Page:Mexico, picturesque, political, progressive.djvu/174

172 in their management. One may regret the want of that freshness of conception which the mind naturally expects in the productions of a people with whose traditions it is unfamiliar, and whose comparative isolation inspires the hope of individuality. But there is still much to be grateful for. It is doubtful whether a subject so exciting to the imagination, and so opportune for the introduction of warmth and sensuousness of expression, has ever before been treated by a guild of poets with an equal delicacy and purity. And, without claiming any greater credit, I think it must be allowed that the blossoms of this Mexican garden show a higher cultivation and a more refined taste than our ignorance has been led to expect from the every-day products of the Aztec soil; and that for this reason, if for no other, they deserve more than a passing sense of pleasure in their beauty and fragrance.