CONSTANTINOPLE. 
A second visit which we made to the interior 
of the Seraglio was not attended by any very 
interesting discovery ; but, as it enabled us to 
describe, with minuteness, scenes hitherto imper- 
vious to Christian eyes, the Reader may be gra- 
tified with our observations within those walls. 
Every one is curious to know what exists___, ^ 
withnTrecesses which have been long concealed. 
In vain does the eye, roaming from the towers 
of Galata, Pera, and Constantinople, attempt to 
penetrate the thick gloom of cypresses, and 
domes, which distinguishes the most beautiful 
part of the city. Imagination magnifies things , 
unknown : and when, in addition to the curio- 
sity always excited by mystery, the reflection is 
suggested, that antient Byzantium occupied the 
site of the Sultans palace, a thirst of inquiry is 
proportionably augmented. We promise to con- 
duct our readers not only within the retirement 
of the Seraglio, but into the Charem itself, and the 
most secluded haunts of the Turkish sovereign. 
that Jade, with whose natural history we are little acquainted, hardens by 
exposure to the atmosphere; and that the Chinese, who give it such 
various shapes, avail themselves of its softness, when fresh dug, in order 
to manufacture it. The chemical analysis of Jade was only lately ascer- 
tained: it is an alkaliferous Silex, containing also Lime: its proper place, 
therefore, in a mineralogical system, ought to be with Obsidian and Pitch- 
stone. A vase of one entire piece of jade is in the collection of Mr. 
Ferguson; and a patera, exactly answering Mr. Ferguson s vase, was. 
lately exposed for i,alc, in tlip window of a bhop in the Strand. 
