Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/78

52 consequence, as may be supposed, is, that their zest for physical enjoyment and ecclesiastical domination is indulged without restraint: they pamper alike their pride and power, their love of ease and luxury. It is a rare thing—so rare, indeed, as to have given rise to a proverb—to hear of a priest, a bishop, or even an archbishop, throughout the country, who is either moral in his conduct, upright in his dealing's, amiable in disposition, or pious in spirit.

In many parts of Mexico the women are celebrated for their beauty; but this quality is unusually transient here, as girls become wives and mothers at an exceedingly early age. The female character is energetic as well as excitable; it frequently happens, in remote districts, that the women are acquainted with the use of arms, and are quite prepared to defend their households in cases of emergency, during the absence of their husbands.

The life of a fashionable Mexican lady appears to be pretty equally divided between attendance at mass in the morning, for which she dresses with the utmost elegance and elaboration; gossiping and driving out at mid-day, through the Alamedas, or great