lo-i C O IS STAN 
Mohammed II. the neighbouring quarter, with certain 
immunities ; and as the prel'ent patriarchal church, which 
is that of the Bleffed Virgin, is -fituate in the center, the 
neceflary attendance of the patriarch and twelve fynodal 
bifhop9, with the archondes, or princes, have rendered it 
populous. In former times it was much more fo ; for 
nr oft of the latter defcription have now lioufes at Koo- 
rootchefrne and Arnaodt-keuy, on the canal. Whilft the 
total population of the Greeks amounts to one hundred 
thoufand, that of theFanal does not exceed two-thoufand 
five hundred. Notwithftanding it is ftill that place in 
the whole empire, where only the character of thofe in 
Superior life can be learned ; where their manners are 
more polifhed, their information more extended, and their 
language more pure. Infinite as are the corruptions of 
the modern colloquial Greek, many will be found, amongft 
the inhabitants of the Fanal, who fpeak it with compa¬ 
rative purity, and pride themfelves on adopting the more 
claflical phrafes and pronunciation of their mother-tongue. 
The tell; of correftnefs in fpeaking, is the rejeition of 
Turkilh or Italian words, and the frequent ul'e of thofe 
found in the ancient, at lead in the Byzantine, authors. 
The Ottoman government has, for feme ages pall, con¬ 
ceded four high polls to the Greeks ot rank, who, as re- 
prefentatives of the ancient nobility of the empire, retain 
the title of prince. The provinces of Moldavia and Wal- 
lachia, the office of chiet interpreter to the Porte, and the 
patriarchate of Conftantinople,' are the fummit of their 
ambition, and the greateft honour and emolument that a 
fubjeil can enjoy. As to the two former, they are held 
only at the pleafure of the fultan, and are reclaimed in a 
few years, being ul'ually bellowed on tire third, in remu¬ 
neration of his fervices. The bit is always fimonaically 
procured ; and, as venality is fcarcely concealed in tranl- 
actions with the Porte, he who propofes the bell terms 
has the belt chance of fuccels. 
After the taking of Conftantinople by Mohammed II. 
he continued, to the firll patriarch, the fame prefent which 
>- the Greek emperors had been accultomed to make, a paf- 
toral llaff, a white horle, and four hundred ducats in gold. 
I~Ie left ample revenues to the Greek church, and the 
maintenance of its clergy, which they have gradually fa- 
crificed to their inconitanoy, their ambition, and their 
private jealoufy. The firll patriarchs were frequently 
Supplanted by the melropolitaris, who rivalled them. 
Thel'e lent their friends to the Porte, with offers to fill 
the llations at a lefs expence than thofe who then held 
them. Similar reprelentations were iikewife made re¬ 
specting the inferior preferments in the church. The 
Porte discovering that money might be faved without 
breach of promife, allowed them to eleCt whom they 
thought competent, and to him the imperial licenfe was 
granted. But Ihould another clandeltinely offer to ac¬ 
cept the appointment at a lower falar.y, he was furely 
preferred. In fail, by thel'e bargains, made in oppofition 
. to each other, the dignity is diminiffied, and the revenues 
in as great a proportion ; for he that would be patriarch, 
mult offer to be content with lefs than his competitors. 
The modem plan of limony is. by impeaching the prefent 
patriarch or offences or unworthinefs, for which pretexts 
are never deficient, and to bribe the Porte to attend to 
the remonttrance. Mr. Dallaway, in 1794, was alfured 
that the whole revenue of the patriarch, collected by con • 
tribution from the diocefes, fees for ablolution, maledic¬ 
tion, maffes, and compounding of religious penalties, 
does not exceed three thoufand pounds a-year; but this 
admits a latitude of exception in favour of cafual and 
unavowed refources of income. His influence with the 
Porte is very extcnfive, as far as his own nation is con¬ 
cerned. His memorials are never denied, and he can, 
in fail, command the death, the exile, imprifonment for 
life, depolition from offices, or pecuniary fine, of any 
Greek he may be inclined to punilh with rigour, or who 
has. treated his authority w'uh contempt 
The ealtern church attaches no idea of perfonal fanc- 
+ 
T INOFL E., 
tity or infallibility to their Supreme head, although he 
bears tlie (tile of the thirteenth apoltle. The other three 
patriarchs, of Antioch, Jernfalem, and Alexandria, are 
by his appointment, and in a certain degree, dependant 
upon him. He is hot always of noble comreClion, but 
frequently procures his ftation by private intereft with 
the leading family. In the prefent inllance, Hierafymos 
Petroo, ot the illand of Cyprus, originally a fchool-maf- 
ter, having been fucceflively bifhop of Patras and Dercon, 
became patriarch in 1793, and alfumed, as in the Roman 
church, the pontifical name c£ Ippolitos. Although the 
renowned names of Comneni and Paleologi no longer ex- 
ill, they are yet claimed by confanguinity; and feveral 
of thofe families, who are now the principal of the Greeks, 
can boait with a certain degree of precifion, a lineal de- 
f'cent from, or agnation to, them. 
