books in the service of 

 the church, and attach little value to their ancient manuscripts. These 

 are now deposited in the Archbishop of Canterbury's library at 

 Lambeth. 



In the collegiate-house belonging to the Greek Patriarch of Jeru- 

 salem, who resides at Constantinople*, we found a very well fur- 

 nished library, including a considerable number of manuscripts, the 

 greater part of them on subjects connected with theology and eccle- 

 siastical history ; but none of them of very high antiquity. There 

 were also a few detached fragments of some of the Greek classics. 

 The Patriarch behaved to us with the utmost liberality, not only 

 sending one of his chaplains to assist us in making a catalogue of the 

 library, but allowing us to take any of the manuscripts we might wish 

 to send to England for the purpose of being examined and collated. 

 Such as we thought interesting or curious were forwarded to London, 

 along with those procured from the Princes' islands ; and they are now 

 in the archiepiscopal library at Lambeth. 



We had some difficulties to overcome before admission could be 

 obtained into the rooms attached to the mosque of Saint Sophia, the 



* Possevin, in his Apparatus sacer, T. 2. mentions some of the works in the libraries of 

 the Patriarch, and in different parts of Constantinople. 



