TO THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN. 



171 



viz., wood painted over, render this appearance extremely transient, 

 and the remains of magnificence thus every where blended with 

 decay, give an idea of squalidness which the ruins of a simpler 

 fabric can never communicate. After waiting some time for 

 intelligence respecting the Bostangee Bashi, his deputy arrived, 

 read the letters we had brought, and as his principal was engaged in 

 the Seraglio, took upon himself to send for the keeper of the library, 

 and direct him to conduct us thither ; we accordingly accompanied 

 him and three other Moulahs to a mosque at a little distance, through 

 which the entrance to the library lies. This mosque is neither large 

 nor elegant ; but from its structure and situation is placed in the 

 bosom of the Seraglio, surrounded with immense cypresses, and 

 illuminated only by a few dull double windows towards the top, 

 causing that " dim religious light" which is always aimed at in 

 places of worship throughout the east ; it possesses a silence and 

 solemnity more imposing than I think I ever witnessed in any other 

 building ; we passed through the mosque as we were directed, 

 without speaking, and upon tiptoe; and at length on the other 

 side of it, arrived at the outward door of the library, which was 

 locked, and a seal fixed upon the lock ; above it is a short Arabic 

 inscription, containing the name and titles of Sultan Mustapha, the 

 present Emperor's father, who founded both the mosque and the 

 library in the year 1767. The library is built in the 

 form of a Greek cross, as in the margin ; one of the arms 

 of the cross serves as an anti-room, and the remaining 

 three arms, together with the centre, constitute the library 

 itself. You proceed through the anti-room by a door, 

 over which is written in large Arabic characters, " enter in 

 peace." The library is much smaller than Your Lordship could have 

 any conception of ; for, from the extremity of one of the arms to the 

 extremity of the opposite one it does not measure twelve yards. 

 Its appearance however is elegant and cheerful. The central part of 

 the cross is covered with a dome, which is supported by four 

 handsome marble pillars; the three arms or recesses that branch off 



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