nelia. "Marianna must have suspected that the noble-looking stranger was some distinguished personage, and concluded that her own assumed humility was the best means of attracting him, and gaining his favor. If he had been one in her own sphere of life, she would have found all these arts useless or unnecessary. But to win a lord or a duke, it required more tact. Her fainting at the discovery of his title and station appears very natural, but it was necessary to convince him that the announcement was totally unexpected. Most of the fairy tales I read when a child, had for their hero a disguised prince, who makes love to a beautiful but obscure peasant girl, and carries his bride home to his palace, in a coach and six. It is the reading of these things which induces many a romantic girl to run away with, she knows not who, in hopes that he may turn out a prince at last. For my part I should wish to be satisfied upon the latter point before I committed such a folly."

"The elegant Miss Stanbrook would never love any one in vain-not even a king," said Beaumont in a whisper.

"I'll be whipt if there aint the Legard on the opposite side of the theatre," exclaimed Fitzallen; "and with her-why, who the deuce is that bald-headed man who seems so wrapt in attention to her discourse?"

"That," said Beaumont, leveling his eyeglass, "that, why, would you believe it?-there is actually Mr. the Senator from Massachusetts, talking familiarly with that girl! Well, I never heard of such a thing, 'pon honor."

"It is that Clara Legard, I do believe," said Cornelia. "She seems to be everywhere, and dragging with her that affected little minx, Inez Laurence. Only see the artful creature, chatting familiarly with everybody! What insufferable assurance!"

"Fred seems elevated to the seventh heaven of rapture," said Beaumont, in a tone of pique. "Well," said George Lindsay, "I cannot conceive what harm there is in paying attention to a woman who is amiable and accomplished, or why one should shun her merely because she is not rich."

"But she has no caste-no fashion," said Cornelia, tossing her head. "I know nothing about her, nor do I wish to know anything. A mere upstart, priding herself upon her learning and accomplishments! Why, Miss Seldon told me that upon the strength of an introduction

at Mrs. Costar's, she presumed to bow to her in Broadway. Think of such assurance!" "Inconceivable audacity, 'pon my honor!" said Beaumont.

"And then they say that she writes books!" said Julia. "How vulgar!"

"Yes," said Cornelia, "and receives at her house all sorts of people-artists, poets and poor authors. Corrinna Mellen tells me she intends to have a rival soirée, to show her what's what. She does not mean to invite any who are not greatly distinguished both for wealth and talent-such as Mr. Mullenbourg, Fanny Kemble Butler, Robert Tyler and Anne Royal. I suppose I shall have to notice her in some way, because the Colonel insists upon it; but farther than a few formal calls, and an invitation for one evening, I do not intend to obey. I think in her situation, without fortune or fashion, she should be content to remain where she is, without intruding into our circle. Mr. Graham, I will thank you for my shawl; it grows chilly here."

Allan Graham was that moment leaning, pale and abstracted, against the wall, his attention directed to the opposite side of the theatre, where sat Clara Legard, Inez, Howard, and, behind them, the Honorable Mr. BMr. C, and other distinguished gentlemen, conversing with the ladies, or making observations upon the drama as it proceeded. "Mr. Graham, my shawl!" repeated the haughty beauty. 66 Why, what on earth ails you? Have your senses deserted you? Pray, where are your thoughts roving at this present moment?" and she bestowed upon him a smile which Beaumont would have given worlds to obtain.

"I beg your pardon,” said Graham, starting; "I-I was listening to the music."

"What! that old tiresome overture! dear me, I should think you had heard that often enough to be tired of it. I never pay any attention to the music of an orchestra. The fiddles are enough to rack a person's nerves to pieces. Scrape, scrape: I would as lieve hear a saw grating upon steel. I wonder what the farce is to be, for I am tired enough of this sentimental trash, and could enjoy a good laugh."

As Cornelia observed the proud glance of the eye and the haughty curl of the lip, as Graham returned her shawl, she confessed to herself that he was one to whom she might resign the empire of her hitherto obdurate heart.— Count Puffer had a title, it is true, but he was

neither so handsome, so graceful, nor so talented as Allan Graham. The cold distance of his manner did not intimidate her. Was she not the arbitress of fashion! the belle, the beauty, the heiress? She would graciously submit to resign her power, only in favor of one far superior to herself; and who so worthy of the honor as the splendid and aristocratic widower? She was well aware that little love had blended with the union between him and her relative, Mary Stanbrook. It had been a marriage of policy, not of affection; and Cornelia hoped that her influence might efface all other memories, and her pride be gratified by exhibiting to the world such a man as her husband-one whom she should not be ashamed to acknowledge by the title.

mean myself so far, provided you do not condemn me to stay very late. Mrs. Seymour's rout commences at ten o'clock, and I would not miss that for the universe; not that I care particularly for her, but there will be some fashionable people there, whose acquaintance I am desirous of cultivating."

