ARCHES UNDER CONSTANTINOPLE.

THE city of Constantinople, from the beauty of its situation and the elegance of its structures, is said to present one of the most pleasing pictures on which the gaze of the traveller ever rests. At the time of its erection, the chief cities of the old world were ransacked of materials that could add to its grandeur; every country under the government of Rome sent its contribution towards the building of the new capital. From Egypt were brought obelisks, from Ephesus pillars of jasper, from Greece came marble, and Rome itself was spoiled of its statues that they might grace its rival. Successive emperors laboured to finish that which Constantine had so magnificently begun; till, in its surpassing beauty and impregnable strength, Constantinople became

the wonder as well as the capital of the world. Under the influence of its present possessors, many of the costly buildings of the Greeks have disappeared, and the whole city has assumed an oriental costume. Like all Eastern cities, it is seen most to advantage without the walls, its aspect then is still imposing; but when you enter it, the narrow streets, the accumulated filth, and the mangylooking dogs, give you anything but a favourable impression of it. Indeed, it was from a sight observed in this city, that Lord Byron caught the idea of the lines in the Siege of Corinth :

"And he saw the lean dogs beneath the wall
Hold o'er the dead their carnival;

Gorging and growling o'er carcass and limb;

They were too busy to bark at him!

From a Tartar's skull they had stripp'd the flesh,

;

As we peel the fig when its fruit is fresh
And their white tusks crunch'd o'er the whiter skull,
As it slipped their jaws, when their edge grew dull,
As they lazily mumbled the bones of the dead,
They scarce could rise from the spot where they fed."

One of the most remarkable monuments of old Constantinople consists of the vast subterranean edifices which our plate is intended to represent. They were built by the Greeks as cisterns or reservoirs, and were always kept full of water in case of a siege; but, neglected by the improvident Turks, some have fallen into decay, and the localities of others have become unknown. There is one called by the Turks the palace of the thousand and one pillars, which is readily shown to travellers. The captain of a Levant trading-vessel, whom we met a few days ago, gave us the following account of his visit to this particular reservoir. Obtaining the assistance of a friend as guide, they reached the opening that leads down to these vaulted chambers. The entrance is in about the centre of the city, and consists of a narrow but substantial stone staircase. After descending about thirty feet, our friend was somewhat surprised to find, instead of an immense body of water, that it was dry, and that a number of silk-twisters were plying their trade there in almost total darkness. The noise of their