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of sweetmeats" in Mexico, "exceeds
five hundred, and yet they have few
like ours.
Prodigious!

33

Fourthly; Jalap comes from the town of Xalapa, which is also "justly celebrated for the excellence of its washing." Our author assures us that he never saw linen look so well." He also takes care to acquaint us that "the operation is performed with cold water, and soap, and the linen is rubbed with the hand as in England." What would our dandies give for a Jalapian laundress? and what an accession of knowledge do we not derive from Mr. Bullock's so minute inspection of Mexican laundries?

There are a great number of Remarks equalling these in sagacity and utility scattered over our author's voluminous pages:-we ought to consider ourselves doubly indebted to him for them, inasmuch as we are fully aware that no other man would have thought of furnishing us with this kind of information.

66

A chapter on Humming Birds," and another (extracted from Clavigero and Bernal Diaz) on Montezuma's House-keeping, console the reader for all that Mr. Bullock has forgotten to say on "the two-legged featherless animals" of Mexico, and the present economy of its Govern

ment.

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There is a musty Latin proverb,"no man is wise at all hours ;" and the reverse is perhaps equally true, that no man is always foolish. Few books are to be met with in which there is not something that may as well be forgotten by the reader; and few likewise which do not contain something that may be advantageously remembered. There is man from whose conversation an attentive listener may not collect hints of some value; nor any writer from whose lucubrations, however contemptible, a careful reader may not gather some grains of knowledge. Even the redoubted history of "Valentine and Orson may afford us some lights with respect to the manners of those times, and the court of King Pepin. In the same way, a penetrating reader may discover one or two things in this volume on Mexico which (perhaps without the author's intending it) are capable of

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furnishing him with some matter for reflection. Not that we mean to excellent history, by putting Mr. disparage the author of the aforesaid Bullock in the balance against him, we shall remember Valentine and Orson as long as we live, and forget of it) as fast as we can. "Mexico" (at least the greater part It is the hard task of a critic to " go through" every new work that issues from the press, chiefly in order to fish out the two grains which may be hid in the author's bundle of literary chaff; we have done this with much reluctance in the present instance, but if we save the reader a similar labour we are not critics in vain.

ray upon a subject which deserves a The following passages throw one pencil,-the present state of the Indian native peasantry.

We left Tolucca in the coach, and prothe road for wheel-carriages ceases. Here, ceeded about two leagues farther, where having procured horses and mules for the whole party, which had been augmented by the addition of several persons going to the mine (among them a Yorkshire blacksmith), we ascended about a league, and then entered an extensive wood, which crowned the Cordillera, on the west side of the Table-land of Mexico. This was by much the most beautiful scene I had witof the noblest form and loftiest height, nessed in America ;-abounding with trees most of them entirely new to me, but luxuriance eclipsed any thing seen in the among them oaks and pines, whose size and Alps or in Norway! We still continued to rise, and in one elevated open place caught the last view of the mountains that surround the vale of Mexico: on our left lay the volcano of Tolucca, covered with perpetual snow; and shortly after we reached a defile in the mountain, and began to descend towards the Pacific ocean.

The

grand. The ground, being broken into abrupt hills, afforded many openings, scenery was now inexpressibly through which the tops of the immense vantage. forests below were seen to the greatest adderable distance, our path was shaded by In many places, for a consitrees of an amazing height, so close as almost to exclude the light,suddenly from which the most enchanting -on emerging prospects were spread beneath our feet; the summits of gigantic volcanos, receding like steps beneath us, seemed to lead the eye to the waters of the Pacific, to which tening. the mountain-torrents we passed were has

