nuns - LETTER THE TWENTY-SIXTH. Visiters - Virgin de los Remedios - Encarnacion - Fears of the Santa Teresa Rainy season —. - Amusing scene"Está á la disposicion de V."— Mexican sincerity — Texian vessels Fine hair-School mistress - Climate - Its effects - Nerves Tours de force — Anniversary - Speech - Paseo -San Angel - Tacubaya - Army of" the three guarantees Plan of Yguala — A murder - Indian politeness - DrunkSeñor Canedo Revolutions in Mexico The Peñon enness - The baths - General - Situation and view — Indian family — Of the boiling springs — Capabilities — Solitude Chapultepec - The Desagravios - Penitence at San Francisco-Discipline of the men- Discourse of the monk -Darkness and horrors — Salmagundi. - August 30th. In the political world nothing very interesting has occurred, and as yet there is no change of ministry. Yesterday morning, C―n set off in a coach and six for the valley of Toluca, about eighteen leagues from Mexico, with a rich Spaniard, Señor M-r y T——————n, who has a large hacienda there. Last Sunday morning, being the first Sunday since the revolution, we had forty visiters - ladies and gentlemen, English, French, Spanish and Mexican. Such varieties of dresses and languages I have seldom seen united in one room; and so many anecdotes connected with the pronunciamento as were related, some grave, some ludicrous, that would form FEARS OF THE NUNS. 393 a volume! The Baron de having just left this for your part of the world, you will learn by him the last intelligence of it and of us. As there is a want of rain, the Virgin de los Remedios was brought into Mexico, but as there is still a slight ripple on the face of the lately troubled waters, she was carried in privately for all reunions of people are dreaded at this juncture. I had just prepared pieces of velvet and silk to hang on the balconies, when I found that the procession had gone by a back street after sunset. I went lately to visit the nuns of the Encarnacion, to inquire how they had stood their alarms, for their convent had been filled with soldiers, and they had been in the very heart of the firing. I was welcomed by a figure covered from head to foot with a double black crape veil, who expressed great joy at seeing me again, and told me she was one of the madres who received us before. She spoke with horror of the late Revolution, and of the state of fear and trembling in which they had passed their time; soldiers within their very walls, and their prayers interrupted by volleys of cannon. Thanks to the intercession of the Virgin, no accident had occurred; but she added, that had the Virgin of los Remedios been brought in sooner, these disorders might never have taken place. I went from thence to the convent of Santa Teresa, where I saw no one, but discoursed with a number of voices, from the shrill treble of the old Madre Priora, to the full, cheerful tones of my friend, the Madre A. There is something rather awful in A sending one's voice in this way into an unknown region, and then listening for a response from the unseen dwellers there. I have not yet been inside this convent, but now that affairs are settled for the present, I trust that the Archbishop will kindly grant his permission to that effect. The rainy season is now at its height; that is, it rains severely every evening, but in the morning it is lovely. The disagreeable part of it is, that the roads are so bad, it is difficult to continue our rides in the environs. Horse and rider, after one of these expeditions, appear to have been taking a mud-bath. It is very amusing to stand at the window about four o'clock, and see every one suddenly caught in the most tremendous shower. In five minutes the streets become rivers; and canoes would be rather more useful than carriages. Strong porters (cargadores) are in readiness to carry well-dressed gentlemen or women who are caught in the deluge, across the streets. Coachmen and footmen have their great coats prepared to draw on; and all horsemen have their sarapes strapped behind their saddles, in which, with their shining leather hats, they can brave the storm. Trusting to an occasional cessation of rain, which sometimes takes place, people continue to go out in the evening, but it is downright cruelty to coachman and animals, unless the visit is to a house with a porte-cochére, which many of the houses have this amongst others. September 1st. Had a dispute this morning with an Englishman, who complains bitterly of Mexican insincerity. I believe the chief cause of this com "ESTÁ Á LA DISPOSICION DE V." 395 plaint amongst foreigners consists in their attaching the slightest value to the common phrase, " Está á la disposicion de V." Everything is placed at your disposal-house, carriage, servants, horses, mules, &c., the lady's ear-rings, the gentleman's diamond pin, the child's frock. You admire a ring-it is perfectly at your service; a horse- ditto. Letters are dated "from your house;" (de la casa de V.) Some from ignorance of the custom, and others from knavery, take advantage of these offers, which are mere expressions of civility, much to the confusion. and astonishment of the polite offerer, who has no more intention of being credited, than you have when, from common etiquette, you sign yourself the very humble servant of the very greatest bore. It is a mere habit, and to call people who indulge in it insincere, reminds me of the Italian mentioned somewhere by Lady Blessington, who thought he had made a conquest of a fair Englishwoman, though somewhat shocked by her forwardness, because in an indifferent note to him, she signed herself, " Truly yours." Shall I ever forget the crest-fallen countenance of a Mexican gentleman who had just purchased a very handsome set of London harness, when hearing it admired by a Frenchman, he gave the customary answer, "It is quite at your disposal," and was answered by a profusion of bows, and a ready acceptance of the offer! the only difficulty with the Frenchman being as to whether or not he could carry it home under his cloak, which he did. If all these offers of service, in which it is Mexican etiquette to indulge, be believed in "Remember that I am here but to serve you" -- "My house and everything in it, is quite at your disposal"-"Command me in all things; we shall of course be disappointed by finding that notwithstanding these reiterated assurances, we must hire a house for ourselves, and even servants to wait on us; but take these expressions at what they are worth, and I believe we shall find that people here are about as sincere as their neighbors. 8th. A good deal of surmise, because four Texian vessels are cruising in the bay off Vera Cruz. There is also a good deal of political talk, but I have no longer Madame de Staël's excuse for interfering in politics, which, by the way, is a subject on which almost all Mexican women are well informed; possessing practical knowledge, the best of all, like a lesson in geography given by travelling. I fear we live in a Paradise Lost, which will not be Regained in our day. . . . My attention is attracted, while I write, by the apparition of a beautiful girl in the opposite balcony, with hair of a golden brown, hanging in masses down to her feet. This is an uncommon color here; but the hair of the women is generally very long and fine. It rarely or never curls. We were amused the other day, in passing by a school of little boys and girls, kept in a room on the first floor of Señor ―'s house, to see the school-mistress, certainly not in a very elegant dishabille, marching up and down with a spelling-book in her hand, her long hair hanging down, and trailing on the floor a good half yard behind her; while every time she turned, she switched it round like a court train. |