Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/211

CH. XIII.] there were forty monks, of our Lady of Mercy thirty, Franciscans forty, Dominicans thirty, Recollects fifty, Collegians thirty; in all about 220; these were followed by 400 soldiers and fifty or sixty other persons, who also formed part of the procession.

I was invited into the house of the Marquess of Ayzenena: the large rooms looking into the street were full of company; the windows were all open and the ladies were disposed in groups on the window-seats; and their mothers, many of whom were indisposed by colds, which they were thus increasing, were seated in chairs behind them. As the Host passed, the whole company knelt down, and after a minute's silence and recollection, the buzz of mirth and business again filled the apartment. On one of the pier tables, was a representation in wax-work of the shepherds coming to adore our Saviour: the rooms of all the houses, from the first to the lowest class, are so filled with these images and