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‘difficulty the light passes
FRANK LESLIE'S NEW YORK JOURNAL.
and our sepulchres, that afterwards he may seize; that sustain the two naves on the right and on the
. * * * *
them. Nor must any one think that the slighest
provocation on our part has occasioned these attacks.
‘We have always respected the usages of the coun-
try, and have patiently suffered these injuries. The
view we give here, of one of the streets of the Grand
Bazaar, is perhaps, one of those that has been ob-
tained: at the price of the most insult and annoy-
ance.
At sunset, all the doors of the bazaar are shut,
fire and lights being prohibited for fear of conflagra-
tions. Thus these edifices, solidly built, are the
only ones protected from a scourge that continually
ravages the entire city.”
From the bazaar we come to the door of the
mosque of Bajazet II, situated at the corner of the
grand place of the Seraskier (Grand Vizier), where, | |
during the three days.of the Beyram, the Long-
champs of Constantinople is enacted. . Nothing is
more graceful than the court of this mosque, with
its beautiful marble columns, green and red, its
elegant doors, its fountains, .
its trees, which _ shelter’
flocks of pigeons that, ac-
cording to an edict of the
Sultan, are fed with grain
that women and children
pour, while passing by, into _
a box placed there for that
express purpose. It is with
through ‘these crowds of
irds. 7 :
_. All the mosques of Con.
stantinople, and the turbé,
or tombs, that surround
them, are of the highest in-
terest, both as to details of
art, andthe sentiment of
the picturesque. In this
rapid sketch, we shall con-
‘tent. ourselves with visiting
the three most interesting .
‘ones. On passing fromthe .
mosque of Bajazet to those
of Mohammed, of Chah-
Zadé, and of the Sultan
Selim, we encounter some
remarkable fountains, cis-
terns, cafes, and picturesque
streets. One of these, which
leads from Mohammed to
Selim, appeared to us the
most striking type of the
streets of Stamboul, and of
it we give a sketch. On
crossing the Hippodrome,
where the obelisk of Con-
stantine rises, and the Janiz-
aries were annihilated, we
meet the beautiful mosque,
with six minarets, of the
Sultan Ahmed. The view
of one of its facades will
show the reader the elegan
style of these immense edi ©
fices, which a vast court,
enclosed by walls, and orn
mented by fountains , and
ancient plantain trees, still
encircles. A short street
leads us to the square, St.
Sophia, opposite the grand
gate of the Serai. A foun
tain, a perfect gem of Per ;
sian art, entirely of porce- . _
Jain and marble, decorates
this squar:.
Bat Aya Sophia, the celberated Sainte Sophie (holy
wisdom), attracts all our attention. Its exterior, flank-
ed by bastions and heavy walls, sustaining the parti-
tions and the cupola, which threatened to crumble
down, is ill-shapen, and one would not credit, under
this heavy envelope, the lightness. positively airy, of
the cupola. But, on entering, we acknowledge that
its reputation is not undeserved. Founded by Con-
stantine the Great, St. Sophie was entirely built by
the architects, Anthemius and Isidore de Milet, under
the reign of Justinian. Veneration and astonish-
ment possess us on viewing the extent of this unri-
valled temple. The eye is lost before reaching this
cupola of fabulous height, and which, by an ad-
tirable artifice, seems rather to be hung like a lamp
from the vault of heaven, than to rest on the earth
like human edifices. In fact, it is supperted only
on sections of domes, one of Phich surmounts
the sanctua the others covering the galleries
which communicate with them by means of those
*
left. «© *
The mosque of Solyman, the Magnificent, much
more beautiful externally, with its courts, its ter-
races, its fountains, and its enormous trees, is, like
all the mosques of Constantinople, an imitation of
the church of St. Sophia. Interior in its propor-
tions and its richness, it differs also in its embellish-
ment, which is Arabic. Built at a period of a true
regeneration of the arts, La Solimanié merits atten-
tion, and, after the Cathedral, I place it unhesitat-
ingly above all the rest. | Its pulpit, its windows of
precious stones, the gift of a Persian’ shah, its
sculptures, and its beautiful proportions, make it a
very remarkable monument. Le *
*
Cortntu’s Pepacoctrs.—Dionysius the younger,
who was a greater tyrant than his father, on being
for the second time banished from Syracuse, retired
to Corinth, where he was obliged to turn school-
master for a subsistence. . :
THE STREET OF MONAMMED.
