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378 This brings us down to the present time—that of our own contemporaries, whose productions are actually better known and appreciated in Europe than by their American neighbors.



Like New York, the Federal Capital of Mexico is the center towards which all the genius of the provinces, whether literary, artistic, or scientific, gravitates. For there, as in the metropolis of the United States, all brain-workers expect to gain, at least, appreciation, while many hope to win renown.

The principal cities of Mexico, such as Toluca, Morelia, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Puebla, Merida, and many others of like size, have their literary associations, but El Liceo Hidalgo, at the capital, ranks highest; and is, in fact, intended as a National Institute. It was established on the 15th of September, 1849, and has known many vicissitudes during this time, but of late years it has renewed the original designs of its founders.

On each recurring Monday evening the society meets at its handsome hall, and it is then the brilliant genius and flowing wit of the members may be fully enjoyed. Scientific essays and literary productions are read before this Lyceum, and nothing that is unsound, unscientific or weakly sentimental, can escape the censorship and rigid criticism of such able men as Riva Palacio, Ignacio Altimirano, Vigil Pimentil, Juan de Dias Peza, Juan Mateos, Ramon Manterola, Ireano Paz, Francisco Sosa, and others.

The meetings are well attended and appreciated, not only by the cultured part of society, but also by many of the plainer and less educated of the population. Not infrequently bevies of ambitious