CEILING OF GALLERY, HALL OF AMBASSADORS.
on the shaft. The same thing occurs in the Court of the Fish-pond and the Court of the Lions, but, in each case, the harmony of the colouring appears to require that they should be gilt. It is probable that in the restorations which the Palace underwent during the residence of the Spanish kings, it was found much more easy to remove the gold from the columns, exposing the white marble, than to incur the expense of re-
gilding.” Such is the opinion of the famous decorative artist, Owen Jones; but the fondness of the Oriental for the spotless purity of marble, and the transparency of alabaster, so oft expressed in the inscriptions, forbids its acceptance.
In the several alcoves, or divans, which surround the Hall, the walls are covered with plaster ornaments in relief, presenting the greatest variety; the patterns in each divan being different.
EXTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE (PRIVATE PROPERTY).
Beneath this Golden Saloon is a network of dungeon-like passages, by which, it is said, Sultáns escaped in treasonable revolts, when angry scimitars were glittering in the fountain-courts, or when the incensed populace were tossing their threatening spears in the humming city below. Here is also a prison-cell sort of room, with whispering holes at each end, which
PLATE LXXXIV.