HISTORY OF MEXICO. 275 



€d his captains and foldiers who diftingiilflied themfelves 

 in war, and the minifters and officers of the crown who 

 ferved him with fidelity, with gold, filver, jewels, and 

 precious feathers. Thefe virtues were put to the foil 

 by fome vices, as he was capricious, vindictive, and 

 fometimes cruel, and fo inclined to v/ar, that he ap- 

 peared to hate peace ; from which the name Ahuitzoil 

 was ufed proverbially by the Spaniards of that kingdom 

 to fignify a man whofe troublefome vexatious temper 

 would not permit another to live (x). But he was in 

 other refpefts good humoured, and delighted fo much 

 in mufic, that he never wanted, neither by night nor 

 day, this amufement in his palace ; but it muft have been 

 prejudicial to the public good, as it robbed him of a 

 great part of that time which fbould have been dedicated 

 to the important concerns of his kingdom. He was not 

 lefs attached to the company of women. His prede- 

 cefTors had many wives, from an opinion that their au- 

 thority and grandeur would be heightened in proportion 

 to the number of perfons who contributed to their plea- 

 fures. Ahuitzotl having fo much extended his domini- 

 ons, and encreafed the power of the crown, was defirous 

 alfo of fliewing the fuperiority of his grandeur over that 

 of his anceftors, in the exceffive number of his Vv'ives. 

 In this ftate was the court of Mexico at the befrinnins: 

 of the fixteenth century ; of thar century fo fruitful in 

 great events, during which that kingdom was to put on 

 a quite different afpeCl:, and the whole order and fyflem 

 of the new world was to be reverfed. 



BOOK. 



(x) The Spaniards fay, N. es mio Ahuitzote ; Quefti es rAhuitzote di N. 

 a niuno manca il fuo Ahuitzote, &c. 



