Court. This is the Station of the Drudging Porters. The Gate-house here also blazes with refulgent Arms. This Gate, without side of it, has nothing like a Porch, though within side it has. ’Tis supported with ten Pillars of different Kinds of Marble; the Roof of it proudly glitters with Gold, and is beautify’d with the most rich and lively Colours of Persian Work. At the third Gate, where the Entrance opens into the Seraglio, there are other Porters or Capoochees attending. These are under the Command of the Capoochee-Basha, or Captain of the Porters, who is also Chamberlain to the Grand Seignor. No body is suffer’d to enter the Palace without his Permission, but the Servants and Officers of the Houshold, unless it be his Noblemen, who while he is sitting near the Door of the Seraglio, may freely enter to pay their Homage to him. All Ambassadors, when introduced into his Presence, are allow’d to kiss his Hand, who receives them sitting upon a low Couch, but curiously embroider’d, in a little Apartment built with Marble, adorn’d with Gold and Silver, and sparkling with Diamonds and precious Stones. This Room of State is incircled with a Portico, which is supported with Pillars of the finest Marble, the Capitals and Pedestals of which are all gilded. Besides these I have mention’d, there are many other Gates round the Seraglio, through which none are admitted, but such as are in the highest Favour with the Emperour. If I mistake not, I counted twelve, which were all Iron-work; seven of them were near the City; two of them, through which they carried their Hay to the Seraglio, were near the Sea; on the Sea Side there were five more: The first of these stands to the North of the Seraglio, towards the Bay; the second stands upon the Ridge of a Hill: ’Tis very large, has a Porch with an arch’d Roof before it, is gilded, and adorn’d in a surprizing manner with Persian Paintings, supported with Pillars of Ophitick Marble, and looks into the Bosporus. At some Distance Eastward there is another Gate facing Chalcedon. Just before it the Vessels are moor’d, in which the Grand Seignor sails to some distant Shore, when he goes a hunting, or is inclined to divert himself in his Gardens. The fourth Gate stands South-east near the Ruins of a Christian Church, some Tokens of which are still remaining in a Wall, to which the Greeks to this Day, by their frequent Visits, continue to pay a kind of devotional Reverence. Beyond this there is a fifth Port or Gate, where is built a Room, though it is only rafter’d, whence you may have the Diversion of seeing the Fish catch’d; as it is also a kind of Repository, where the Grand Seignor’s Fishermen lay up their Tackle. I would observe by the By, that though all the Hills of Constantinople afford a very pleasing Prospect, yet there is none which entertains you with such peculiar Delectation as the first Hill, where the Sultan lives in a licentious and luxurious manner. He has before him, whether he is walking in his Gardens, or in his Chambers of the Seraglio, a full View of the Bosporus and both its Shores, which are green, and flourishing with Woods belonging to the neighbouring Farms. On the right Hand he beholds a spacious Field of Chalcedon, cover’d with his own Gardens; he sees the Propontis, Islands without Number, and the woody Mountains of Asia. If he looks at an immense Distance, behind him he beholds the Olympus always cloath’d in Snow. If he takes a shorter Prospect, he views before him the Wonders of his own City, the Church of St. Sophia and the Hippodrom. If he casts his Eyes to the left Hand, he beholds the seven Hills on which the City is seated, and more remotely, he looks round the unmeasurable spacious Fields of Thracia. If he extends his Prospect over the Seas, he views a moving Scene of Ships passing and repassing before him; some sailing from the Hellespont, or the Black Sea, others again coming into his Port from all the Coasts of the Propontis, while other Vessels at the same time are sailing up and down the Bay of Ceras, where there are also abundance of Wherries and small Boats always oaring from Side to Side. And if he looks below him, he has the agreeable Pleasure of beholding the three Sides of the first Hill, dressed with Trees, Flowers and Plants of all Kinds. But he has not only a fine Prospect from the Palace, but is entertain’d with several delightful Visto’s