It is a remarkable circumltance, that even when the 
plague rages in this jnetropolis with unabating fury, the 
bazars and public-ftreets are continually crowded with 
people, where death is every moment flaring them in the 
face. So far from taking precautions, a Turk would not 
conlider himfelf juftined in retiring from liis fliop, were it 
furrounded on every fide by mortality; and, though other 
nations deny the principle of predellination, their con¬ 
tempt of impending danger would prove that they were 
actuated by it in fcarcely an inferior degree. In the 
plague of 1795, it appeared that the phafes of the moon 
very materially aft'eCted its progrefs, and that before and 
alter them its increafe and diminution were decidedly 
marked. No hopes can be entertained that Conftantinople 
will be liberated from fo dreadful a vifitation, fo long as 
they neglect common means both of prevention and cure. 
The Turks leave much to nature and ftrength of confti- 
tution, which from their habitual temperance and robuft- 
nefs fometimes avail; whilft the Greeks, who are more 
luxurious, die in a greater proportion, and contend in 
vain, by remedies irrational and fuperftitious, againft its 
baleful progrefs. From the Greek liofpital, to which 
thofe of the lower rank are fent, to efcape with health is 
a modern miracle. The Frank hofpital adjoins it, the 
manager of which died in the contagion of 1795, having 
been infeCted twelve times in the courfe of his life. 
Conftantinople would futier greatly from a deficiency 
of water, if the munificence of the fultans had not pro¬ 
vided numerous fountains, which the aqueduCts, “ thofe 
truly imperial works,” conftantly fupply. This greateft 
of luxuries to a muffulman, as indilperifibly neceflary to 
the functions of his religion, or the exigencies of the cli¬ 
mate, is found in almoll every llreet, not indeed in that 
fplendour of architecture and ornament which Rome dis¬ 
plays, where obedient rivers are forced into the air, or 
Ipread over artificial rocks, but where the pure Spring, 
and the fimple iron bowl, invite the paffenger to a deli¬ 
cious draught. In vain Shall we leek for a comparifon 
with the magnificent ItruCtures of Trevi and Montorio, 
or thofe within the colonnade of St. Peter’s; the Turk- 
ifh fountains are low Iquare buildings, with fpouts on 
each fide, the roofs of lead, curled up in a Chinefe tafte, 
and the whole profufely gilded, painted with an infinity 
of colours, and infcribed with verfes. During the Greek 
empire, Valens, having refolved on the demolition of the 
walls of Chalcedone, in confequence of their oppofition 
to him, removed die Hones to Conftantinople for the con¬ 
struction of an aqueduct, connecting the third and fourth 
hills by more than forty arches. It is extremely maflive, 
built as the walls, with alternate courfes of Roman tiles, 
and having in parts a double arcade. Juftin the younger 
repaired it in 570, and Solyman the Magnificent, in his 
great refloration of the ancient aqueduCts for the fupply 
of the city, completely renewed it from a ftate of ruin. 
It conduits the-brook Hydrale from Belgrade, and in the 
general view of the Ottoman capital, mult be confidered 
as one of the moll ftriking monuments of its original 
greatnel's. Of the vaftcifterns, mentioned by Gyllius, thofe 
now worthy infpeCtion are two made by the emperor 
Conftantine, 
