but the air is extremely bad, and the seraglio itself is not free from the ill effect of it.  The town is said to be eight miles in compass, I suppose they reckon in the gardens.  There are some good houses in it, I mean large ones; for the architecture of their palaces never makes any great shew.  It is now very full of people; but they are most of them such as follow the court, or camp; and when they are removed, I am told, ’tis no populous city.  The river Maritza (anciently the Hebrus) on which it is situated, is dried up every summer, which contributes very much to make it unwholesome.  It is now a very pleasant stream.  There are two noble bridges built over it.  I had the curiosity to go to see the exchange in my Turkish dress, which is disguise sufficient.  Yet I own, I was not very easy when I saw it crowded with janizaries; but they dare not be rude to a woman, and made way for me with as much respect as if I had been in my own figure.  It is half a mile in length, the roof arched, and kept extremely neat.  It holds three hundred and sixty-five shops, furnished with all sorts of rich goods, exposed to sale in the same manner as at the new exchange in London.  But the pavement is kept much neater; and the shops are all so clean, they seem just new painted.—­Idle people of all sorts walk here for their diversion, or amuse themselves with drinking coffee, or sherbet, which is cried about as oranges and sweet-meats are in our play-houses.  I observed most of the rich tradesmen were Jews.  That people are in incredible power in this country.  They have many privileges above all the natural Turks themselves, and have formed a very considerable commonwealth here, being judged by their own laws.  They have drawn the whole trade of the empire into their hands, partly by the firm union amongst themselves, and partly by the idle temper and want of industry in the Turks.  Every bassa has his Jew, who is his homme d’affaires; he is let into all his secrets, and does all his business.  No bargain is made, no bribe received, no merchandise disposed of, but what passes through their hands.  They are the physicians, the stewards, and the interpreters of all the great men.  You may judge how advantageous this is to a people who never fail to make use of the smallest advantages.  They have found the secret of making themselves so necessary, that they are certain of the protection of the court, whatever ministry is in power.  Even the English, French, and Italian merchants, who are sensible of their artifices, are, however, forced to trust their affairs to their negotiation, nothing of trade being managed without them, and the meanest amongst them being too important to be disobliged, since the whole body take care of his interests, with as much vigour as they would those of the most considerable of their members.  They are many of them vastly rich, but take care to make little public shew of it, though they live in their houses in the utmost luxury and magnificence.