These are the real Armenians; but about a hundred and fifty years ago there was a secession in favor of Catholicism. The Catholic Armenians, of whom there are about fifteen thousand in the metropolis, and seventy-five thousand throughout Turkey, although distinct from the Roman Catholics, have assimilated themselves, in many respects, to European habits; forgetting their nationality and language, and aping customs and usages they do not even understand; so much so, that a very amusing work has been written in Armeno-Turkish under the title of Acaby, as a burlesque upon such inclinations. They are not, therefore, to be confounded with the orthodox Armenians. CHAPTER XXXVI. THE GREEKS. The Greeks, who sent the trophies of their versatile genius, their graceful architectural adornings, and exquisite paintings to the temples at Rome, and over the western world, whose classic lore is yet the theme and model of the learned, once gloried in the possession of the proud Stamboul. About a century after its foundation by Constantine, it is said to have possessed "a capital, a school of learning, a circus, two theatres, eight public and one hundred and fifty-three private baths, fifty-two porticoes, five granaries, eight aqueducts of water, four spacious halls of justice, fourteen churches, fourteen palaces, and four thousand and three hundred and eighty-eight houses, which, for their size and beauty, deserved to be distinguished from the multitude of plebeian habitations." The magnificent temple Ayia-Sophia, dedicated to the Goddess of Divine Wisdom, rose like a Phoenix from its ruins, under the liberal patronage of Justinian, and the assiduous labors of ten thousand workmen during five years, eleven months, and ten days. This was the shrine of the Greek Faith, and those walls glittering with golden mosaic and precious stones, re-echoed the Kyrie eleêson of the adoring Christians. The magnificent altar of precious metals and glittering gems witnessed the prostrations of patriarchs and their acolyths--and the impenetrable veil was suspended before the Holy of Holies. The great city was the arena for the sports of the pleasure-loving Greeks; sometimes in the race of wild beasts with each other, and again in the more terrible contests of the gladiators. The Bosphorus was alive with human freight, youths and maidens, wooed by its blue and sparkling waves, delighted to dream of love as they glided over the gently-heaving waters.