at I
can hardly think them natural marble; on one side is the pulpit, of
white marble, and on the other, the little gallery for the grand
signior. A fine stair-case leads to it, and it is built up with
gilded lattices. At the upper end is a sort of altar, where the name
of God is written; and before it stand two candlesticks, as high as a
man, with wax candles as thick as three flambeaux. The pavement is
spread with fine carpets, and the mosque illuminated with a vast
number of lamps. The court leading to it is very spacious, with
galleries of marble, of green columns, covered with twenty-eight
leaded cupolas on two sides, and a fine fountain of basins in the
midst of it.

THIS description may serve for all the mosques in Constantinople.
The model is exactly the same, and they only differ in largeness and
richness of materials. That of the sultana Valida is the largest of
all, built entirely of marble, the most prodigious, and, I think, the
most beautiful structure I ever saw, be it spoken to the honour of
our sex, for it was founded by the mother of Mahomet IV. Between
friends, Paul's church would make a pitiful figure near it, as any of
our squares would do near the _atlerdan_, or place of horses, (_at_
signifying a horse in Turkish). This was the _hippodrome_, in the
reign of the Greek emperors. In the midst of it is a brazen column,
of three serpents twisted together, with their mouths gaping. 'Tis
impossible to learn why so odd a pillar was erected; the Greeks can
tell nothing but fabulous legends, when they are asked the meaning of
it, and there is no sign of its having ever had any inscription. At
the upper end is an obelisk of porphyry, probably brought from Egypt,
the hieroglyphics all very entire, which I look upon as mere ancient
puns. It is placed on four little brazen pillars, upon a pedestal of
square free stone, full of figures in bas-relief on two sides; one
square representing a battle, another an assembly. The others have
inscriptions in Greek and Latin; the last I took in my pocket-book,
and it is as follows:

_Difficilis quondam, dominis parere serenis
Jussus, et extinctis palman portare tyrannis
Omnia Theodosio cedunt, sobolique perenni_.

Your lord will interpret these lines. Don't fancy they are a
love-letter to him.

ALL the figures have their heads on; and I cannot forbear reflecting
again on the impudence of authors, who all say they h