from the Top of the Gardens rising on the Hills. If he has an Inclination to take a View of his Seraglio, from that Point of Land which projects so far into the Sea, and which, as I observ’d, divided the Bosporus; here he beholds it in all its Glory, strengthen’d with large Pillars of Marble, and fann’d with gentle refreshing Breezes, where he often sits with small Osier Lattices before him; so that, like another Gyges, he discerns all that sail near him, though he himself is visible to none: And if at any time he is weary of the Company of his Domesticks, he can divert himself with the ridiculous Drollery of the Watermen, when fixing their Oars and Boat-poles to the Shore, they tug against the violent Stream of the Bosporus, which is much more rapid than the Rhone. Without the Seraglio stands the Church of St. Sophia, which is about seventy Paces distant from the Gate of the first Court. ’Tis situate on the Brow of the first Hill, upon an Eminence that hangs over the Garden of the first Valley: From thence you ascend by Stone Steps to the Gate of the Seraglio, and the Church of St. Sophia, which from the South-east falls with so easy a Descent, that it almost imperceptibly terminates on a Plain both above and below it. In short, all the Descents from the Imperial Palace to the Hippodrom, are moderate and gentle. South-west of the Church of St. Sophia, a Plain extends itself to the End of the Hippodrom, which is above seven hundred Paces long. The Hippodrom is more than two Furlongs in Length, and one Furlong in Breadth. It stands upon a perfect Level; but this is more to be ascribed to Industry, than its natural Situation. The Middle Part of it, stretching as far as the Propontis, on three Sides of it, is a shelving Ground. On the East it falls with a small Declivity, on the West ’tis more upon the Descent, on the Side of the Propontis ’tis directly perpendicular to the Depth, more or less, of fifty Foot. The whole Front of the Hippodrom is built upon Arches, (which makes it stand upon a Level) and entertains the Spectator with a very delectable Prospect of the Propontis, so that you may not only see Men sailing to and fro before you, but may also see the Dolphins frequently tumbling about the Waters. The Steps on the North Side of the Hippodrom, which remained there but a few Years since, were demolished by Abraham the Bassa, and were used in building his own House. Between the Hippodrom and the Propontis there stretches a Plain, which widens to the Breadth of four hundred Paces, where the Churches of Bacchus and Sergius anciently stood; of both which I shall take Notice in the following History. Below the Hippodrom, to the South, is the Gate call’d Porta Leonis, which is situate without the City, upon the Ruins of the Palace of Leo Macellus; the Windows of which, of antique Workmanship, are still remaining in the Walls. The Palace was built upon a Hill adjoining to the Sea, which was about a hundred Paces high.
FROM the uppermost Plain of the Promontory, on which, as I observed, stood the Church of St. Sophia and the Hippodrom, by an easy Ascent of a thousand Paces, you climb the Ridge of the second Hill up to the Porphyry Pillar, erected on the Top of the second Hill, which is bounded on the East by the first Valley, which divides the first from the second Hill. It rises at the Plain of St. Sophia, and extends itself from South to North. This Valley represents exactly the Figure of the Letter V; one of whose Sides extends itself full East, the other North. Thro’ the Middle of it runs the Wall, which divides the Grand Seignor’s Palace from the rest of the City. The lowermost Plain of the Promontory extends itself in Length and Breadth so far into this Valley, that from the Bay to the Church of St. Sophia, you may walk a thousand Paces almost upon the Level. From the Entrance of it on the Sea Side, ’tis all a plain Ground to the Length of five hundred Paces; afterwards winding itself into this Vale, it rises with a small Ascent, which is more easily perceivable by a gentle Fall of the Water, than by the Eye or Foot. At the Beginning of it ’tis somewhat wide, afterwards ’tis narrower, and at the End of it ’tis straighten’d into two lesser Valleys; one of which, near to the Church of St. Sophia, is four hundred Paces long. It rises gradually, and is so very narrow, that the publick Way takes up the whole Breadth of it.
