BAPTISM OF THE GRAND CHILDREN OF CORTEZ. 153 



daughters of the Marques del Valle, whose sponsors were Don 

 Lucas de Castilla and Dona Juana de Sosa. The festivities of the 

 gallant Marques upon this occasion of family rejoicing, were, as 

 usual among the rich in Spanish countries, attended with the 

 utmost magnificence ; and in order to present our readers a picture 

 of the manners of the period, we shall describe the scene as it is 

 related by those who witnessed it. 



It was a day of general rejoicing and festivity in the city of 

 Mexico. From the palace of the Marques to the door of the 

 cathedral, a passage was formed under lofty and splendid canopies 

 composed of the richest stuffs. A salute of artillery announced the 

 entry of the twins into the church, and it was repeated at their 

 departure. At the moment when the rites of religion were com- 

 pleted and the infants were borne back to their home through the 

 covered way, the spectators in the plaza were amused by a chival- 

 ric tournament between twelve knights in complete steel. Other 

 rare and costly diversions succeeded in an artificial grove, which 

 the Marques had caused to be erected in the plazuela, or lesser 

 square, intervening between his palace and the cathedral. Nor 

 were these amusements designed alone for persons of his own 

 rank, for the masses of the people were also summoned to partake 

 his bountiful hospitality. At the doors of his princely dwelling 

 tables were sumptuously spread with roasted oxen, all kinds of 

 wild fowl and numberless delicacies, whilst two casks of white and 

 red wine, — then esteemed in Mexico the most luxurious rari- 

 ties, — were set flowing for the people. 



At night, Alonso Gonzalez de Avila, the intimate companion 

 of the Marques, entertained the chief personages of Mexico with a 

 splendid ball, during which there was a performance, or symbolical 

 masque representing the reception of Hernando Cortez by the Em- 

 peror Montezuma. Alonso, splendidly attired, sustained the part 

 of the Mexican sovereign. During one of the evolutions of the 

 spectacle, Avila threw around the neck of the young Marques a 

 collar of intermingled flowers and jewels, similar to the one with 

 which his father had been adorned by Montezuma ; and, at the 

 conclusion of the scene, he placed on the heads of the Marques and 

 his wife a coronet of laurel, with the exclamation, — "How well 

 these crowns befit your noble brows ! " 



These simple diversions of a family festival were, doubtless, 

 altogether innocent, and, certainly, not designed to prefigure an 

 intention upon the part of the Marques and his friends to usurp the 

 Government of the New World. But it is probable that he had 



