The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 10, No. 285, December 1, 1827

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Various. The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 10, No. 285, December 1, 1827

CASTLE OF THE SEVEN TOWERS AT CONSTANTINOPLE

ASTRONOMICAL OCCURRENCES FOR DECEMBER, 1827

COLD WINTER IS COMING

NAUTICAL PHRASES

CHRONICLES OF THE CANONGATE

LETTER

PARTING FOR THE POLE

BARDS, OR POETS OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS

THE SCOTTISH PEASANT'S LAMENT

ON A SQUINTING POETESS

MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS

No. XVI. FISHING IN THE RIVER YEOU

ARABIAN HORSES

PARIS

MUSICIAN OF MANDARA

HUNTING IN PERSIA

PIOUS WATCHMEN IN NORWAY

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

LONDON CLUB-HOUSES

ENGLISH AND FRENCH

PROTESTANT BURIAL-GROUND AT ROME

QUACKS

ANECDOTES OF THE MARVELLOUS

FINE ARTS

HOGARTH'S MARRIAGE-A-LA-MODE

HAMPTON COURT PALACE

THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS

A BALLAD SINGER

VOYAGE UP THE MISSISSIPPI

IRISH TWINS

AUTUMN

THE GATHERER

HOLY WATER

QUID PRO QUO

NAUTICAL EPITAPHS

ON A DRUNKEN COBBLER

WATER GRUEL

THE LETTER C

GIVING AND TAKING

GEORGE SAVILLE CAREY

Отрывок из книги

The celebrity of the Seven Towers in European countries, though strongly savouring of romance, is no joke—it being the prison where the Turks confine the ministers and ambassadors of the powers with whom they are at war. At the present moment this engraving will doubtless be acceptable to our readers; especially to such of our City friends as have recently been induced to speculate on the heads of ambassadors of the allied powers; and a few days since it might have served as a scale for their wagering the "price of blood."

With the early account of this castle we shall be brief. It is cited in the history of the lower empire from the sixth century of the Christian era, as a point which served for the defence of Constantinople. The embrasures of some of its towers, as well as of the towers that flank the ramparts of the town from the southern angle of the castle to the sea, blackened as is supposed by the Greek fire, announce that it was the principal bulwark of the city on the side of the Propontis, in the latter times of the empire. In 1453, Mahomet II., after an obstinate siege, gained possession of Constantinople and the Castle of the Seven Towers, fear opening to him one of the gates of the latter. The Turks relate that 12,000 men perished in this siege; and the marks of the ravages of the artillery are still visible, for, as usual, the conqueror did not concern himself about repairs. Since that time the place has been the arena of many remarkable events, among which was the tragical murder of the caliph Osman the Second. This has been followed up by many bloody executions; and at every turn gloomy sentiments, and the proud names of Turks and Greek princes, inscribed on the walls, speak the sad fate of those by whose hands they were traced. Towers filled with irons, chains, ancient arms, tombs, ruins, dungeons, cold and silent vaults, a pit called the well of blood, the funeral cry of owls and of vultures, mingled with the roar of the waves—such are the objects and sounds with which the eye and ear are familiarized in these dreary abodes, according to poor Ponqueville, the traveller, who speaks from experience—within the walls. All this is a sorry picture for the

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Tally is the operation of hauling aft the sheets, or drawing them in the direction of the ship's stern.

Towing is the operation of drawing a vessel forward by means of long lines, &c.

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