SOCIAL FEATURES. 4» 
all sides, perfectly screened from the street and sun. On the second 
floor, (on which we lodged,) a corridor runs round the walls, covered 
with a roof to protect it from the weather, and filled with orange and 
lemon trees, and a variety of flowering shrubs, planted in vases of rare 
old India china, that would delight the heart of a London fancier. 
Here my days were passed in the fulfillment of my official duties, and 
my evenings, when not at the theatre, (which I found a great aid in 
acquiring the language,) in the midst of this pleasant family. The ex- 
cellent lady at the head of it had once belonged to one of the wealthiest 
establishments in the Republic. The revolutions, and a series of mishaps, 
had broken her fortunes ; yet they could not deprive her of her talents, 
her accomplishments, her vivacity, or the kindness of her heart and tern- 
per. Qualities like these were sure to endear the friends of her better 
days, and, in truth, they had not deserted her. It was thus, that in her 
apartments, over- a quiet game of monte, where a thousand nuts were the 
highest stake ; I made many of my pleasantest acquaintances, both male 
and female, in Mexico. Here too I saw the better phases of Mexican 
character, in private life. The respect for age — the sincerity of friend- 
ship — the results of reading and education — and the honest, unpretending 
naturalness of character for which, over all other people I have ever met 
with, I think the best of them are remarkable. 
It has been taxed upon people who live in fine climates — where the 
warm sun and the teeming fields woo constantly to the open air — that they 
want the social virtues. They possess no fireside — that focus into which 
the family affections are gathered and cherished. I will not pretend that 
the Mexicans are a home people, like the Germans, the English, and, per- 
haps, ourselves ; but it is equally certain, that they are not without those 
social tastes and reunions, which make their dwellings a favorite re- 
sort. It is true, that much time is devoted by fashionable society to the 
morning mass, the evening drive, and to the theatre ; but, in a population 
of 200,000, these should not be regarded as the characteristics of the 
whole people. It is this partial examination of a class, and an identifica- 
tion of its peculiarities, habits or tastes, with those of the whole nation, 
that is the error of English tourists in their descriptions of our own 
country. It is neither by the most fashionable society — which is always 
the most corrupt, deceitful and unsubstantial ; nor by the very lowest class, 
which is always the most vicious — that we are to characterize nations. 
In the sober, patient, patriotic, toilsome, well taught, frugal, middle ranks 
of life — the true virtues, and noblest features of a people are most evi- 
dent ; and, although these characteristics may be found both among the 
very highest and the very lowest, yet it is alone in this class that they 
may be sought with certainty. 
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The houses of the Mexicans are usually built of the strongest materials, 
either brick or stone, and without much architectural pretension. They 
are erected around patios, or court-yards, and are from 30 to 40 feet front 
