Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/243

Rh, following the after-dinner drive. In his driving he put on a certain pomp, his carriage being frequently drawn by six white mules, and attended by a groom and a mounted escort in advance, dressed in apparel of soft leather. He retired between eight and nine, reading in bed for half an hour, always some instructive book, for novels he never touched.

The imperial pair paid great attention to religion, partly for effect, as may be judged from their descending one day from their carriage and kneeling in the street while the host passed. Another silly performance was to wash the feet of twelve poor persons on Maundy-Thursday, in imitation of the pope and amidst great ceremony. The devotion of the empress and her frank benevolent disposition were generally recognized. Not so with her husband, whose geniality and kind-heartedness proved insufficient to counteract the often intrusive liberalism in views, and the cold wit and innate bent for raillery which spared not even friends and partisans. This examination into the private life of the emperor and empress does not tend to elevate our estimation of their strength of mind or originality of character.

The failure of the last conservative plot had by no means stilled the efforts of the discontented. Santa