The Story of Constantinople
Reading edition
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Interior of S. Sophia. Showing the Sultan's pew and the stairs to the pulpit.
Constantinople
The Story of the old Capital of the Empire by William Holden Hutton, Fellow of S. John Baptist College, Oxford. Illustrated by Sydney Cooper
London: J. M. Dent & Co. Aldine House, 29 and 30 Bedford Street Covent Garden, W.C. · · 1900
This superb successor Of the earth's mistress, as thou vainly speakest, Stands 'midst these ages as, on the wide ocean, The last spared fragment of a spacious land, That in some grand and awful ministration Of mighty nature has engulfed been, Doth lift aloft its dark and rocky cliffs O'er the wild waste around, and sadly frowns In lonely majesty.
I was the daughter of Imperial Rome, Crowned by her Empress of the mystic east: Most Holy Wisdom chose me for her home Sealed me Truth's regent, and High Beauty's priest. Lo! when fate struck with hideous flame and sword, Far o'er the new world's life my grace was poured.