CONSTANTINOPLE. 45 
pageant brought out for the occasion. It was a chap. 
very large wooden couch, covered with thick . 
plates of massive silver, highly burnished. 
From the form of it, as well as from the style 
in which it was ornamented, there is little 
doubt that this also constituted a part of the 
treasury of the Greek Emperors, when Conslan- 
tinople was taken by the Turks. 
Among the misrepresentations made to 
strangers who visit Constantinople, they are told 
that it is necessary to be attended by a Janissary 
in the streets of the city. In the first place, this 
is not true : in the second, it is the most 
imprudent plan a traveller can adopt. It makes 
a public display of want of confidence in the 
people ; and, moreover, gives rise to continual 
dispute, when any thing is to be purchased of 
the Turks; besides augmenting the price of any 
article required, exactly in the proportion of 
the sum privately exacted by the Janissary, as 
his share of the profit. Another misrepresen- 
tation is, that a Jirman from the Grand Signior 
is requisite to gain admission to the Mosque of 
St. Sophia; whereas, by giving eight piastres to 
the person whose business it is to shew the 
building, it may be seen at any time'. 
(l) At the same time as a Firman is necessary, in order to see the 
other mosques of the city, it may be proper to add, that having 
obtained 
