I walked almost thro the extent of the whole city to visit the famous pillar of Arcadius, a lofty and aspiring fabric, of the Doric order, built with a wonderful regularity and exactness of architecture, bearing on the basis, and on the whole shaft from top to bottom, various warlike figures of men in arms, chariots, galleys, and other ornaments, which in a spiral manner encircle the whole pillar; every figure being so well proportioned to the distance, from whence it is seen, that those at the top, the middle, and the bottom, appear to the eye exactly of the same size. Returning from this pillar I passed by the old pillar of Aurátbasar, defaced by the several conflagrations of the city, and bound in several places with rings of iron by the care and charge of the emperor Manuel, as is witnessed by this inscription on the top.

ΤΟ ΘΕΙΟΝ ΕΡΓΟΝ ΕΝΘΑΔΕ ΦΘΑΡΕΝ ΧΡΟΝΩ

ΚΑΙΝΟΙ ΜΑΝΟΥΗΛ ΕΥϹΕΒΗϹ ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΩΡ

From this pillar I was desirous of passing thro Atmeidan, that is the hippodromus, or cirque above mentioned, to review the mosque of Sultan Achmét, and make a stricter observation on the three pillars there erected. Here I was informed, that the brass serpentine pillar was erected by the emperor Leo, as a charm against the noisom number of serpents, which in his time infested the city; the same person superstitiously affirming, that since the late defacement of this pillar, by the breaking of the serpents heads, the city was again molested by innumerable noxious serpents. At the foot of the old pillar, formerly covered with brass, I read the remains of that inscription once taken by Sir George Sandys, but since his time part of it buried with earth, and part broken away; which is very erroneously printed in his Travels[84]. On the basis of the hieroglyphical pillar I observed the carved representation of the pillar it self, together with the figures of men labouring to erect it.

May ix.

By the interest of a Greek, who serves the bostangí bashá as his surgeon, I was admitted in company of Mr. John Philips, an eminent merchant, into the great seraglio of Constantinople, where we passed thro two courts, that form the entry of the palace; the first of which has a small arsenal, furnished with arms and ammunition; the second has piazzas on two sides, in which the janisaries are wont to eat, and opens at the upper end into the diván. From these two courts we were permitted to walk round the full extent of the garden, on each side of the palace. They are rude and wild places, affording nothing that is entertaining, but that wherewith nature has furnished them, which is an admirable situation rising into convenient ascents, and capable of infinite improvement, if it were happily in the possession of a Christian prince. The whole plat of ground, which they call the gardens of the seraglio, is covered with cypress and other trees, thro which are cut shady walks, where kiosks are seen of various sorts; the most eminent and remarkable of which is that called the Blew kiosk, fronting the town of Scutari. This and the other called the Alaí kiosk, fronting the city of Galata, are rich and splendid pleasure houses, covered with a gilded cupola, and adorned in their several walls with Indian tiles, and stately chimneypieces of solid brass. Passing thro the extent of the seraglio towards the extreme point, that looks up the Thracian Bosphorus, you observe a Corinthian pillar consisting of white marble, of which the ignorant Turks report a fabulous and ridiculous account; but its true original is discovered by this inscription on one plane of the basis:

FORTVNAE REDVCI OB

DEVICTOS GOTHOS[85]

On the opposite plane is likewise this religious device:

ΙϹΧϹ
ΝΙΚΑ