126 C O N S T A N 
lar, and the polygonal, all deeply bracketted, occur in 
fucceflion. At a linall gate, called kivan-ferai-capejji, or 
that of the menagerie for wild beads, the courfe of the 
fortification dretches with an,abrupt angle tow'ard the 
feven towers, under the acclivity of the feventh hill. 
Prince Cantemir mentions thefe buildings under the com¬ 
mon name ol Balat, or n^Aanov, but judicioufly treats as 
erroneous the tradition of their having been erefted either 
by Condantine the Great or the famous Belifarius. The 
great diamond now worn by the fultan was found amongd 
tiie ruins, in the reign of Mohammed II. by a poor boy. 
A few hundred yards from it are fuperdru£hires con- 
fiderably above the battlements, with three large aper¬ 
tures for windows. Afcending the feventh hill, now a 
Greek cemetery, the vad walls and towers of the imperial 
palace, tekir ferai, extending for feveral hundred yards, 
appear in front. Ample fpaces are in many parts per¬ 
forated through the lofty walls, and it is evident from 
internal vediges that the ancient drufture reded upon 
them. At the farther end riles, from a more elgvated 
iite, the palace of the ymperors, as the Turkifh name im¬ 
ports, and which tradition, received in the time of Gyl- 
lius, 1545, had long attributed to Condantine, now re¬ 
maining much as he defcribes it. It is an oblong fquare 
of unulual height, proportioned rather as a tower, with 
four dories and tiers of windows, the marble frames of 
which, are yet feen. Of the columns the greater part is 
funk into the ground, the poliih is worn away, and the 
carved capitals filled with lime. The heads of the arches 
on the outfide are ornamented with a bordure, confiding 
alternately of pieces of white marble and porphyry about 
fix inches fquare. This feems to be the prototype of a 
very common ornament which the Turks paint on their 
molques. Indeed the whole of this lad-mentioned druc- 
ture will appear to an intelligent obferver rather as the 
work of Condantine Paleologus, in the fifteenth century, 
than of Condantine the Great, although, without doubt, 
occupying the lire and retaining the name of his original 
palace. 
Eyub is a fuburb without the walls, mod pleafantly 
fituaie near the harbour. It is fo called from Eyub, or 
Job, the dandard-bearer of Mohammed, who was killed 
in the farft fiege by the Saracens. The conqueror of 
Condantinople difcovered the place of his lepulture by a 
revelation, and erefted a mauloleum and mofque, where 
are now depofited the fwcrd with which the fultan is in¬ 
verted, (a ceremony analogous to coronation,) and all 
other reliques of the prophet but the fanjak (herife, which 
is kept in the feraglio. It has been feveral times lolt, 
but is preferved by this expedient without a miracle. A 
fmall piece is cut oft' from the original, and fewn to an 
enfign of the fame colour, which is renewed as often as 
neceffary. Adjoining are feveral palaces of the princelfes 
of the imperial family; and the prefent emprefs-mother 
has lately completed her fepulchral chapel, which is a 
beautiful Specimen of modern Greek archite6lure recon¬ 
ciled to the Saracenic fade. The marbles are exquilite. 
In a rich valley beyond this fuburb is a delightful re¬ 
treat, much frequented by the fultan on days of gala. 
The file having been once that of paper-mills, occalions 
the prefent name of Kiatchanah. It was fird laid out 
about the beginning of this century by Ahmet III. upon 
a plan 1 communicated by the French ambaffador at that 
time refident. We are furprifed to fee Fontainbleau trans¬ 
ported into Thrace; and, indead of the myrtle in the wild 
luxuriance of nature, and odoriferous fhrubs without cul¬ 
tivation, to find the Sweet waters, as they call the Bel¬ 
grade rivulet, confined in a ftraight and narrow channel 
between a Sormal avenue oS low trees, or forced to tum¬ 
ble over flights of white marble flairs into band-boxes of 
the fame materials. When a concourfe of people is here 
afiembled, to furvey them from one of the hills is ex¬ 
tremely amufing. An European crowd, efpecially when 
unenlivened by females, is a dull fperiacle, as you look 
over acres of black bats; but the infinite variety of Le- 
TINOPLE. 
vnntine habiliment, and the gay tints of their turbans, af¬ 
ford us a view brilliant and various in the extreme. 