Allan Graham cared very little about Miss Cornelia Stanbrook's motives for visiting Miss Legard. He only wanted an excuse for his own presumption in intruding himself into her party. Feeling that he individually had forfeited all claim to her favor, he was glad to accept the assistance of any one whose boldness could affect admittance to the charmed circle which she convened around her. The exit of Miss Legard and her party broke the spell

"Brava! bravissima!" exclaimed Beaumont, as a pretty dancing girl turned her last pirouette. "That girl has been well trained, but she has an enormous foot. Women should never venture to dance in public unless they are perfectly formed. I hate a dumpy woman, and large hands and feet are my abhor

rence."

"The most aerial dancer I ever saw," said Mrs. Lindsay, 66 I was that little Miss Ince, in La Bayedere. She seemed to float on the air; actually to fly over the stage without touching it with her feet."

to his gay companions, he soon fell into that ease and indifference which everywhere characterize men of the world of fashion. At length the farce was over; the mass of people, pressing rudely against each other, effected their escape from the heated atmosphere; and the fashionable group returned to a "petit souper" at Mrs. Lindsay's.

LETTER FROM ALLAN GRAHAM TO THE HON. MR. B

"DEAR B :-Many thanks for your kind letter, in which your whole soul, filled with the most ambitious hopes, is portrayed. You, of all persons I have known, are truly worthy of the name of American. I am indebted to you

"Graham, you seem wrapt in contemplation of the opposite box," said Beaumont. "Well, I do declare the Legard and her party are rising to go, they don't stay the farce.”

"La! Miss Clara would consider that beneath her dignity," observed Cornelia. "Indeed, I always thought she did not approve of theatrical performances. I wonder she condescended to come here to-night.”

but I assure you they have not, they shall not crush me. I bartered my whole happiness for wealth, and I have reaped the reward-utter estrangement from a wife whom I never loved, and a life of misery. My soul revolts from the bare idea of pursuing my present career, so inimical to my own interests, and the good of the country I would call my own. My wife persisted in living abroad, and I have so long imbibed the atmosphere of foreign courts, that

simplicity with my aristocratic views. Yet I

"I had intended to look in upon her small party to-morrow evening. Would you favor me with your company?"

Cornelia replied, with one of her sweetest smiles, "Why, yes, if you desire it, I will de

have returned to this country with a more-exalted opinion of its institutions, and better pre-pared to admire its lawgivers.

"The death of my wife has at length freedme from the galling fetters I have so long endured, and what is more mortifying than all, the

object for which I married has been defeated through the caprice of old Stanbrook. He always said he would not allow his hard-earned toils to be lavished away in foreign lands. But Mary was obstinate. Her head was full of foreign courts, dukes, lords, knights and noble ladies. We went, and old Stanbrook, true to his word, left his whole property to some distant relations, cutting off his daughter and your humble servant with a shilling. In this dilemma I was forced to return home,—for I call this country my home; and here I must labor like some common hind, to secure an independence. Yet I am restless and unhappy, and I deserve to be so. Do you remember that gifted and beautiful being about whom I once wrote to you, and whom I loved with all the fervor of my soul-madly, devotedly? And she returned my passion! I knew it, although the love for filthy lucre then prevented me from coming to an explanation. Gold, gold, that false and cunning fiend, separated us. And oh, what a sacrifice it was for me to give up all that could render life desirable for the possession of pounds, shillings and pence! And then to find this prove at last a mere phantom! I left her to solitude and sadness, and went with my rich and cold-hearted wife to Europe, striving to banish reflection by mingling in the festivities of a palace--breathing the same air that inspired Goethe, Dante and Alfieri, reposing among the falling columns of the Coliseum, or wandering weary and alone among the ruins of Greece. It was all in vain! I might have risen to wealth and consideration in this glorious land, by my own labors, and, united to the only woman I ever really loved, have been now a happy and useful citizen. Her splendid talents would have roused me to exertion. Her beauty kept alive the fires of passion in my soul, and my home been made an Eden of happiness. But I tell you, my friend, all the charm of life is gone. I have no motive for exertion, no star to guide me to fame. But a few evenings since, I met this impersonation of all that is perfect in woman at a party, given by my Aunt Fortescue, the mother of your Caroline. Her bow of cold indifference chilled me to the soul. At the time of my marriage she was living alone with her father, in rather reduced circumstances, and, although gifted with every talent, and possessing every accomplishment under the sun, was rather looked down upon by our aristo