steep, so that in many places we were The descent now became very

obliged to alight from our mules, and proceed, with cautious steps, over broken masses of basalt and other volcanic substances, where not a trace of the labour of man was visible, or any circumstances that could remind us of being in an inhabited country; except occasionally meeting small groups of Indians, carrying the productions of their little farms to the market of Tolucca, or even as far as Mexico. From these simple people the unprotected traveller has nothing to fear; they are the most courteous, gentle, and unoffending creatures in existence, and never pass, without saluting a stranger. Their burthens consisted generally of fruit, fowls, turkeys, mats, shingles of wood for roofs of houses, and sometimes of charcoal. They generally had their wives and daughters with them;-clean, modest-looking women, carrying heavy burthens exclusive of the children usually fastened on their backs. After a descent of several hours through this ever-varying and sublime scenery, to the effect of which a thunder-storm added much majesty, we arrived at a small plain, surrounded on all sides by pine-capped mountains. In the centre of this, in the midst of highly cultivated ground, rose the neat little Indian church and village of St. Miguel de los Ranchos, placed in one of the most delightful situations and lovely climates in the world. On the mountain we might almost have complained of cold, but the descent had brought us into a temperature resembling the finest parts of Europe, and our approach to the village just before sunset brought home strongly to our recollection. Our path lay through corn fields, orchards, and gardens. Apples, pears, and peaches, almost obstructed our way; and fields of potatoes and beans in blossom might, but for the swarthy and thinly clothed inhabitants, who gazed with surprise at our advance, and the luxuriance of the Nopal or the great American Aloe, in full bloom, have made us fancy ourselves in England. We rode up to the church, and on dismounting presently found our selves surrounded by numbers of men and boys, all eager to render us any assistance in their power. A small room adjoining this edifice, called the comunidad, provided by Government for the reception of strangers, was pointed out to us as our residence for the night; where having spread our mattresses on the floor, and given the Indians directions for the suppers of ourselves and horses, we walked out to examine the church. It was the eve of the feast of St. Mark, or, as the Indians who accompanied us called him, Nostras Bueno Amigo (our good friend).

The church was gaudily ornamented with pictures and statues, and had that day been dressed with fruits, flowers, palm blossoms, &c., disposed in arches, chaplets,

and a variety of other pretty devices, in honour of their patron.

Opposite the door, under a venerable cedar, of great size, was a small temple and altar, decorated in a similar manner, with the addition of several human skulls, quite clean, and as white as ivory. Round the great tree some men were employed in splitting pieces of candle-wood, a species of pine which contains a considerable quantity of resin, and which, being lighted, burns with a clear flame like a candle.

I rambled through the village and the surrounding plantations of the maguey or aloe: many of the plants were then producing the pulque. Night was approaching, and I hastened my pace, to reach our lodging, when the bell suddenly tolled in a quick manner, and in an instant the churchyard was brilliantly illuminated by the flame of eight piles of the candlewood, prepared for that purpose; the effect was heightened, by its being quite unexpected. On my entering the churchyard four men discharged a flight of rockets, which was instantly answered by a similar salute from every house in the place: this was the commencement of the fete for the following day. In a quarter of an hour the bonfires were extinguished, and the church doors closed; and we retired to our place of rest to take the homely supper provided for us by our new friends, which had been prepared in a house in the village. Our meal was not finished when a message requested our speedy attendance in the church: on entering, we found it illuminated, and crowded by numbers of persons, of both sexes. Dancing, with singular Indian ceremonies, had commenced in front of the altar, which to my astonishment I immediately recognised to be of the same nature as those in use before the introduction of Christianity. The actors consisted of five men and three women, grotesquely but richly dressed, in the fashion of the time of Montezuma. One young man, meant to personate that monarch, wore a high crown, from which rose a plume of red feathers. The first part of the drama consisted of the representation of a warrior taking leave of his family preparatory to going to battle;-a man and woman danced in front of the altar, and clearly expressed the parting scene, and knelt down and solemnly prayed for the success of his undertaking. The next act commenced with two warriors, superbly dressed; one, a Mexican, was distinguished by the superior height of his head-dress, and by a piece of crimson silk suspended from his shoulders: after dancing some time, a mock fight began, which, after various evolutions, terminated of course in the Mexican taking his enemy prisoner, and dragging him by his hair into the presence of his sovereign; when the dance

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I would as soon trust myself alone in their cottages for the night, and could repose in as much security, as in those of an English peasant. The respect and civility with which they treat strangers border almost on servility. On going to and returning from Themascaltepec, I have passed four nights in the Indian town of St. Miguel de los Ranchos, in which is not a white inhabitant, and never met with more kindness, honesty, and hospitality in any country. I have spent some delightful hours in this little hamlet, which is about eighteen miles from Themascaltepec, and situated in one of the most enchanting valleys in the world, and they seem the most contented of mankind. I wished much to have brought one of them to England, but nothing could induce them to leave the lovely spot on which they are placed.

The

It would appear from all our author says upon this matter, that the Indian peasantry are a happy, simple, innocent, and ignorant race of people. Three centuries of civilization have neither injured their moral feelings nor improved their moral faculties. They are as good-hearted and weak-headed as early opinion of the Spanish settlers in America would seem, therefore, no longer either unjust or illiberal. We beg the reader to couple the preceding extract with this in which Mr. Bullock speaks of the disinterment of a Mexican idol, Teoyamiqui, the goddess of war:

ever.