The kiofques, or banqueting-houfes, refemble each 
other very nearly; gaudy paintings, grotefque roofs,-and 
Chinefe arcades, compol'e all the architecture, nor has 
this any peculiarity. On the Galata fide of the harbour, 
an object worthy obfervation is the mofque of Piali Partia, 
vifier to Solyman, which is unique in its plan, being di¬ 
vided in the middle by an arcade with columns, and hav¬ 
ing three equal domes under each divifion. As the ful¬ 
tan his matter was at the fame time engaged in building 
his Superb temple, the prudent vifier dilplayed his piety 
without either imitating or attempting to rival it. Far¬ 
ther on is a palace on the brink of the harbour, which, 
from'the extraordinary brilliancy of its internal embel- 
lilhment, was called ain aieb ka-vac ferai, or the palace of 
mirrors. When Ahmet III. had recovered the Morea from 
the Venetians, and they again folicited his forbearance or 
friendlhip, fumptuous looking-glades, the mod perfect of 
tlieir manufacture, were lent as prefents, and this refidence 
adapted to the reception of them. What was the wonder 
of its day, was in time overwhelmed by dilapidation. 
A very abl'urd prejudice prevails refpeCting the private 
property of deceaied ltd tans ; their women are not only 
immured for life, but their palaces, however gorgeous, 
are condemned to a mod facred appropriation, and being 
left uninhabited, become a kind of mauloleum, till they 
have yielded to a gradual decay, and a new edifice, the 
work of fome future prince, riles from the ruins. It was 
here that the ceffion of Crimea to Ruflia was ratified, fo 
disgraceful to the Ottoman power. Certain reftorations, 
but in an inferior fiile, have been made by the prefent 
fultan. 
On a hill contiguous to the city is an inclofed dowm, 
of greater verdure than its vicinity can boad, and of con- 
liderable extent. The Turks have given it the name of 
Ohneydan, the arrow-field ; and it ierves lor the manly 
exercife of archery, in frequent exhibitions of which the 
emperor not only prefides, but is ufually fuperior to his 
competitors. The bow differs much from that of ancient 
Gothic fhape which is ufed in England; it is made of 
horn, bent backwards, and has the eiegant contour which 
we have fo often admired when attached to the ffatues of 
Diana or Cupid. See Archery, vol. ii. p. 34. The plan 
of conduftiug this amufement- varies likewife from our 
own ; for diltance is the criterion of fuperiority, not the 
lhiking a mark. Small white Hones commemorating ex¬ 
traordinary feats are difperied about the plain, and lome 
of them record the prowefs of the royal arm. In the ki- 
olque the viflor’s bow and arrows are fufpended in tri¬ 
umph, with encomiaflic verfes in gilt letters. No poets 
are more happy in terfe epigrammatic compliment than 
thofe of the Turkilh court. To compofe verfes extempo- 
raneoufly, and with elegance, is an envied accomplifh- 
ment, liberally bedowed by nature on Afiatics, and cul¬ 
tivated- in Condantinople with every advantage of in- 
ffruflion anpl emulation. 
In order to form an adequate idea of the effeft of the 
Ottoman capital in a grand view of Afiatic landlcape, 
which has a charafter evidently dilcriminated from that 
we are accuflomed to admire, few points are more fa¬ 
vourable than thofe which are commanded by failing from 
the fweet waters to the feraglio. On the right is an un¬ 
interrupted view of the whole city, with the fide prefented 
to the harbour from the great wall to the fartheft extre¬ 
mity, a fcope of feveral miles. Each of the feven hills is 
di/coverable in grand fucceflion, crowned by mofques o£ 
gigantic dimenfions, and the intervening declivities are 
ciuftered with habitations, and flreets on terraces. Ap¬ 
proaching from the fea of Marmora, five only are feen. 
To fome fpeeffators thgigreat Similarity of conffrufilion, 
and the almofl infinite repetition of linall cupolas, 1111- 
harmonifmg with theexpanfe of the domes, as they abound 
on cloilters and baths, may prefent a tirefome monotony. 
Yet the flatnefs of them diminishes in a great degree that 
unpleafimt 
