CRESCENT.-The national ensign of the Turks, surmounting the domes and minarets attached to their mosques, as the Cross does the churches of the Roman Catholics in Christian countries. This peculiar and universal use of the Crescent is said to have owed its origin to the fact, that at the time of Mahomet's flight from Mecca to Medina the moon was new. Hence the half moon is commemorative of that event. SUBLIME PORTE.--This title, which is frequently applied to the court, cabinet, or executive department of the Ottoman empire, is derived, as the words import, from a lofty arched gateway of splendid construction, forming the principal entrance to the Seraglio or palace. It is a phrase equivalent to "Court of St. James," "Court of St. Cloud," &c.