392 
tenance, presented himself. I begged him to permit me 
to visit the interior, but this inexorable cerberus would 
not allow me to advance. I re-mounted my horse, and 
went out at one of the city-gates close at hand, hoping 
at least to gain an idea of this fortress, by observing it 
from without; I could discern nothing, however, but 
an inextricable labyrinth of walls and towers one above 
the other. 
Turning towards the north, and proceeding along 
the outside of the walls, I observed the works which 
defend the capital of the Ottoman empire on the land 
side. 
These means of defence consist merely of a ditch al- 
most entirely filled up, and converted into gardens; a 
first line of walls as low as a parapet; a second line 
higher than the first; and a third line within, much 
higher, and flanked with towers still more lofty. 
These three lines of walls, in steps crowned with 
battlements, are somewhat imposing, since they\pre- 
sent three rows of guns; but, as they could not sustain 
the play of artillery, and as the enemy would have the 
advantage of being able to bring up his own under shel- 
ter of the undulating hills, and hedges of the gardens, 
which extend to the foot of the walls, Constantinople 
could not hold out against an eight days attack by a 
land force. Besides, for a considerable space, between 
the gate of Adrianople and that of Top, as also between 
the latter and the Castle of the Seven Towers, the three 
lines of walls are entirely in ruins, and have been re- 
cently replaced as a single wall, which resembles 
rather the entrance of a garden than the ramparts of a 
great city. The remainder of the walls are also falling 
to decay. 
