thin
leaves or in solid masses. The balustrade of the choir, the capitals
of the pillars, the ornaments of the doors and galleries, were of
gilt bronze; the spectator was dazzled by the glittering aspect of the
cupola; the sanctuary contained forty thousand pounds weight of silver;
and the holy vases and vestments of the altar were of the purest gold,
enriched with inestimable gems. Before the structure of the church had
arisen two cubits above the ground, forty-five thousand two hundred
pounds were already consumed; and the whole expense amounted to three
hundred and twenty thousand: each reader, according to the measure of
his belief, may estimate their value either in gold or silver; but the
sum of one million sterling is the result of the lowest computation.
A magnificent temple is a laudable monument of national taste and
religion; and the enthusiast who entered the dome of St. Sophia might be
tempted to suppose that it was the residence, or even the workmanship,
of the Deity. Yet how dull is the artifice, how insignificant is the
labor, if it be compared with the formation of the vilest insect that
crawls upon the surface of the temple! [Footnote 103: Among the crowd
of ancients and moderns who have celebrated the edifice of St. Sophia,
I shall distinguish and follow, 1. Four original spectators and
historians: Procopius, (de Edific. l. i. c. 1,) Agathias, (l. v. p. 152,
153,) Paul Silentiarius, (in a poem of 1026 hexameters, and calcem Annae
Commen. Alexiad.,) and Evagrius, (l. iv. c. 31.) 2. Two legendary Greeks
of a later period: George Codinus, (de Origin. C. P. p. 64-74,) and the
anonymous writer of Banduri, (Imp. Orient. tom. i. l. iv. p. 65--80.)3.
The great Byzantine antiquarian. Ducange, (Comment. ad Paul Silentiar.
p. 525--598, and C. P. Christ. l. iii. p. 5--78.) 4. Two French
travellers--the one, Peter Gyllius, (de Topograph. C. P. l. ii. c. 3,
4,) in the xvith; the other, Grelot, (Voyage de C. P. p. 95--164, Paris,
1680, in 4to:) he has given plans, prospects, and inside views of St.
Sophia; and his plans, though on a smaller scale, appear more correct
than those of Ducange. I have adopted and reduced the measures of
Grelot: but as no Christian can now ascend the dome, the height is
borrowed from Evagrius, compared with Gyllius, Greaves, and the Oriental
Geographer.]

[Footnote 104: Solomon's temple was surrounded with courts, porticos,
&c.; but the proper structure of the house of God was no more (i