so as to command the different avenues which led to the place allotted for their reception, by appointing a large division of his troops to be always on guard, and by posting sentinels at proper stations, with injunctions to observe the same vigilant discipline as if they were within sight of an enemy's camp.

In the evening Montezuma returned to visit his guests, and brought presents of such value as proved the liberality of the monarch to be suitable to the opulence of his kingdom. A long conference ensued, in which Montezuma told him that it was an established tradition among the Mexicans, that their ancestors came originally from a remote region, and conquered the provinces now subject to his dominion; that after they were settled there, the great captain who conducted this colony returned to his own country, promising that at some future period his descendants should visit them, assume the government, and reform their constitution and laws; that from what he had heard and seen of Cortes and his followers, he was convinced that they were the very persons whose appearance the Mexican traditions and prophecies taught them to expect; and accordingly he had received them not as strangers, but as relations of the same blood and parentage, and desired that they might consider themselves as masters in his dominions, as both he and his subjects should be ready to comply with their will. Cortes made a reply in his usual style, and the next day he and some of his principal attendants were admitted again to an audience of the emperor. The three subsequent days were employed in viewing the city, the appearance of which, so far superior in the order of its buildings and the number of its inhabitants to

any

any place the Spaniards had beheld in America, and yet so little resembling the structure of an European city, filled them with surprise and ad

miration.

But how much soever the novelty of various objects might amuse or astonish the Spaniards, they felt the utmost solicitude with respect to their own situation. From a concurrence of circumstances, Lo less unexpected than favourable to their progress, they had been allowed to penetrate into the heart of a powerful kingdom, and were now lodged in its capital. They had been warned by their new allies of trusting to Montezuma; and now they felt the danger to which they were exposed. After revolving the mattter with deep attention, Cortes fixed upon a plan no less extraordinary than daring. He determined to sieze Montezuma in his palace, and to carry him prisoner to the Spanish quarters. He communicated his plan to his principal officers, and found means almost instantly to put it into execution. Thus was a powerful prince seized by a few strangers in the midst of his capital at noonday; and though his own soldiers and people broke cut into transports of rage, yet upon seeing Montezuma cheerful and contented, they quietly dipersed: History contains nothing parallel to this event, either with respect to the temerity of the attempt, or the success of the exccution.

Montezuma was received in the Spanish quarters with great ceremonious respect: he was attended by his own domestics, and served with his usual state. His principal officers had free acces to him, and he carried on every function of government as if he had been in perfect liberty. The Spaniards, however, watched him with scrupulous vigilance, endeavouring at the same time to soothe

and

and reconcile him to his situation by every external demonstration of regard and attachment. But from captive princes the hour of humiliation and suffering is never far distant. Qualpopoca his son, and five of the principal officers who served under him, were brought prisoners to the capital in consequence of the orders which Montezuma bad issued. The emperor gave them up to Cortes, who caused them to be tried by a Spanish courtmartial; and though they had acted no other part than what became loyal subjects and brave men, in opposing the invaders of their country, they were condemned to be burnt alive. The execution of such atrocious deeds is seldom long suspended. The unhappy victims were instantly led forth. The pile on which they were laid was composed of the weapons collected in the royal magazine for public defence.-But these were not the most shocking indignities which the Mexicans had to bear. Just before Qualpopoca was led out to suffer, Cortes entered the apartment of Montezuma followed by some officers, and a soldier carrying a pair of fetters, and, approaching the monarch with a stern countenance, told him that he had been the cause of the outrage committed, and that it was necessary he should make atonement for that guilt; then turning ab ruptly, without waiting for a reply, commanded the soldier to clap the fetters on his legs. The orders were instantly executed. The disconsolate monarch, considering this as a prelude to his own death, broke out into lamentations and complaint. His attendants, struck with horror, fell at his feet, bathing them with their tears; and, bearing up the fetters in their hands, endeavoured, with officious tenderness, to lighten their pressure. Nor did

their grief abate, until Cortes returned from the execution and with a cheerful countenance ordered the fetters to be taken off.

The rigour with which Cortes punished the unhappy persons who first presumed to lay violent hands upon his followers, seems to have made all the impression that he desired. The spirit of Montezuma was not only overawed, but subdued. Such was the dread which both the monarch and his subjects had of the Spaniards, that no attempt was made to deliver their sovereign from confinement. Thus, by the fortunate temerity of Cortes, the Spaniards at once secured to themselves more extensive authority in the Mexican empire than it was possible to have acquired in a long course of time by open force, and they exercised more absolute sway in the name of Montezuma than they could have done in their own. Of this powerCortes availed himself to the utmost: he appointed commissioners, who were accompanied by some Mexicans of distinction, to survey the empire, and to prepare the minds of the people for submitting to the Spaniards; and in the end he persuaded Montezuma to yield to the lowest point of degradation, by acknowledging himself a vassal of the king of Castile, and by subjecting his dominions to the payment of an annual tribute. The fallen monarch, at the desire of Cortes, accompanied this profession of fealty and homage with a magnificent present to his new sovereign; and, after his example, his subjects brought in very liberal contributions. The Spaniards now collected all their treasure together; and having melted the gold and silver, the value of which, without including the jewels, amounted to much more than one hundred thousand pounds sterling, the soldiers were impa

tient to have it divided; and Cortes complied with their desire. A fifth part was set apart for the king, another fifth was allotted to Cortes as commander in chief. The sums advanced by Velasquez, by Cortes, and by some of the officers, towards defraying the expense of fitting out the armament, were then deducted. The remainder was divided among the army in proportion to their different ranks. After all the defalcations, the share of a private man did not exceed twenty pounds; a sum so much below their expectations, that several of the soldiers rejected it with scorn, and others murmured so loudly at this cruel disappointment of their hopes, that it required all the address of Cortes to appease them.

Cortes had frequently urged Montezuma to renounce his false gods and to embrace Christianity; which he rejected with indignation. The Mexicans adhered tenaciously to their mode of worship, which was ever accompanied with such order and solemnity as to render it an object of the highest veneration. Cortes, finding all his attempts ineffectual to shake the constancy of Montezuma, was so much enraged with his obstinacy, that in a transport of zeal he led out his soldiers to throw down the idols in the temple by force. But the priests taking arms in defence of their altars, and the people crowding with great ardour to support them, Cortes's prudence overuled his zeal, and induced him to desist from his rash attempt, after dislodging the idols from one of the shrines, and placing in their stead an image of the Virgin Mary.

From that time the Mexicans began to meditate how they might expel or destroy the Spaniards, and thought themselves called upon to avenge their insulted deities. The priests and leading