The honorary president of the Geographical Society at Paris has lately sought to prove, that the city of Priam should be looked for where Lechevalier conceived it to be, that is to say, at Bunarbashí, whence Dr. Schliemann believes he is justified in removing it to the neighbourhood of Ilium Recens or Hissarlik, as the result of the successful explorations conducted by himself with the assistance of his wife. Although some English and most German authorities applaud the zeal with which his work was performed, and the great importance of his discoveries to students of archæology, all are not so readily persuaded that the question of the position of Ilium is solved, seeing that the topographical details, as we receive them from Homer, are drawn from the imagination of the poet, rather than after the reality.—BRUUN. (4.) “for all [kinds of] pastime that might be desired in front of the palace.”—The games, chiefly of Eastern origin, that were held in the open space in front of the imperial residence, are mentioned by various authors. It will here suffice to quote from the writings of a predecessor of Schiltberger, and of one who followed after him. When Edrisi visited Constantinople, circa 1161, sports were held in the hippodrome, which he considered the most marvellous in the universe. It had to be passed before reaching the palace, an edifice unequalled in its proportions and in the beauty of its construction (_Jaubert edition_, 297). Bertrandon de la Brocquière, 1432 (_Early Travels in Palestine_, Bohn edition, 1848), thus describes one of the sports he witnessed in the large and handsome square in front of St. Sophia: “I saw the brother of the emperor, the despot of the Morea, exercise himself with a score of other horsemen. Each had a bow, and they gallopped along the enclosure throwing their hats before them, which, when they had passed, they shot at; and he who with his arrow pierced the hat or was nearest to it, was esteemed the most expert.”—ED. (5.) “he has no longer that power, so the apple has disappeared.”—Stephen of Novgorod (_Pout. Rouss. loud._, ii, 14), a pilgrim passing through Constantinople about the year 1350, certifies that the emperor held in his hand a kind of golden apple surmounted by a cross. Clavijo says the “pella redonda dorada” was in its place, and so, we may conclude, was the cross; because in 1420, Zosimus (_Pout. Rouss. loud._, ii, 38) saw the cross on the apple that was in the emperor’s hand; it is probable, therefore, that these insignias were removed between the years 1420–1427, at which latter date Schiltberger spent some months at Constantinople after his escape from bondage.