Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/781

Rh marked. The king issued decrees declaring that they should all be hold legitimate before the law, and moreover enjoy the same exemption from shameful punishments as those of gentle birth on the ground that they might be of noble blood, a measure no doubt creditable to the heart of the prince, but questionable in its bearing on morality. Prominent among the benevolent institutions of the capital was the asylum for the poor opened in 1774, a huge establishment with a training school for the useful arts, with public and private reformatory, refuge, and lying-in departments; also the Monte de Piedad, or public pawnshop, founded in 1775 by Conde de Regla with a gift of three hundred thousand pesos.

It would be difficult to find another city so richly endowed by benevolence as Mexico. To this contributed no doubt the congregation there of wealthy people, some the possessors of seemingly inexhaustible mines, and with comparatively few means for investment; but the explanation lies mainly in the indolence, improvidence, and impulsiveness of the people, traits closely allied to generosity and sympathy; yet it does not require these evidences to indicate that the Mexicans are kind-hearted. The Roman Catholic religion also fosters a less selfish sentiment than the colder reasoning creeds of Protestantism.

Reverence for the dead was also more marked among this warm-hearted though volatile people, and