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 gates of 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 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

of Apollo, to which the son of the great Constantine is said to have given his father's name.---This monument is now called the Burnt Pillar; and is so disfigured by the conflagrations which have happened in its neighbourhood, that no vestige of beauty is discoverable. The stones which still constitute the shaft are encircled by hoops of iron, where formerly bronzed wreaths of laurel bound them, and the inscriptions are destroyed.---It is mentioned by many ancient authors as having been injured by lightening; which, to judge from its present appearance, is by no means. improbable.

THE Hippodrome, formerly the theatre of so many splendid festivals, and of so many licentious revolts, is now no longer the arena of such events.---A few Turks, galloping from one end to the other, (on Fridays particularly) stopping short, and throwing with infinite address their Jereet (Javelin), or suddenly whirling round upon their well-managed horses, in a manner, and with a rapidity almost inconceivable, are all that bring to recollection the famous ceremonies of Grecian times.

ON one side of the square, the mosque of Sultaun Ahmed occupies a space, supposed by some antiquaries to have been the site of Constantine's palace. An hospital for lunatics is built on the other; and underneath part of it are the remains of one of those stupendous cisterns which supplied the Christians in times

of siege, with water, brought by a subterraneous aqueduct from a considerable distance.

THERE were several of these excavations in the city, of which some still continue serviceable to the inhabitants.---One, said to have been constructed by Philoxenus, in which upwards of two hundred marble pillars still evince its magnitude, is appropriated to manufactures of silk, no water having been collected there for a very considerable number of years: it receives light from various openings in the roof.

THE Castle of Seven Towers is situated upon the south-west side of the town, and is one of the largest buildings which compose it.—It has frequently been compared to the late Bastile of Paris, in as much as it is the principal state prison, where equal secrecy, as well as equal horrors, are said to prevail.—Originally it was one of the gates of the city, but distinguished on account of its ornaments, and in consideration of all triumphal entries passing through it, by the appellation of the Golden Gate.---Mahommed the Second added three towers to the four which were constructed above the old gate, and, as well as several succeeding Emperors, preserved part of his treasures here. The only service to which it is now destined is that of a prison; and the ambassadors of the Russian and German nations when engaged in war against the Porte, are, if they are seized, confined in this castle so long as

hostilities continue *. Mr Bukalow the Russian Envoy was the last minister who suffered confinement; and was not liberated till a peace took place between his court and the Grand Signior, when he returned to the enjoyment of his honors in the Russian palace at Pera.

THE renowned aqueduct of Valens connects, by arches of massive architecture, two of the hills upon which Constantinople is built, and amply repays the trouble of visiting it: it is a proof that neither the efforts of indefatigable labor and talents, nor the liberal expenditure of treasure, were withheld by the Christian Emperors to render this superb capital worthy their election and residence.---It is at the same time but justice to observe, that the Turkish Sultaun Solymaun followed their example; and in his repairs of the city, particularly directed the complete restoration of this magnificent and useful work.

A SIMILARITY of construction takes place in all the houses of Constantinople; those of the opulent having a court of greater or less dimensions, with a fountain in the centre. The Harem or private apartments for the females of the family are upon the

* THESE Ambassadors are subject to the indignity, in consequence of an absurd opinion which prevails at the Porte, that the Russians and Germans are their natural enemies, but other nations might be added to the list with equal propriety, if a principle of retaliation be allowable.

L