Page:Mexico as it was and as it is.djvu/375

 her in her comparative indigence, proved their admiration of talent, and the constancy of attachment, by the repetition of the most delicate and disinterested assiduities.

It was in this Mexican home, and not from the unsympathizing distance of the hotel and ball-room, (the scene of most travellers' observation,) that I obtained my insight into the structure of Mexican society and character. Had I kept myself aloof in my own honse or my own inn, as is the habit of foreigners, I should have judged from the theatre, the passéo, the bull-ring, the cock-pit, and the gaming-table; that the women were but so many painted dolls, without more education or soul than was required to languish over a love-sick play, or to ogle, with idle gaze, a favored cavalier. I might have supposed, too, that the men were supremely blessed by this dalliance with the sex, and considered themselves in perfect elysium when they could divide their attention between their sirens, their horses, and the card-table;— but in the privacy of this dwelling, I learned to estimate the love and regard between parents and children; the beautiful benevolence of ancient friendship; the universal respect for genius; and, besides, had frequent occasion to notice the expanding spirit, ardent patriotism, desire of cultivation, and quick talent, which embellish the Mexican character.

It must not be said that I am estimating a country by one example;—I am as far from so partial a judgment, as the opponents of Mexico are from a just one on their side of the question. It is true, that this family afforded me an extensive field of observation, but it chiefly served to stimulate my attention and inquiries elsewhere; and I can frankly declare, that wherever I observed, I invariably found the same qualities of head and heart. It is this heart that is in fact the great characteristic of Mexicans, and especially of their females. There is a noble naturalness, an antique generosity about them, which is the parent of a multitude of virtues, and it is by an abandonment of themselves to impulses, that so much irregularity and indiscretion have been frequently manifested, both in politics and society.

I have said that the Mexicans are a people of quick talent, and my remark is borne out by the observation of all foreigners. They are quick to apprehend, quick of study, and quick in mastering a subject; but this very facility, joined with their impulsiveness, is often fatal to their enduring application and progress.

I came among these people an entire stranger, without especial claims on their attention, and studious to avoid that bill of exchange hospitality, which is the result of introductory letters from former, and, perhaps, forgotten acquaintances. Yet mingling freely among all classes, and comparing them now—when gratitude for acts of kindness has been long yielded and the annoyance of petty impertinences forgotten—I have none but kindly recollections of the people, and none but favorable impressions