the churches actually studied will not be overshadowed by the
grandeur of the 'Great Church,' but will stand clear before the view in
all the light that beats upon them.

I recall gratefully my obligations to the Sultan's Government and to
the late Sir Nicholas O'Conor, British Ambassador at Constantinople, for
permission to make a scientific examination of the churches of the city.
To the present British Ambassador, Sir Gerard Lowther, best thanks are
due for the facilities enjoyed in the study of the church of S. Irene.

I have been exceedingly fortunate in the architects who have given me
the benefit of their professional knowledge and skill in the execution
of my task, and I beg that their share in this work should be recognized
and appreciated as fully as it deserves. To the generosity of the
British School at Athens I am indebted for being able to secure the
services of Mr. Ramsay Traquair, Associate of the Royal Institute of
British Architects and Lecturer on Architecture at the College of Art in
Edinburgh. Mr. Traquair spent three months in Constantinople for the
express purpose of collecting the materials for the plans,
illustrations, and notes he has contributed to this work. The chapter on
Byzantine Architecture is entirely from his pen. He has also described
the architectural features of most of the churches; but I have
occasionally introduced information from other sources, or given my own
personal observations.

I am likewise under deep obligation to Mr. A. E. Henderson, F.S.A., for
the generous kindness with which he has allowed me to reproduce his
masterly plans of the churches of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, S. Mary
Panachrantos, and many of his photographs and drawings of other churches
in the city. I am, moreover, indebted to the Byzantine Research and
Publication Fund for courteous permission to present here some of the
results of the splendid work done by Mr. W. S. George, F.S.A., under
unique circumstances, in the study of the church of S. Irene, and I
thank Mr. George personally for the cordial readiness with which he
consented to allow me even to anticipate his own monograph on that very
interesting fabric. It is impossible to thank Professor Baldwin Brown,
of the University of Edinburgh, enough, for his unfailing kindness
whenever I consulted him in connection with my work. Nor do I forget how
much I owe to J. Meade Falkner, Esq., for kindly undertaking the irksome
task of revising the proofs of t