2 
CLARKE^S TRAVELS. 
But, although time has had such inconsiderable influence io 
weakening impressions of this kind, it is believed the case 
would be far otherwise, viewing the spot memorable for those 
transactions. The literary traveller, visiting Constantinople, 
expects to behold but faint vestiges of the imperial city, and 
believes he shall find little to remind him of “ the everlasting 
foundations” of the master of the Roman world. The opi¬ 
nion, however, may he as erroneous as that upon which it 
was founded. After the imagination has been dazzled with 
pompous and glaring descriptions of palaces and baths, porti¬ 
coes and temples, groves, circuses, and gardens, the plain mat¬ 
ter of fact may prove, that in the obscure and dirty lanes of 
Constantinople its small and unglazed shops; the style 
of architecture observed in the dwellings ; the long covered 
walks, now serving as bazars ;f the loose flowing habits 
with long sleeves worn by the natives even in the prac¬ 
tice of concealing the features of the women :|| and, aboye 
all, in the remarkable ceremonies and observances of the pub¬ 
lic baths; we behold those customs and appearances which 
characterized the cities of the Greeks. Such, at least, as far 
as inanimate objects are concerned, is the picture presented 
by the interesting ruins of Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Sta- 
biae.t) With regard to the costume of its inhabitants, we 
fords a striking example. The art of printing has been scarcely adequate to its pre¬ 
servation ; and -without it, every syllable had perished. It is only rescued by a very 
rare work of Bernard de Breydenback, of Mayence; printed in the black letter at 
jSpire,in 1490, by Peter Dra-ch; and since copied into a volume of Tracts, published 
at Basil in 1556. This document; seems, to have escaped not only the researches 
t>f Gibbon, but of every other author who has written upon the subject of the 
siege. 
* Athens itself was not very.unlike Constantinople in its present state, if we may 
credit the statistical testimony of Dicsearchus, who mentions the irregularity of the 
streets,-and the poverty and meanness of the houses.;— Vme Slat. Gracia Geogr. Mir 
nor. Hudsoni. 
f Bazar is the appellation used to signify a market , all over the east. 
t Herodotus, speaking of the Persians, mentions tlreir garments with long sleeves : 
and we learn from Xenophon, that Cyrus ordered two persons to be put to death, who 
appeared in his presence with their hands uncovered. 
j] * c Die search its, describing the dress of the women of Thebes, says, that their 
eyes only are seen ; the other parts of their faces are covered by their garments.” 
Bios "Euaios. Walpole's MS- Journal. 
§ “ The city of Constantinople, in its actual state, presents some of those monu¬ 
ments and works of art, which adorned it at the end of the fourteenth century. 
They are alluded to in one of the epistles of Manuel Chrysoloras ; from which X 
have extracted the three following passages. In the first we have the very form of 
the modern bazar. 1 1 omitj says he, { the covered and inclosed walks, formerly seen tra¬ 
versing the whole city, iii such a marine? that you might pass thro ’ il without being inconve - 
nienced by the mud, or rays of the sun.' ’Eu>. d\ cn«7ra<rroi!S xal (ppamors dpc/ious diet 
TTctcrris jrofz rhs tt 6Kiuis 5’wiyufjLzvousf avtu tthAou hcx! dbonvos i ramav oitzy.cii. 
In the second, he mentions the cisterns, which are still to be seen, supported by gra¬ 
nite columns and marble pillars. They were built by Constantine and Philoxenus. 
OS 