Tue great Samuel Clarke was fond of robust ex-
ercise; and this profound logician was often found
by his intimate friends leaping over. tables and
chairs. Once, perceiving a pedantic fellow, he said:
«Now, we must desist, for a fool is coming in.”
Tue wings of insects afford an immense variety
of interesting and beautiful objects Some are
covered with scales, as in the butterfly tribe. Some
are adorned with fringes of feathers, and the ribs or
yeins are also feathered, as in many of the gnat
family ; and even these scales and feathers are ribbed
and fluted in a Yariety of ways. e earwig is not
generally known to have wings, from their being
folded on the back in so small a compass. In size,
wings differ as much in every other particular;
some are so minute as to be scarcely perceptible,
and others are several inches in length, The elytra,
or wing-cases, of many insects are beautifully tran-
sparent objects: such as those of the boat-fly, the
Parents who are ignorant of their duty will be
taught by the misconduct of their children what
they ought to have done.
‘Tgacuina A ForrtcNner To Speak Enouisn.—My
friend the foreigner called on me to bid me farewell
betore he quitted town, and on his departure he
said, ‘Iam going af the country.” I yentured to
correct his phraseology by saying that we were
accustomed to say ** going into the country.” He
thanked me for this correction’and said he had pro-
fited by my lesson, and added, «I will knock into
your door on my return.” * | ote
The Ethiopians and Egyptians used the image of
the owl as a messenger of death, in the same man-
ner that the bull's head was afterwards employed
by the Scotch and other nations. When this token
was sent by the king, it was considered a point of
loyalty and honor for the receiver to kill himself
immediately ; while any attempt to escape from the
doom was believed to cast a stain both on the
condemned and on his country. . oa
Curious Facts. -
Bers are geometricians.
The cells are so constructed
as, with the least quantity
of material, to have the
largest sized spaces and the
least possible loss of inter-
stice. The mole is a mete-
orologist. The bird called
a nine-killer is an arithme-
tician ; as also the crow, the
wild turkey, and some other
birds... The torpedo, - the
ray, and the electric eel, are
electricians. “The nautilus
. is a navigator. He: raises
and lowers his sails, casts
and weighs anchor, and per-
. forms other nautical acts.
Whole ‘tribes of birds are
musicians. ‘The beaver is
an architect, builder, and
woodcutter. He cuts down
trees, and erects houses and
dams. The marmot’ is a
civilengineer He does not
only build houses, but con-
' - structs aqueducts and drains
to keep them dry. The
white ants maintain a regu-
lar army of soldiers. Wasps
“are paper manufacturers.
Caterpillars are silk-spin-
ners. The squirrel is a
ferryman, With a chip or
piece of bark for a boat, and
his tail for a sail, he crosses
a stream. Dogs, wolves,
jackals, and many others,
are hunters, The black bear
and heron are fishermen.
The ants have regular day
. laborers, The monkey is a
rope-dancer, :
A wisz man is never less
alone than when he is alone.
HE want of leisure is
often only the want of in-
clination.
You may glean know-
ledge by reading, but you
must separate the chaff
from the wheat by think-
ing.
‘Lue best throw of dice is to throw them away.
Tue longer the saw of contention is drawn, the
hotter it grows. Lo
Foors open their ears to flattery, and shut their
eyes to truth. a
Tue best way to condemn bad traits, is by prac-
tising good ones.
Tue reproaches of a friend should be strictly just,
and not too frequent. . oo
A stewarp wrote 'to a bookseller in London for
some books to fit up his master’s library; in the fol-
lowing terms :—* In the first place, I want six feet
of theology, the same quantity of metaphysics, and
near a yard of old civil law in folio.” .
A miserty old farmer, who had lost one of his
best hands in the midst of hay-making, remarked to
the sexton, as he was filling. up the poor fellow’s
grave:— It’s a sad thing to lose a good mower, at
grasshopper tribe, and many of the minute cicada,
a time like this—but, after all, poor Tom was a dread-
fal great eater.” : :