xii 



PREFACE. 



hurry, fatigue, and superabundant de- 

 mands upon my attention. 



But the jealousy of the government 

 of Old Spain had so fully succeeded 

 in shutting out Europeans from the 

 knowledge of Mexico, that, since the 

 period of our Charles the first, I am ac- 

 quainted with no book of travels by an 

 Englishman in that country. There 

 is, consequently, much of novelty to 

 attract even the most indifferent vi- 

 sitor; and I have simply endeavoured to 

 relate what fell under my personal ob- 

 servation in the plainest manner. The 

 rising interest attached to this portion 

 of the world, and the growing import- 

 ance of Mexico to the commercial en- 

 terprise of Britain, will, I trust, give 

 that degree of value to my statements 



