C0K5TANTIK0PL£« 
otherwise have bestowed, by consign in®:, for a small sum, the 
whole of them to me. It is hardly possible to conceive a 
more extraordinary proof of the genius and industry of Grecian 
artists, than was presented by this vase. Its fragments are 
still in my possession; and have been reserved for annual ex¬ 
hibition, during a course of public Lectures in the University 
of Cambridge. When it is stated, that the treasury of Mithra- 
dates contained four thousand specimens of similar manufac¬ 
ture, all of which came into the hands of the Romans; and 
that the Turks are unable to execute any thing of the same 
nature ; it is highly probable this curious relique originally 
constituted one of the number; which, after passing into the 
possession of the Turks at the conquest of the city, had con- 
tinued to adorn the palace of their sovereigns. Such a con¬ 
jecture is strengthened by the.mythological figure, represented 
in exquisite sculpture, on the vase itself. It consists of an en¬ 
tire mass of green jasper-agate, beautifully variegated with 
veins and spots of a vermilion colour; so that part of it exhi¬ 
bits the ribon-jasper, and part the bloodstone. The handle 
is formed to represent the head of a griffin (carved in all 
the perfection of the finest cameo), whose extended wings and 
claws cover the exterior surface. The difficulty of working 
a silicious concretion of such extraordinary hardness needs 
not be specified: it may be presumed, that the entire life of 
the ancient lapidary, by whom it was wrought, could have 
been scarcely adequate to such a performance; nor do we at 
all know in what manner the work was effected. Yet there 
are parts of it, in which the sides of the vase are as thin as the 
finest porcelain.* 
A second visit, which I made to the interior of the seraglio 5 
was not attended by any very interesting discovery'; but, as it 
enabled me to describe, with minuteness, scenes hitherto im¬ 
pervious to European eyes, the reader may be gratified by 
the observations made within those w alls. Every one is cu¬ 
rious to know w hat exists within recesses which have been 
long closed against the intrusion of Christians. In vain does 
the eye, roaming from the towers of Galata, Pera, and Con¬ 
stantinople, attempt to penetrate the thick gloom of cypresses 
and domes, which distinguishes the most beautiful part of Con¬ 
stantinople. Imagination magnifies things unknown: and wheo 9 
* I have seen similar instances of sculpture, executed even in harder substances? 
and the Chinese possess the art of perfecting such works. 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 sale, is the yriadcw of a shop the Strantf. 
