Volume 2 — THE OLD SERAGLIO. (continued 2)

And so for thirty years has it slept the sleep of neglect and decay upon its solitary hill. Those verses of the Persian poet which came into the mind of Muhammad the Conqueror when he first set foot in the despoiled palace of the emperors of the East are equally appropriate here: “In the dwellings of kings see where the loathsome spider weaves her busy web, while from Erasciab’s proud summit is heard the raven’s hoarse cry.”