what would happen, and fearing, like another Orpheus, to be torn Peace-meal by those raging Furies, had cunningly withdrawn himself.
But to return to my Purpose. As soon as I came to Constantinople, Letters were sent to Solyman, then at Amasia, to acquaint him with my Arrival; and, till his Answer was return'd, I had Leisure to take a View of the City of Constantinople; and first, I had a Mind to visit the Temple of St. Sophia, which I was not admitted to do, but by special Favour; for the Turks think that their Temples are prophaned, if a Christian do but put his Foot within them.
That Church is a magnificent Pile, and a worthy Structure to behold. It hath a great Arch or Hemisphere in the Middle, which hath no Light but only from the Sky: All the Turkish Mosks are built after the Form of this. Some say, that heretofore it was much larger, and contained many Apartments, which were all destroyed by the Turks, and only the Quire and Nave, in the Middle of it, standing.
As for the Situation of the City itself, it seemed to me, to be naturally placed as fit to be the Mistress of the World; it stands in Europe, and hath Asia in view, and on its right, hath Egypt and Africa; which, though Countries not adjacent to it, yet by reason of frequent Intercourse and Naval Commerce, they seem as it were, contiguous. On its left Hand is the Euxin Sea, and the Palus Mætis, whose Banks are inhabited round about by many Nations, and so many navigable Rivers have their Influx into them, that there is nothing grows in any of the Countries thereabout, fit for Man's Use; but there is a great Conveniency of transporting it by Sea to Constantinople.
