14 - clarke’b travels* 
Kothing can be imagined better suited to theatrical representa¬ 
tion than this chamber; and I regret the loss of the very ac¬ 
curate drawing which I caused Monsieur Preaux to complete 
upon the spot. It is exactly such an apartment as the best 
painters of scenic decoration would have selected, to afford a 
striking idea of (lie pomp, the seclusion, and the magnificence, 
of the Ottoman court. The stage is best suited for its repre¬ 
sentation ; and therefore the reader is requested to have the 
stage in his imagination 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 frolicks.*— 
At the upper end is the throne, a sort of cage, in which the 
sultana sits, surrounded by latticed blinds; for even here her 
person is held too sacred to be exposed to the common observa¬ 
tion of slaves and females of the charem. A lofty flight of 
broad steps, covered with crimson cloth, leads to this cage, as 
to a throne. Immediately in front of it are two burnished chairs 
of state, covered with crimson velvet and gold, one on each 
side the entrance. To the right and the left of the throne, and 
upon a level with ii, are the sleeping apartments of the sultan 
mother, and her principal females in Waiting. The external 
windows of the throne are all latticed : on one side they look 
toward the sea, and on the other into the quadrangle of the 
charem ; the chamber itself occupying the whole breadth of 
the building, on the side of the quadrangle into which it looks. 
The area below the latticed throne, or the front of the stage (to 
follow the idea before proposed,) is set a part for attendants, 
for the dancers, for actors, music, refreshments, and whatsoever 
is brought into the charem for the amusement of the court.— 
This place is covered with Persian mats; but these are lernov- 
ed when the sultana is here, and the richest carpets substituted 
in their place. 
Beyond the great chamber of audience is the assemhbj 
room of the sultan, when he is in the charem. Here we 
observed the magnificent lustre before mentioned.: The sul¬ 
tan sometimes visits this chamber during the winter, to hear 
music, and to amuse himself with his favourites. It is sur- 
% The mischief done in this way, by the grand signior’s women, is so great, that 
some of the most cost ly articles of furniture-are removed, when they come from their 
winter apartments to this palace. Among t lie number, avas the large coloured lustre 
given by the Earl of Elgin; this was only suspended during.their absence; and even 
then by a common rope. We saw it in this state. The offending ladies, when detect¬ 
ed, are whipped by the black eunuchs, whom it is their chief amusement to elude and 
' to ridicule. 
