ssions on the
gazer's mind, partake of none of that involuntary admiration and
religious awe, which the sight of an old English cathedral, or the
splendid churches of Italy, never fails to produce. One of its greatest
defects arises from want of loftiness in the dome, the diameter of which
is one hundred and fifteen, while its height does not exceed twenty
feet. There is an immense number of columns, the spoils of various
heathen temples. Of these, eight, of porphyry, are from that dedicated
to the Sun by the Emperor Aurelian; and the same number, of green
marble, verd antique, or _serpentine_, from the temple of Ephesus. Very
little of the ancient mosaic now remains, as the devotees, both Turk and
Christian, have for ages been in the habit of pillaging it, to make
ornaments, beads, and talismans; so that the work of destruction is
nearly complete, and a manufacture of these relics, which are composed
of gilded glass, will soon be required. I bought a whole handful for a
few paras; and having seen them dug out of their cement by the mufti who
sold them, I can vouch for their being genuine.

We now ascended into the upper and lower galleries; in the former of
which the Greek women performed their devotions, and the men in the
latter. Two doors, one on either side of the passage in which we now
were, opened into a third gallery, where I was told stood the "gates of
heaven and hell." They are of marble, but the origin of this
superstition I could not learn. The floor of the mosque was covered with
beautiful carpets, and the ornaments resembled those I saw in that of
Soliman the Magnificent, which is considered a much finer building. St.
Sophia is also surpassed in beauty by the mosque of Sultan Mehemet,
which may be considered as the St. Peter's of the East. The next in size
and grandeur are those of Achmet and Osman; but as these buildings very
much resemble each other, both in external and internal form and
decorations, to see one is quite sufficient: "ab uno disce omnes." A
greater or less number of elegant, tall, slender minarets or towers, are
attached to each mosque in proportion to its size. They are dazzlingly
white, like the edifices to which they belong, and are surmounted by
golden crescents that flash and sparkle in the brilliant sunbeams of
this sultry clime; and, as the number of public religious foundations is
immense, independently of thousands of private mosques; the united
splendour of so many glittering