obtained victories over the enemies of his throne before he became founder of a religious temple. Few princes had more success in war than Solymaun; nor did ever monster make a more barbarous use of it: the relation of the cruelties of which he was guilty, and of the persecutions to which Christians were subjected by this disgrace to human nature, freezes the mind of sensibility with horror*: Yet this wretch dedicated to religion, and the adoration of the Divinity, the mosque of which I am now speaking, the most symmetrical and elegant in Constantinople †

IN Hungary he murdered the garrison of Buda, after having accepted their capitulation. In Austria, women were first ravished before their husbands' faces, then murdered with their children. Infants were ripped from the womb; others, seized from the breasts of their mothers, were cut in pieces before their eyes, and thrust upon pointed spears or stakes...

Ar another time he killed in cold blood four thousand prisoners, when retreating from an unsuccessful campaign.

He caused to be strangled in his presence his son Mustapha, on suspicions which he afterwards found were erroneous; and put to death another son, named Bajazet, with four of his children. He was proclaimed Emperor in the same year that Charles the Fifth was crowned in Germany, and died, to the joy of the world, 4th September 1566.

THE reader will observe, by the description of this mosque and that of Sancta Sophia, the similarity which prevails between them; and the same takes place

In form it is square; and in the centre is a cupola, scarcely inferior to that of Sancta Sophia, supported by four beautiful, and, from their magnitude, invaluable columns of porphyry. Three other small arches are sustained by marble pillars; adding to the strength of the upper parts of the building, and rendering the great cupola more secure. Over each aisle five smaller cupolas give an air of lightness and elegance to the interior of the mosque, which is ornamented also by two galleries: twentyfour columns, with as many cupolas, decorate the area. On the eastern side is a garden, in which are seen the tombs of Solymaun and of his wife, and several fountains handsomely decorated. In the wall which surrounds the whole are nine gates, for the convenience of access to the mosque.

In this, as in all other mosques of magnitude, hang considerable numbers of lamps. The floor is neatly matted; and on every side are recesses in the wall, where the name of "God, and Mahommed his prophet," with various extracts from the Koran, are written in gold and colored characters of the Arabic language. In the one called Mahareb, which, as has been observed, is always in the direction of Mecca, the Koran is invariably exposed open.

with respect to all other mosques; the affluence of poverty apparent in thei embellishment constituting the only difference.

THE founders of mosques are generally buried near them; and the tomb, erected in the centre of a chamber or mosque of diminutive size, is so placed that it may be seen through iron lattices. The coffin, covered with a crimson and gold velvet pall, is decorated by the turban of the deceased, placed at the head, and a large silver candlestick at the feet. Lamps are suspended over the bier; and not unfrequently the arms, or some relique of the deceased, are preserved near it.

HOSPITALS, bagnios, and colleges, are attached to many of the royal mosques. The two former are of essential advantage to the indigent; and the latter, in several of which there are libraries, particularly that of Sancta Sophia, might be equally serviceable in the promotion of knowledge and improvement of morals, were studies upon an enlightened plan comprehended by the Softabs or masters who preside. The scale of learning, however, is confined to the dogmas of the Koran, or the commentaries on the Law, requisite to be understood by those who aspire to become members of the Ulemah, and to the inferior acquirements of writing and arithmetic; in both of which there are many proficients.

THE Hippodrome of the Greeks, now called the Atmeidaun or horse-course, is a square of nearly three hundred yards in length, and about one hundred and fifty in breadth. In former times it

was ornamented with many celebrated statues; amongst which may be particularly mentioned the four horses, reputed to be the work of Lycippus, which were transferred by Constantine from the arch of Nero at Rome. From Constantinople they were conveyed to Venice in the year 1206, where, for several centuries, in the Grand Duomo of St Mark, they excited the admiration of every person of taste. At this moment (emblems of Bonaparte's victories over ill-fated Italy) they decorate the gatesof the palace of the Tuilleries at Paris..

THERE remain in the Atmeidaun only three specimens of Grecian grandeur.

THE granite column, usually distinguished by the title of The Egyptian Pillar, is formed of a single block, nearly sixty feet in height, and is deservedly an object of estimation, being, according to Mr Dallaway, superior in symmetrical proportion to those at Rome. The hieroglyphics on this beautiful obelisk still oppose their intricacy to the researches of the antiquarian; but the bas-reliefs upon the sides of the pedestal, which is about eight feet high, represent the Emperor Theodosius presiding at the public games, and receiving the homage of nations subjected by his victorious arms. The machinery by which this immense column was erected, under the orders of Proculus an architect, is also represented in bas-relief; but the whole sculpture is of

inferior execution, and greatly defaced. The inscriptions which commemorate its elevation are so far sunk into the ground as to be scarcely visible.

THE twisted column of bronze, formed by the interlacement of three serpents, and believed to have supported the tripod of Delphos, is in the centre of the square. One of the One of the serpents' heads was struck off (as reported by the Turks) by Sultaun Mahommed the Second with a scimitar, as a proof of his personal strength; but it is hardly to be credited, unless we suppose that the ravages of time had already facilitated this effect of his muscular exertion. The other two heads were conveyed away in the year 1700, and have never been traced.

THE brazen pillar, generally called Constantine's, is upwards of ninety feet high, and stands at the south end of the Atmeidaun, where it served for one of the goals at the celebration of the Grecian public games.---It was ornamented by Constantine Porphyrogenites with plates of brass or gilded bronze, which have been long since removed; and the monument is altogether in a state so mutilated, that its total destruction appears to be at no great distance of time.

In the street called Adrianople Street, not far from the Atmeidaun, are the remains of a pillar which supported the figure