Page:Life in Mexico vol 1.djvu/415

395 amongst foreigners consists in their attaching the slightest value to the common phrase, "Está á la disposicion de V." Everything is placed at your disposal—house, carriage, servants, horses, mules, &c.,—the lady's ear-rings, the gentleman's diamond pin, the child's frock. You admire a ring—it is perfectly at your service; a horse—ditto. Letters are dated "from your house;" (de la casa de V.) Some from ignorance of the custom, and others from knavery, take advantage of these offers, which are mere expressions of civility, much to the confusion and astonishment of the polite offerer, who has no more intention of being credited, than you have when, from common etiquette, you sign yourself the very humble servant of the very greatest bore. It is a mere habit, and to call people who indulge in it insincere, reminds me of the Italian mentioned somewhere by Lady Blessington, who thought he had made a conquest of a fair Englishwoman, though somewhat shocked by her forwardness, because in an indifferent note to him, she signed herself, "Truly yours." Shall I ever forget the crest-fallen countenance of a Mexican gentleman who had just purchased a very handsome set of London harness, when hearing it admired by a Frenchman, he gave the customary answer, "It is quite at your disposal," and was answered by a profusion of bows, and a ready acceptance of the offer! the only difficulty with the Frenchman being as to whether or not he could carry it home under his cloak, which he did.

If all these offers of service, in which it is Mexican etiquette to indulge, be believed in—"Remember that