The Argosy — page 235: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Remembrances of Constantinople. 221 appeared so frequently, a few years since, before the English public ; but the collar of his coat blazed with diamonds, and an enormous one flashed in the hilt of his sword. Whether the soldiers sought to shield their eyes from the lightning glare of the diamonds, whether they feared to look on “the brother of the sun,” or whether it was a simple matter of etiquette, I cannot tell ; but certainly, the instant the Sultan appeared in sight, every one of his guards cast his eyes on the ground, and did not raise them again until his Highness had passed. ~ Probably this custom may have arisen from the fear of “the evil eye.” As I gazed at the Sultan I could not help thinking that there was a tinge of melancholy mixed with the extreme gravity of his counten- ance. Well might he look grave, for certainly he began his reign, like his amiable contemporary, Pope Pius IX., with the noble intention of. reforming abuses, of living more simply, of spending less money than his predecessors had done. But, alas! the prejudices, the ignorances, the love of greed, and the jealousies which surrounded him, brought him to the very last rung of the. ladder of disgrace and dishonour—to dethronement and death. But I must return to my seat on the cemetery wall. After the officers of the royal household had passed, the cortége was closed by a dozen mounted grooms, bearing on their backs leather sacks, destined to receive the petitions which are thrust forward at every place where the Sultan stops whenever he appears in public. None are ever rejected ; and sometimes as many as five thousand are put into the bags during one progress. In endeavouring to catch a glimpse of the procession, one of our party, whose sweet countenance was a true index to her gentle mind, accidentally approached very near to-the carpet on which three women were seated. It required all the eloquence of our dragoman, who, I feel sure, was inventing all sorts of fables as to our position and importance, to save us from being beaten. We were glad to make a hasty retreat, and poor Ibrahim gave a sigh of relief when he had packed us into the carriage out of the way of danger. THE BAZAAR. Persons from the Frank quarter visiting the vast enclosure devoted to commerce at Stamboul must thread their way along narrow, dirty lanes, and pass through the court of the Mosque of Bayazid, or Bajazet, famed for its monoliths of green stone and jasper. In this court live, and are maintained at the public expense, hundreds of pigeons, said to be descendants of the very bird that by miraculous interposition saved the life of the Prophet of Islam. It is related |that comicbooks.com —