After supper we proceeded upstairs to the choir (where the nuns attend
public worship, and which looks down upon the handsome convent church) to
try the organ. I was set down to a Sonata of Mozart's, the servants blowing
the bellows. It seems to me that I made more noise than music, for the
organ is very old, perhaps as old as the convent, which dates three
centuries back. However, the nuns were pleased, and after they had sung a
hymn, we returned below. I was rather sorry to leave them, and I felt as if
I could have passed some time there very contentedly; but it was near nine
o'clock, and we were obliged to take our departure; so having been embraced
very cordially by the whole community, we left the hospitable walls of the
Encarnación.
28th.--Last evening we were sitting at home very quietly about ten o'clock,
C---n, Monsieur de -----, of the ----- Legation, and I, when A---- rushed
into the room all dishevelled. "Come quickly, sir! Robbers are breaking
open the kitchen-door!" A succession of feminine shrieks in the distance,
added effect to her words. C---n jumped up, ran for his pistols, gave one
to Monsieur de -----, called up the soldiers, but no robbers appeared. The
kitchen-door was indeed open, and the trembling galopina attested, that
being in the kitchen alone, dimly lighted by one small lamp, three men, all
armed, had entered, and had rushed out again on hearing her give the alarm.
We somewhat doubted her assertions, but the next morning found that the men
had in fact escaped by the Azotea, a great assistance to all Mexican
depredators. At the end of this row of houses the people ran out and fired
upon them, but without effect. The house of the old Countess of S---- F----
had been broken into, her porter wounded, report says killed, and her plate
carried off. In the mean time our soldiers watch in the kitchen, a pair of
loaded pistols adorn the table, a double-barrelled gun stands in the
corner, and a bull-dog growls in the gallery. This little passing visit to
us was probably caused by the arrival of some large boxes from London,
especially of a very fine harp and piano, both _Erard's_, which I had the
pleasure of seeing unpacked this morning, and which, in spite of jolting
and bad roads, have arrived in perfect condition....
Thus far I had written, it being now the evening, and I sitting alone, when
a succession of shrieks arose, even more awful than those which alarmed us
last night. At the same time the old _galopina,_ her daughter, and a French
girl who lives here, rushed shouting along the gallery; not a word they
said comprehensible, but something concerning "a robber in black, with men
at his back, who had burst open the door." At the noise the whole household
had assembled. One ran this way, one ran that. A little French
_teinturier,_ who it appeared had been paying the maids a polite visit,
seized the loaded gun; the footman took a pistol and hid himself behind the
porter; A----, like a second Joan of Arc, appeared, with a rusty sabre; the
soldiers rushed up with their bayonets; the coachman stood aloof with
nothing; the porter led up the rear, holding a large dog by the collar; but
no robber appears; and the girls are all sobbing and crying because we
doubt their having seen one. Galopina the younger shedding tears in
torrents, swears to the man. Galopina the elder, enveloped in her reboso,
swears to any number of men; and the _recamerera_ has cried herself into a
fit between fear and indignation.
Such is the agreeable state of things about nine o'clock this evening, for
one real attempt to enter the house, invariably gives rise to a thousand
imaginary attacks and fanciful alarms....
After many attempts at walking, I have very nearly abandoned it, but take a
great deal of exercise both on horseback and in the carriage; which last,
on account of the ill-paved condition of the streets, affords rather more
exercise than the former. I drove out this morning in an open carriage with
the Señorita E---- to her country-house at San Agustin, the gambling
emporium. But the famous annual fête does not take place till Whitsunday,
and the pretty country villas there are at present abandoned. We walked in
the garden till the sun became insupportable. The fragrance of the roses
and jasmine was almost overpowering. There are trees of millefleur roses;
heliotrope and honeysuckle cover every pillar, and yellow jasmine trails
over everything....
Found on my return an anonymous letter, begging me to "beware of my cook!"
and signed _Fernandez_. Having shown it to some gentlemen who dined here,
one thought it might be a plan of the robbers to get rid of the cook, whom
they considered in their way; another, with more probability, that it was
merely a plan of the attentive Señor Fernandez to get the cook's place for
himself.
We went lately to pay a visit to the celebrated Virgen de los Remedies, the
_Gachupina_, the Spanish patroness, and rival of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
This Virgin was brought over by Cortes, and when he displaced the Indian
idols in the great Temple of Mexico, caused them to be broken in pieces,
and the sanctuary to be purified, he solemnly placed there a crucifix and
this image of the Virgin; then kneeling before it, gave solemn thanks to
Heaven, which had permitted him thus to adore the Most High in a place so
long profaned by the most cruel idolatries.
