Page:Mexico as it was and as it is.djvu/374

 and sensitive people; yet, none are more easily subdued by kindness— none more easily won by a ready disposition to mingle in their ranks, and treat them with a due respect for their habitudes and their prejudices.

There may be other reasons, too, why Mexicans have been jealously shy of strangers. It seems impossible for them to get rid of the idea, that European powers are seeking to obtain their wealth and territory, and to reestablish the systems from which they freed themselves by so many years of revolutionary war; nor can they (since the Texan war,) divest themselves of the erroneous notion, that the United States has ever a longing eye on their Capital and country.

There are but few entertainments given in Mexico, in comparison with those of other cities abroad, where a lavish expenditure in viands, lights, and amusements for the few hours of a single evening, are mistaken for the elegancies and refinements of genuine hospitality;—instead, however, of these ostentatious displays, there are frequent reunions at tertulias, where an hour or two are most agreeably spent in friendly intercourse, and the unrestrained flow of pleasant and instructive conversation.

I have already alluded to the extreme of fashionable life, and its disposition for the theatre; and I do not intend to treat again of the propensity of the ultras to living thus constantly in the public eye, without devoting a portion of each day to that domestic intercourse and reunion which make the comfort and beauty of an English or American fireside. I speak, however, of that juste milieu of society, wherein resides the virtue and intellect of a country; and I had an excellent opportunity of judging of the private life of this class during my stay in the Capital.

It was my good fortune to reside for more than half a year in a native family, once rich and titled, but broken in fortunes by the political and commercial vicissitudes of the Republic, and it was there that I constantly witnessed the most beautiful evidences of a filial devotion and parental love, amounting almost to passionate attachment. The lady at the head of the establishment, (as I remarked in a preceding letter,) was a person who had been distinguished for her talents and accomplishments in the days when Mexico was adorned with the splendor of a Spanish court. She would have been considered highly cultivated in any country; her manners were excellent; her bearing graceful and courteous; and a wide circulation in her youth among distinguished men, (both before and during the Revolution,) and a ready talent for imparting her recollections, made her conversation delightful and instructive. Besides this, she possessed a genius for miniature painting and sketching in crayons, rarely attained by a female, and worthy of a distinguished artist. Qualities, like these, brought around her constantly a large and intelligent circle of both sexes. The change of fortune had by no means diminished her estimation in society, and the numbers of fast friends who adhered to