12 CONSTANTINOPLE. 
CHAP, preserved. This conjecture was not without 
N .y / foundation: nor is it at all remarkable, that, in 
a lapse of time which does not exceed the 
period that has intervened since the armour of 
Henry the Sixth was deposited in the Tower of 
London, the relics of Roman power should be 
thus discovered. It is only singular, that, 
during all the inquiries which have taken place 
respecting this remarkable city, such remains 
should have been so long unnoticed. In answer 
to our earnest entreaties for the indulgence of 
a few moments, to be employed in further 
examination, it was explained to us, that, if 
the old armour v/ere an object of our curiosity, 
we might have full leisure to survey it, when 
carried on sumpter-horses, in the great annual 
procession of the Grand Signior, at the opening 
of the Bairam, which was shortly to take pace, 
and where we afterwards saw it exhibited. 
Vase of the Soon after this, some Pages belonging to the 
Emperors. SeragUo brouglit from the Sultans apartments 
the fragments of a magnificent vase of jasper- 
agate, which, they said, his Highness had 
dashed to pieces in a moment of anger. As 
these fragments had been cast away, and dis- 
regarded, the Pages had sold them to a poor 
lapidary, who earned a scanty- livelihood by 
cutting and pohshing stones for the signet 
