28 
Cliainber 
of Audi- 
ence. 
CONSTANTINOPLE. 
is difficult to give any perspicuous description. 
We went from the lower dormitory of the 
slaves to another above it: this was divided 
into two tiers ; so that one half of the numerous 
attendants it was designed to accommodate 
slept over the other, upon a sort of shelf or 
scaffold near to the ceiling. From this second 
corridor we entered into a third, a long matted 
passage : upon the left of this were small apart- 
ments for slaves of higher rank ; and upon the 
risfht, a series of rooms lookino; towards the 
sea. By continuing along this corridor, we at 
last entered the great Chamber of Audience, \i\ 
which the Sultan Mother receives visits of cere- 
mony from the Sultanas, and other distinguished 
ladies of the Charem. Nothing can be imagined 
better suited to theatrical representation than 
this chamber. It is exactly such an apartment 
as the best painters of scenic decoration would 
have selected, to afford a striking idea of the 
pomp, the seclusion, and the magnificence, of 
the Ottoman court. The stage is best suited for 
its representation ; and therefore the reader is 
requested to have the stage in his imagina- 
tion while it is described. It was surrounded 
with enormous mirrors, the costly donations 
of Infidel kings, as they are styled by the 
present possessors. These mirrors the women 
of the Seraglio sometimes break, in their 
