On April 2nd the Sultan went in state to the Mosque in honour of his Royal guests. The streets were lined with five thousand troops and the Prince and Princess, with their suite, were driven to the Palace of Beshik Jool, from a beautiful room in which they could see the Imperial procession pass by. The sloping ground on the opposite side of the road was filled by groups of women clad in varied colours and looking from a distance like animated flowers. The Sultan came, presently, preceded by brilliantly garbed Circassian troops, announced by the blast of a trumpet and the acclaim of the Turkish populace and riding a magnificent horse, which an English spectator described as a "marvel of beauty." He wore a splendid military uniform and his jewelled orders and sabre-hilt shone brightly in the rays of the sun, while immediately before and behind him were the officers of state. After the pageant had passed, little Prince Izzedin--the eldest son of the Sultan and a delicate, intelligent-looking child--came over to visit the Prince and Princess. The troops then filed past the Palace windows. Later in the day a deputation of British residents was received by the Prince and in the evening a special performance at the Theatre was attended and witnessed from the Sultan's box. Early in the morning of April 3rd, the various foreign Ambassadors and Ministers called on the Prince of Wales and were presented by Mr. Elliot. Amongst them was General Ignatieff, of Russia. A visit to Seraglio Point followed, and from its heights was seen that most exquisite view which embraces the Sweet Waters, the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmora and its islands, the shores of Scutari, the minarets of the city and a general mingling of sea and shore, of light and shade, of softness and Eastern charm which is hardly equalled in the world. The great mosque of St. Sophia was then visited. In the evening a state dinner was given by the Sultan at Dolmabakshi Palace--the first ever given by His Ottoman Majesty to Christian guests. The Prince and Princess were received in the grand drawing-room by the Sultan and all his Ministers. The Princess was taken in by His Majesty and Madame Ignatieff by the Prince. The dinner-room was already renowned for its exquisite candelabra and lustres in rock-crystal; and its other decorations, combined with plate and flowers of the most beautiful kind, made up a scene well worth remembering. Aside from this, however, it was not very interesting, as none of the Sultan's Ministers--except the Grand Vizier--had ever sat in his presence before and were apparently too much astonished and afraid to speak a word to each other or to any of the twenty-four guests who made up the banquet. After dinner the Princess and Mrs. Grey visited the Harem, or rather the Sultan's wife and mother. Mrs. Grey, in her _Diary_, declares the dullness and stiffness of the occasion to have been indescribable. There were