Mexico, and the Life of the Conqueror Fernando Cortes, Volume 1

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P. F. Collier, 1898
 

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Page 136 - Rions, chantons, dit cette troupe impie ; De fleurs en fleurs, de plaisirs en plaisirs, Promenons nos désirs. Sur l'avenir insensé qui se fie. De nos ans passagers le nombre est incertain : Hâtons-nous aujourd'hui de jouir de la vie ; Qui sait si nous serons demain?
Page 355 - Tezcuco, and, still further on, the dark belt of porphyry, girdling the Valley around, like a rich setting which Nature had devised for the fairest of her jewels. " Such was the beautiful vision which broke on the eyes of the Conquerors. And even now, when so sad a change has come over the scene ; when the stately forests...
Page 354 - Stretching far away at their feet were seen noble forests of oak, sycamore, and cedar, and beyond, yellow fields of maize and the towering maguey, intermingled with orchards and blooming gardens; for flowers, in such demand for their religious festivals, were even more abundant in this populous valley than in other parts of Anahuac.
Page 213 - Cortes expressed his willingness that the casque should be sent to the emperor, intimating a hope that it would be returned filled with the gold dust of the country, that he might be able to compare its quality with that in his own ! He further told the governor, as we are informed by his chaplain, " that the Spaniards were troubled with a disease of the heart, for which gold was a specific remedy " ! 9 " In short," says Las Casas, " he contrived to make his want of gold very clear to the governor.
Page 74 - On this the prisoner was stretched. Five priests secured his head and his limbs; while the sixth, clad in a scarlet mantle, emblematic of his bloody office, dexterously opened the breast of the wretched victim with a sharp razor of ifzli — a volcanic substance, hard as flint — and, inserting his hand in the wound, tore out the palpitating heart.
Page 209 - She always remained faithful to the countrymen of her adoption ; and her knowledge of the language and customs of the Mexicans, and often of their designs, enabled her to extricate the Spaniards, more than once, from the most embarrassing and perilous situations. She had her errors, as we have seen. But they should be rather charged to the defects of early education, and to the evil influence of him to whom in the darkness of her spirit she looked with simple confidence for the light to guide her.
Page 355 - ... the valley around, like a rich setting which Nature had devised for the fairest of her jewels. Such was the beautiful vision which broke on the eyes of the Conquerors. And even now, when so sad a change has come over the scene ; when the stately forests have been laid low, and the soil, unsheltered from the fierce radiance of a tropical sun, is in many places abandoned to sterility ; when the waters have retired, leaving a broad and ghastly margin white with the incrustation of salts, while the...
Page 223 - ... panaches, and crests of variegated feathers, intermingled with gold and silver thread, and sprinkled with pearls and precious stones; imitations of birds and animals, in wrought and cast gold and silver of exquisite workmanship; curtains, coverlets, and robes of cotton, fine as silk, of rich and various dyes, interwoven with featherwork that rivalled the delicacy of painting.
Page 370 - ... their fair complexions ; saw the bright falchions and bonnets of steel, a metal to them unknown, glancing like meteors in the sun, while sounds of unearthly music — at least, such as their rude instruments had never wakened — floated in the air ! But every other emotion was lost in that of...
Page 187 - With his gayest humor there mingled a settled air of resolution, which made those who approached him feel they must obey, and which infused something like awe into the attachment of his most devoted followers. Such a combination, in which love was tempered by authority, was the one probably best calculated to inspire devotion in the rough and turbulent spirits among whom his lot was to be cast.

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