cratic circle. By means of powerful relations, or his own merits, I don't know which, her father was presented with an office under government, and I was somewhat surprised to hear of the slighted Miss Legard moving in the very highest circles of London, worshiped at the Court of France, and sitting for her portrait at the earnest solicitation of the greatest artists in Italy. By a strange coincidence we were thrown continually in each other's way, and although my wife was too cold or too indolent to cherish a feeling of jealousy, she must have often witnessed my emotion, as that splendid countenance suddenly flashed upon me during my wanderings. I plunged deep into the dissipations of foreign society, but my heart remained unsullied. Fair faces beamed upon me, but not like that which was 'the starlight of my boyhood,' and their power over me was but for a moment. But enough of this. I returned home to see again the sorceress who had such power over me; to see her the idol of society, yet receiving its adulations with an apathy for which I could not account. Her father, it seems, has been dead some years, and she was left under the guardianship of Mr. Stanbrook. She is now more beautiful and fascinating than ever. Men of intellect and fashion crowd around her, Senators hang upon her words, and the great and gifted of the land pay homage to her genius. I stand aloof, restless and dispirited. But I do not quite despair. I will endeavor to live for some purpose. Scarcely thirty years of age, I think there may yet be some prospect of success. Yet there is a blight upon my spirit that nothing can remove. She who should have been my inspiration, now scorns the worldly-minded man, who won and then slighted her young affections. My letter to her, in which I endeavored to plead an excuse for my conduct, was never answered; and now that I am free, I dare not again press my suit, for fear of a repulse. Thus do I move about in society without aim or object. You have been more fortunate, or, at least, wiser. I hear your name mentioned everywhere with approbation —your speeches in the Senate are on every lip, and, certainly, no one has a fairer prospect than yourself of attaining the highest honors. Press forward in your glorious career, and beware of the shoals and quicksands which have wrecked the happiness of your friend,

"CHARLES ALLAN GRAHAM.”

HERNANDO CORTEZ, the subject of the present chapter, owed his birth (1485) to the small town of Medellin, in the province of Estremadura, in Spain; being, as we are told by titleloving historians, "descended of an ancient and honorable family." Be this as it may; whether the father of our hero was a Knight of the Cross, or only a poor journeyman cobbler, it is certain that Cortez, at a very early period, displayed evidence of the possession of powers far beyond his years. Being intended by his family for the legal profession, he was entered as a student at Salamanca; "but man proposes," (says an old proverb,) "and God disposes." At college the young Cortez adopted a career which soon satisfied both his friends and his preceptors that he would never rise to the acquisition of judiciary honors. Frequent complaints of his dissipation and his defiance of preceptorial authority, were transmitted to Medellin, and from all accounts it appeared certain that he was by nature better fitted to give, than to receive, commands-being of a disposition that would brook neither advice nor restraint.

Our hero's parents, becoming satisfied that he would make no figure at the law, suffered his humor, at last, to take its natural tendency, and through his relationship to Ovando, Governor of Hispaniola, he was finally dispatched to St. Domingo, where his propensity for adventure rapidly developed itself. His nature, also, lost much of its early roughness, as he increased in years, and his overbearing manners yielded to a manly and soldierly frankness, which soon rendered him a favorite. He afterwards accompanied Diego Velasquez to the new colony of Cuba, where he fell in love with a young and beautiful lady, whom he married. Velasquez, distrustful of his own powers, and finding in the enterprising mind and untamable spirit of Cortez the material most suitable for his purpose, appointed him to the command of the armament then fitting out for a voyage of discovery to the American continent; and it was this lucky chance which

shaped the future destinies of Cortez. In making this selection, Velasquez fondly imagined that he had found in Cortez one who would be subservient to his every wish, without aspiring to greater honors than those to which he had already been appointed; but in thus calculating, Velasquez proved that he had reckoned without his host. No sooner had Cortez received his commission than he assumed a splendor becoming his station, surrounded himself by a princely retinue, and prepared to enter fully upon the dignities of his new position. These movements, aided by whispered insinuations in relation to the future intentions of Cortez, aroused the jealous temper of Velasquez, and before the expedition could get under weigh, a new commander was appointed, and it was ordered that Cortez should be sent back in irons to the place whence he had started. Some friends of Cortez contrived, however, to give him information of the fact, and, having first sent out of the way some personal friends of Velasquez, and obtained the assent of those who remained, he slipped away from Cuba by night, with half his stores and equipments unsupplied; thus subjecting himself to the alternative of complete success in his enterprise, or of irretrievable ruin from the enmity of his employer. The expedition, notwithstanding the unfavorable circumstances under which it had set out, arrived in the river Tabasco, in March, 1519. Being refused, by the natives, all communication with the shore, he landed, and, in spite of a fierce resistance, took possession of the neighboring town; and when, on a subsequent occasion, the warriors of the nation assembled to expel him, he encountered and signally defeated their whole force upon the adjoining plains of Ceutla.