Some writers have accused the Spanish authors of exaggeration in their accounts of the religious ceremonies of this, in other respects, enlightened people; but a view of the idol under consideration will of itself be sufficient to dispel any doubt on the subject. It is scarcely possible for the most ingenious artist to have conceived a statue better adapted to the intended purpose; and the united talents and imagination of Breughel and Fuseli would in vain have attempted to improve it.

This colossal and horrible monster is hewn out of one solid block of basalt, nine feet high, its outlines giving an idea of a deformed human figure, uniting all that is horrible in the tiger and rattle-snake: instead of arms it is supplied with two large

serpents, and its drapery is composed of wreathed snakes, interwoven in the most disgusting manner, and the sides terminating in the wings of a vulture. Its feet are those of the tiger, with claws extended in the act of seizing its prey, and between them lies the head of another rattle-snake, which seems descending from the body of the idol. Its decorations accord with its horrid form, having a large necklace composed of human hearts, hands, and skulls, and fastened together by the entrails, the deformed breasts of the idol only remaining uncovered. It has evidently been painted in natural colours, which must have added greatly to the terrible effect it was intended to inspire in its votaries.

During the time it was exposed, the court of the University was crowded with people, most of whom expressed the most decided anger and contempt. Not so however all the Indians ;-I attentively marked their countenances; not a smile escaped them, or even a word—all was silence and attention. In reply to a joke of one of the students, an old Indian remarked, "It is true we have three very good Spanish gods, but we might still have been allowed to keep a few of those of our ancestors!" and I was informed that chaplets of flowers had been placed on the figure by natives who had stolen thither, unseen, in the evening for that purpose; a proof that, notwithstanding the extreme diligence of the Spanish clergy for three hundred years, there still remains some taint of heathen superstition among the descendants of the original inhabitants. In a week the cast was finished, and the goddess again committed to her place of interment, hid from the profane gaze of the vulgar.

Are not these facts a complete refutation of the Abbe Clavigero's petulant objections to Robertson's account of the state of religion amongst the Indians, and their incapacity to understand and relish the sublime bitant of the city of Mexico talking doctrines of Christianity? An inhaof "three very good Spanish gods' and wishing for "a few of those of his ancestors" to keep the former company! Chaplets of flowers being secretly wreathed round the temples of the goddess Teoyamiqui, and antiChristian ceremonies openly performed in a Christian church! Truly these people must have made admirable "rectors, canons, and doctors," as M. Clavigero will have it, and no doubt may have produced amongst them "as report goes, even a very learned bishop"! We should be glad to have the opinion of any

learned Indian bishop now existing on the character of Leo the Iconoclast, or to have his grace explain to us the precise degree of inspiration derived by the hermits of Mount Athos from an incessant contemplation of their navels.

Robertson is however not always right, nor Clavigero always wrong when he opposes him. The description of the ruins denominated "Montezuma's Bath," clearly proves that our countryman very considerable underrated the degree of civilization to which ancient Mexico had arrived before the Spanish invasion:

Whilst at our dinner, we were informed that at a distance of only two leagues was a place called Baño de Montezuma, and that it had formerly been used as a bath by that monarch. A gentleman of the town, Don Trinidad Rosalia, offered to escort us, and in a few minutes we were on horseback: after a smart çanter through cultivated grounds, and over a fine plain, bounded by the mountains of the Cordilleras, we approached an hacienda and church, and here I expected to find the bath of which we were in search, in some subterraneous place, but learnt to my surprise that we had to mount a conical mountain called Tescosingo. We employed our horses as far as they could take us, but the unevenness of the ground at last obliged us to dismount, and having fastened them to a nopal tree, we scrambled with great difficulty through bushes and over loose stones, which were in great quantities on all sides, and at last perceived that we were on the ruins of a very large building-the cemented stones remaining in some places covered with stucco, and forming walks and terraces, but much encumbered with earth fallen from above, and overgrown with a wood of nopal, which made it difficult to ascend. In some places the terraces were carried over chasms by solid pieces of masonry; in others cut through the living rock: but, as we endeavoured to proceed in a straight line, our labour was very great, being sometimes obliged to climb on our hands and knees. By the assistance of underwood, however, at length, after passing several buildings and terraces, the stucco of which appeared fresh and of a fine peach colour, we arrived at about two thirds of the height of the hill, almost exhausted with our exertions; and great indeed was our disappointment when we found that our guide had mistaken the situation, and did not know exactly where we were. Greatly chagrined, we began to retrace our steps; and luckily in a few

minutes perceived the object of our search. It was cut in the solid rock, and standing out like a martin's nest from the side of a house. It is not only an extraordinary bath, but still more extraordinarily placed. It is a beautiful basin about twelve feet long by eight wide, having a well about rounded by a parapet or rim two feet six five feet by four deep in the centre, surinches high, with a throne or chair, such as is represented in ancient pictures to have been used by the kings. There are steps to descend into the basin or bath; the whole cut out of the living porphyry rock with the most mathematical precision, and polished in the most beautiful manner. This bath commands one of the finest prospects in the Mexican valley, including the greater part of the lake of Tezcuco, and the city of Mexico, from which it is distant about thirty miles.

