BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS. 74
while, here and there among the merchants, wanders a bowed and bearded Jew, with shabby beniche(*) and crying gait, vending spurious opium, second-hand finery, and stale sweetmeats.
Altogether, the scene is singularly attractive; and the Frank traveller must pay many visits to the Fruit-marked of Top-hannè, and the beautiful Kilidge Ali Pasha Djiamini, ere he wearies of so novel and so exciting a spectacle.
PLATE: THE CITY WALLS. Descending to the Port)
THE WALLS OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Girdling a peopled world they stretch along -
A mighty grasp about a mightier space;
Where heroes strove in vain, and poet's song
Had shed around a glory and a grace.
Here the proud Crescent braved the holy Cross,
and reared its symbol on each saintly shrine;
And here, triumphant 'mid an Empire's loss,
The proud heart ceased to beat - Imperial Constantine!
THE walls of Constantinople are fraught with interesting memories. To the historian they tell of the varying fortunes of a mighty empire; to the antiquary, of the noblest days of roman art; and to the soldier, of the bold and heroic deeds of a race long gone, but living still in the page of tradition; while, to the traveller and the man of taste, they offer scenes of picturesque beauty, varying at every point of his pilgrimage; and presenting a succession of landscape-views which defy alike the description of the tourist, and the pencil of the painter.
The city of Constantinople occupies a triangular promontory above the Propontis, and it has been strongly fortified on all sides, as well those which are washed by the sea, as on that which is the base of the triangle, and connects it with the main land. The walls extend twelve miles, sweeping from sea to sea, running along the whole length of the harbour, restraining the billows of the sea of Marmora, and terminating in the celebrated fortress of the Seven Towers. they are every where ruinous, and in several places so utterly dilapidated as to he wholly useless for the purposes of defence; their reparation being a herculean project at present unmeditated by the Turks, and probably never to be accomplished.
(*) Robe.