In the meantime, the people of Anahuac were agitated by strange rumors of the approach of a descendant of the exiled demi-god, Quetzalcoatl, for the purpose of retrieving his ancestor's dominions, and avenging his wrongs, and with a feeling of superstitious dread they

anxiously awaited his appearance. Thus was accident made a prominent agent in the elevation of Cortez to the dignity and honors of a conqueror.

The news, which was supposed to be decisive of the truth or falsehood of these rumors, was at length received. In the spring of the year 1519, a hieroglyphic scroll, communicated to Montezuma by the viceroy of a district bordering upon the coast, contained the announcement of the arrival in those waters of a fleet of canoes, which were represented as being of gigantic proportions, wafted by linen sails, and manned by a race of beings of a description hitherto unknown to the inhabitants of those regions. The invaders were said to resemble, in a remarkable degree, the traditional portrait of Quetzalcoatl; they were represented, in the description, as bearing deadly weapons, which were said to dart forth thunder and lightning at their pleasure, and as being completely ensheathed in armor of a beautiful and impenetrable metal. A description was also added of several huge and powerful animals, far superior in size to any known in Anahuac, which possessed the power of carrying their masters, fully armed, upon their backs, and of overthrowing their enemies in battle. These strangers, who had created so astounding a sensation, were, in fact, a Spanish expedition from the Island of Cuba, consisting of sixteen horsemen, and five hundred and fifty-three foot soldiers, under the command of Hernan Cortez.*

The result of the battle of Centla was the total submission of the intimidated Tabascans, and the arrival in the Spanish camp of an embassy from them, bearing offers of peace and homage, which were accepted; when presents were exchanged, the oath of allegiance taken, and mass celebrated in the principal temple of Tabasco. Cortez now continued his course along the coast, and anchored off Vera Cruz on the 21st of May, 1519.

The arrival of these mysterious visitors caused, in the minds of the rulers of Mexico, sundry misgivings as to the manner in which they should be received. It was finally determined by Montezuma to forbid their entrance

*Robertson says, six hundred and seventeen in all; and also adds, that, as the use of fire-arms among the nations of Europe was hitherto confined to a few battalions of infantry, only thirteen soldiers were armed with muskets, thirty-two were cross-bowmen, and the rest had swords

and spears. From this it will be seen how much depended

upon the wisdom and experience of the leader. We have here adopted Prescott's account, as being most in favor.

to the capital on any conditions, but to treat them, at the same time, in a kind and conciliatory manner. In short, he determined to send an embassy to them, such as should impress them with a vast idea of the grandeur of his court, and the magnificence of his resources. The firm, yet courteous, prohibition of Montezuma bred discouragement in the ranks, and Cortez was beginning to experience some alarm lest the whole command should refuse to proceed further in their undertaking, when their drooping spirits were revived by the arrival of an embassy from the Totonacs, a tribe inhabiting a portion of the coast to the northward of Vera Cruz, and lately subdued by the Aztecs, with offers of allegiance and aid. These offers were embraced with alacrity, and the Spaniards, marching to their town of Cempoalla, were welcomed by the inhabitants with every manifestation of delight. The Spaniards took formal possession, and established on the neighboring coast a fortress and colony, to which they gave the name of Villa Rica. The news of this proceeding filled Montezuma with contending emotions of fear and resentment. Some Aztec ambassadors, sent to remonstrate, were expelled, and when Montezuma sent to request an explanation, Cortez promptly and decisively replied that he would himself visit Mexico, and deliver it in person.

At this juncture he was led into the commission of an act which might have proved disastrous to himself and to the cause. In order effectually to ensure the constancy of his men, he determined to cut off their retreat by sinking the vessels which had conveyed them thither, and privately gave orders to some of his most devoted adherents to that effect. When the little army received information of this act, their anger against Cortez knew no bounds, and a mutiny was the consequence; which, however, was subdued upon reflection that it would not better their situation, and on the 16th of August the Spanish army, leaving a small garrison behind them at Villa Rica, set forth from Cempoalla for the capital. Their entire force amounted to fifteen horsemen, four hundred foot soldiers, and thirteen hundred Totonac warriors; with which, when about half way between Cempoalla and Mexico, in the State of Tlascala, noted for containing the only tribe of Anahuac which had successfully resisted the Aztec arms, they encountered and signally defeated two powerful Tlascalan armies, commanded by their renowned general, Xicotencatl This tribe, as