382 
Aya Sophia, with four majestic columns of the same 
granite; its principal front and the monbar, are deco- 
rated with very fine marbles. I remarked in the corner 
of the temple, a kind of missionary seated upon the ' 
pavement, who was preaching with fervour to a nu- 
merous audience of both sexes. 
The mosque of Sultan Ahmed is also very hand- 
some. The four great pillars that support the central 
cupola are incrusted with very fine white marble in 
flutings; the tribune of the Sultan is supported by a 
great number of small columns, among which are 
some of a superb brown marble, and the angular ones 
are of verd antique. In the court there are some mag- 
nificent columns of red granite. The Sultan goes to 
this mosque to celebrate the two Easters, and the birth 
of the Prophet, because the situation of it is conve- 
nient for all his suite, which may extend itself into the 
Hippodrome in front of the mosque. 
The mosque of Sultan Mohamed the second, who 
conquered Constantinople, is still a handsome edifice. 
When I went to see it the porticos of the court were 
filled with little shops of mercers, who sold their 
goods to the passengers, and cried out as loud as if 
they had been in a fair, whilst five or six missionaries 
were preaching in a louder tone of voice than they. 
It is not difficult therefore to imagine the confused 
uproar which this assemblage caused. The tourbeh or 
.the sepulchre of the Sultan, placed at the side of the 
mosque, and in the middle of a small garden, is a 
merely poor chapel built of stone, but the tomb is 
covered with a superb cloth. When I went to see it, 
the chapel and the avenue leading to it were abso- 
lutely filled with women, who had come to visit the 
sepulchre. 
