Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/193

Rh Equally adept were the youth in acquiring finer arts. Embroidery was taught by an Italian friar, and thenceforth the churches were liberally provided with most elaborate work of this class. Images were carved and adorned in perfect imitation of the originals, and large numbers distributed among the natives to help them remember their lessons. So also with paintings and mosaic-work in feathers, both of which were applied to sacred art. In the latter branch the natives needed no lessons, but in painting they had much to learn, though it did not take them long to equal and even excel the mediocre amateur talent to be found among the Europeans then in Mexico. The training of the boys extended even to daily duties and conduct, for while a large proportion attended school during the day only, quite a number remained night and day under the care of the good fathers, many of them supported wholly by the alms which flowed in for the convent.

The friars had in their turn to be pupils, striving to acquire the language with which they hoped to carry out on a grander scale their self-imposed mission. Aguilar, who acted as the chief interpreter, gave lessons, and additional teaching was obtained by the different convents from the Flemings, who had the advantage of several months' residence. At Mexico the chief aid in this direction was obtained from Alonso de Molina, the son of a Spanish widow, who had acquired an almost thorough knowledge of the Aztec. Still, the best means to obtain both fluency