Night was fast approaching, and the sky portending a thunder-storm, we were obliged to depart; and now I had occasion to regret the hours I had unprofitably lost at the cock-fight. I had just time to make a hurried sketch for a model, and my son to take a slight drawing, when we were reluctantly forced to quit a spot which had been the site of a most singular and ancient residence of the former monarchs of the country. As we descended, our guide showed us in the rock a large reservoir for supplying with water the palace, whose walls still remained eight feet high; and as we examined farther, we found that the whole mountain had been covered with palaces, temples, baths, hanging gardens, &c. yet this place has never been noticed by any writer.

I am of opinion that these were antiquities prior to the discovery of America, and erected by a people whose history was lost even before the building of the city of Mexico. In our way down we collected specimens of the stucco which covered the terrace, still as hard and beautiful as any found at Portici or Herculaneum. Don T. Rosalia informed us that we had seen but the commencement of the wonders of the place;-that there were traces of buildings to the very top still discernible :-that the mountain was perforated by artificial excavations, and that a flight of steps led to one near the top, which he himself had entered, but which no one as yet had courage to explore, although it was believed that immense riches were buried in it.

Altar and several other relics of antiThe carving of the Sacrificial quity, casts of which we saw in Mr. Bullock's collection, betray in our opinion a much higher state of the art which produced them than Ro

• Every person who builds an hacienda is by law compelled to erect a church also.

bertson is willing to acknowledge. In the plate at the end of his own volumes containing certain engravings of Mexican sculpture, there are to our eye many indications of cultivated taste and great dexterity in the use of the chisel. Many of the figures are grotesque, but we cannot agree that they are either "awkward" or "destitute of propriety." They possess, on the contrary, a great deal of ease and just expression in their outlines and features respectively.

We will trouble our reader with no more extracts from Mr. Bullock's book, nor remarks of our own. It is enough to add, that a description

of his imported curiosities is to be had for a few shillings at the Egyptian Hall, and is much fuller than any given in this expensive volume.

To conclude: Mr. Bullock thinks that the publication of" Ackermann's Fashions" would do more to forward the interests of English haberdashery with the people of New Spain, than any other method which could be devised, especially if assisted by an exportation of "milliners," to that country at the same time. We think he is right, and would advise the worshipful Company of Haberdashers to hold a deliberation upon the best means of putting this theory into practice.

THE REVELATION OF BEAUTY.

̓Αρετάν γε μὲν ἐκ Διὸς αἰτε.

Theocrit. Idyll. 17.

SAY not that heaven unveils to all alike
The beauty of creation; there are souls
Of subtler sense, and essence more refined,
With more capacity of pure delight,
Than the dull powers of vulgar intellect.

Whence then the inward energy which lifts
Man's gross desires, and weak intelligence,
Spite of these earthy and decaying organs,
This coarse imperfect vesture of the mind,
To the calm joys which testify his birth?

Virtue alone can clear the internal sight
From the thick films of frail mortality,
Can keep the temple of the soul unsoil'd,
And raise the unpolluted shrine of Beauty.+
For only in such shrine will Beauty dwell:
There fixes she her hidden residence,
And while Experience still augments her treasures,
And musing Thought fresh sacrifices brings,
Each day unveils new charms. But if awhile
She show herself where Sin's corrupting taint
Infects the offering, and rude sensual Pleasure
Usurps the place of modest Contemplation,
Though god-like Genius bow before her altar,
And young Enthusiasm hymn her praise,
Brief will her visits be, and "far between."

Strike then the chords, ye followers of the Muse,
Strike ye the chords to Virtue !-for to her
The brightest laurels in your wreaths are due.
To her ye owe the hours of holiest thought,
When ye hold converse with Earth's mysteries,
And deep communion with the souls of Men.
To her the burning word, the breathing thought,
And the sweet sounds of sacred minstrelsy,
With all the honours of the lyre belong!

*Vid. Plotin. in Nat. Mal.

S.

+ Vid. Plat. in Phaedr. &c.

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