Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/281

Rh second Count Revilla-Gigedo, all of which have characterized him as a just, liberal and far-seeing ruler. In the account of his father's reign, we have already noticed some of this viceroy's meritorious qualities; but we shall now break the ordinary tenor of these brief annals by inserting a few anecdotes which are still traditionally current in the country whose administration he so honestly conducted.

The Conde was accustomed to make nightly rounds in the city, in order to assure himself that its regulations for quiet and security were carried into effect. On one occasion, it is related, that in passing through a street which he had ordered to be paved, he suddenly stopped and despatched a messenger to the director of the work, requiring his instant presence. The usual phrase with which he wound up such commands was "lo espero aqui,"—"I await him here,"—which had the effect of producing an extraordinary degree of celerity in those who received the command. On this occasion the officer, who was enjoying his midnight repose, sprang from his bed on receiving the startling summons, and rushed, half dressed, to learn the purport of what he presumed to be an important business. He found the viceroy standing stiff and composed on the side walk. When the panting officer had paid his obeisance to his master:— "I regret to have disturbed you, Señor," said the latter, "in order to call your attention to the state of your pavement. You will observe that this flag stone is not perfectly even," touching with his toe one which rose about half an inch above the rest of the side walk, "I had the misfortune to strike my foot against it this evening, and I fear that some others may be as unlucky as myself, unless the fault be immediately remedied. You will attend to it, sir, and report to me to-morrow morning!" With these words he continued his round, leaving the officer in a state of stupefaction; but it is asserted that the pavements of Mexico for the rest of his excellency's government were unexceptionable.

Another anecdote, of this kind, places his peculiarity of temper in a still stronger light. In perambulating the city one pleasant evening about sunset, he found that the street in which he was walking terminated abruptly against a mass of wretched tenements, apparently the lurking places of vice and beggary. He inquired how it happened that the highway was carried no farther, or why these hovels were allowed to exist; but the only information he could gain was that such had always been the case, and that none of the authorities considered themselves bound to remedy the evil. Revilla-Gigedo sent immediately to the corregidor:—"tell him