Chap. V- AMERICA. 257 



« ferment occafion any alteration in your fo long known Vermes : The Crown 

 i < breeds care for the publick good ; the troubles thereof muft extend over the 

 4< whole Realm, and every one in the Realm. . 



Muteczuma having heard out the Speech, would willingly have anfwer'd the 

 fame, but could not utter a word for Tears, which gufh'd from his Eyes. Before 

 he went out to fetch Prifoners for Offerings at his Coronation, he firft fecled his 

 Houfhold Affairs. And whereas till this time the Kings "had been ferv'd in their 

 Palaces by ordinary Citizens, he. took Knights, and the chiefeft of the Nobility, 

 intending thereby to make a diftinftion between the Nobility and the common 

 People , and add more Majefty to the Royal Dignity. This done, Mutec^uma 

 marching againft a certain rebellious Province, fetch'd a confiderable number of 

 People to be Offer'd to Vt^tupu^tlu At his Return the Coronation- Day was ap- 

 pointed, againft which thoufandsof People came to Mexico ; even their very Ene- 

 mies of Tlafcala, Mechoacan, and Tepeaca, which were never conquer'd by the Mexi* 

 cans, flock'd thither in great numbers. All thofe Countreys which were under 

 Tribute bringing unvaluableTreafures,camc in vaft Multitudes,which fo throngd 

 the City, that the very tops of the Houfes were fill'd with Spectators, no King in 

 JMexico ever going to the Throne in fuch fplendor ; nor was ever any King fp 

 much fear'd by his Subjc&s, none of the common People daring to look in his 

 Face • neither did he ever fet Foot on the Ground, but was always carried in a 

 Chair on the Shoulders of his prime Nobility ; he never wore a Suit of Clothes 

 but once, nor ever us'd a Cup or Difli after it was once foul'd j he ftri&ly main* 

 tain'd the Laws which he had made, and often went himfelf in aDifguifc, to make 

 a ftricl: enquiry after all Affairs whatfoever . by which means the Mexican Power 

 was now arriv'dto the higheft top : but, as other Realms, grown top-heavy with 

 good Fortune, turn at laft topficturvy, juftfuch a Misfortune befell Mexico ; but 

 not without feveral fore-running figns of its deftruftion : for in the City Cholola 

 their God Que^alcoalt informed them, that a ftrange People were coming to take 

 poiTeflion of the Mexican Dominions; and their Soothfayers prognosticated the fame, 

 for which Mutec^uma committed them all to Prifon, and doubtlefs had put them all 

 to death, had not they efcap'd with the help of the Mafter of their diabolical Art ; 

 and though they efcap'd themfelves, yet their Wives and Children were all put to 

 death upon the King's Command : Soon after which appeared a mighty Comet, 

 or blazing Starfor a whole year together > the great Temple Cu was fet on Fire, 

 and burnt to the Ground none knew how ; the Water which was thrown on the 

 fame to quench it, burnt like Brimftone . in the Skie appear'd three fiery Heads at 

 noon.day , and out of a long Tail (hot Sparks on the Earth ; the Lagma, between 

 Mexico and Texcuco, began to fwell into a Tide, which turn'd fome Houfes topfie. 

 turvy 5 a fhrill Voice was heard in the Night crying on the Water, Children, your 

 mine is at hand ; whither frail I carry you that you may not be loft { 



No lefs ftrange is what d' Acofta relates of a Bird prefented to Muteczyma, not 

 unlike a Crane, which the Fifliermen had taken on the Laguna ; on the fhining 

 Forehead of which there appear'd the refemblanceof two Armies Engag'd, and one 

 defeated by the other, and that whilftthe Sages, call'd to interpret the meaning 

 hereof, fat in Confultation, the Bird vanifli'd. 



Moreover, there goes a Tradition, That a Countrey.man being at his Labor, 

 was taken up by an Eagle, and carried through the Air into a gloomy Cave, where 

 a Man lay faft afleep fnoaring, when on a fudden he heard a Voice afar off, faying, 

 2)o you Know that Mm ? whereupon the Countrey-man taking fpecial notice of the 



dormant 



Preparation! 

 for the I 

 nation of 



Muttctvtni. 



His Gran- 

 deur. 



The mine of 

 the Mexitau 

 Empire prog- 

 nolUcatcd. 



A miraculous 

 Story of a 

 Bird, 



Another of a 

 Country- 

 man, 



