4 
clarkrV travels. 
veller may be directed to other examples of the same nature, 
in which the similarity of the ancient and the modern appear¬ 
ance is even more striking: and perhaps the howling der¬ 
vishes of Scutari, who preserve in their frantic orgies the rites 
of the priests of Baal ,f accommodated the mercenary exhibi¬ 
tion of their pretended miracles to the new superstition which 
pervaded the temples of Chalcedon; exactly as Pagau mira¬ 
cles, recorded and derided by Horace, were adapted to the 
ceremonies of the Roman Catholic religion.f The psylli of 
Egypt, mentioned by Herodotus, are still found in the serpent 
eaters of Cairo and Rosetta : and in all ages, where a suc¬ 
cessful craft, under the name of miracle, has been employed 
to delude and to subdue the human understanding, the intro¬ 
ducers of-a new religion have, with considerable policy, ap¬ 
propriated it to the same purpose for which it was employed 
by their predecessors. 
The prejudices of the Christians against their Turkish con¬ 
querors were so difficult to be overcome, that while we lament 
the want of truth which characterizes every narrative con¬ 
cerning their invaders, we cannot wonder at the falsehood ; 
yet, in this distant period, viewing the events of those times 
without passion or prejudice, it may become a question, whe¬ 
ther, at the capture of Constantinople, the victors or the van¬ 
quished --were the most polished people. It is not necessary 
to paint the-vices and the barbarisms of those degenerate re¬ 
presentatives of the ancient Romans, who then possessed the 
imperial city; nor to contrast them with those of the Turks: 
but when it is urged, that Mahomet and his followers, upon 
taking possession of Constantinople, were busied only in works 
of destruction, we may derive evidence to the contrary, even 
from the writings of those by whom they were thus calum¬ 
niated. Gyllius and Bandurius have permitted observations 
to escape them, which have a remarkable tendency to esta¬ 
blish a contrary opinion : they acknowledge that certain mag¬ 
nificent palaces, temples, baths, and caravanserais, were al¬ 
lowed to remain; and the temple of St. Sophia being of the 
number, as well as the antiquities in the Hippodrome, the 
public cisterns, sarcophagi, &c. we may form a tolerable esti¬ 
mate of the taste of the Turks in this respect. It w ill appear 
And they cried aloud, and cut themselves, after their manner, with knives and 
lancets.” 1 Kings, xvii, 28. . TT 
| The miracle of the liquefaction of St. Januanus’ blood is alluded to by Horace, 
as practised in his time, under a different.name. Hot. Sat. lib. I. 5. 
