124 HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



verned them, and who attended to nothing more zeal- 

 oufly than the modefty and decency of their a&ions. 

 When any male or female pupil went to pay their re- 

 fpe&s to their parents, and which cafe happened very 

 feldom, they were not allowed to go by themfelves, but 

 were always accompanied by other pupils and their fu- 

 perior. After liflening for a few moments with filence 

 and attention to the inftructions and advice which their 

 parents gave them, they returned back to the feminary. 

 There they were detained until the time of marriage, 

 which, as we have already mentioned, was with young 

 men from the age of twenty to twenty-two, and with 

 girls at eighteen or fixteen years. When this period ar- 

 rived, either the young man himfelf requeued leave of 

 the fuperior to go and get himfelf a wife, or, what was 

 more common, his parents demanded him for the fame 

 purpofe, returning thanks firfl to the fuperior for the 

 care he had taken of his inflruclion. The fuperior, 

 upon the difmilTion which he gave at the grand feftival 

 of Tezcatlipoca, to all the young men and women who 

 were arrived at that age, made them a difcourfe, ex- 

 horting them to a perfeverance in virtue, and the dif- 

 charge of all the duties of the new ftate. The virgins 

 educated in thefe feminaries were particularly fought 

 after for wives, not only on account of their principles, 

 but likewife of the fkill which they acquired there in 

 the -arts belonging to their fex. The youth who when 

 arrived at the age of twenty-two did not marry, was 

 efteemed to have devoted himfelf for ever to the fervice 

 of the temples, and if after fuch confecration of himfelf 

 he repented of celibacy, and defired to marry, he be- 

 came infamous for ever, and no woman would accept 

 him for a huiband. In Tlafcala, thofe who, at the age 



fit 