It is said that this image was brought to Mexico by a soldier of Cortes's
army called Villafuerte, and that the day succeeding the terrible _Noche
Triste_, it was concealed by him in the place where it was afterwards
discovered. At all events, the image disappeared, and nothing further was
known of it until, on the top of a barren and treeless mountain, in the
heart of a large maguey, she was found by a fortunate Indian. Her
restoration was joyfully hailed by the Spaniards. A church was erected on
the spot. A priest was appointed to take charge of the miraculous image.
Her fame spread abroad. Gifts of immense value were brought to her shrine.
A treasurer was appointed to take care of her jewels; a camarista to
superintend her rich wardrobe. No rich dowager died in peace until she had
bequeathed to Our Lady of Los Remedios her largest diamond, or her richest
pearl. In seasons of drought she is brought in from her dwelling in the
mountain, and carried in procession through the streets. The viceroy
himself on foot used to lead the holy train. One of the highest rank drives
the chariot in which she is seated. In succession she visits the principal
convents, and as she is carried through the cloistered precincts, the nuns
are ranged on their knees in humble adoration. Plentiful rains immediately
follow her arrival. -----, who accompanied us, has on several occasions
filled the office of her coachman, by which means he has seen the interior
of most of the convents in Mexico. It is true that there came a time when
the famous curate Hidalgo, the prime mover of the Revolution, having taken
as his standard an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, a rivalry arose
between her and the Spanish Virgin; and Hidalgo having been defeated and
forced to fly, the image of the Virgen de los Remedios was conducted to
Mexico dressed as a general, and invoked as the patroness of Spain. Later
still, the Virgin herself was denounced as a Gachupina! her general's sash
boldly torn from her by the valiant General -----, who also signed her
passport, with an order for her to leave the republic. However, she was
again restored to her honours, and still retains her treasurers, her
camarista, and sanctum sanctorum.
Being desirous of seeing this celebrated image, we set off one fine
afternoon in a carriage of -----'s, drawn by six unbroken horses,
accompanied by him and his lady, and performed four leagues of bad road in
an incredibly short space of time. The horses themselves were in an evident
state of astonishment, for after kicking and plunging, and, as they
imagined, running away, they found themselves driven much faster than they
had the slightest intention of going: so after a little while they
acknowledged, in -----'s capital coachman, _une main de maître_.
The mountain is barren and lonely, but the view from its summit is
beautiful, commanding the whole plain. The church is old and not very
remarkable, yet a picturesque object, as it stands in its gay solitariness,
with one or two trees beside it, of which one without leaves was entirely
covered with the most brilliant scarlet flowers. Señor ----- having been the
Virgin's coachman, the Señora ----- being the daughter of her camarista,
and C---n the Minister from the land of her predilection, we were not
astonished at the distinguished reception which we met with from the
reverend padre, the guardian of the mountain. The church within is
handsome; and above the altar is a copy of the original Virgin. After we
had remained there a little while, we were admitted into the Sanctum, where
the identical Virgin of Cortes, with a large silver maguey, occupies her
splendid shrine. The priest retired and put on his robes, and then
returning, and all kneeling before the altar, he recited the _credo_. This
over, he mounted the steps, and opening the shrine where the Virgin was
encased, knelt down and removed her in his arms. He then presented her to
each of us in succession, every one kissing the hem of her satin robe. She
was afterwards replaced with the same ceremony.
The image is a wooden doll about a foot high, holding in its arms an infant
Jesús, both faces evidently carved with a rude penknife; two holes for the
eyes and another for the mouth. This doll was dressed in blue satin and
pearls with a crown upon her head and a quantity of hair fastened on to the
crown. No Indian idol could be much uglier. As she has been a good deal
scratched and destroyed in the lapse of ages, C---n observed that he was
astonished they had not tried to restore her a little. To this the padre
replied, that the attempt had been made by several artists, each one of
whom had sickened and died. He also mentioned as one of her miracles, that
living on a solitary mountain she had never been robbed; but I fear the
good padre is somewhat _oblivious_, as this sacrilege has happened more
than once. On one occasion a crowd of léperos being collected, and the
image carried round to be kissed, one of them, affecting intense devotion,
bit off the large pearl that adorned her dress in front, and before the
theft was discovered, he had mingled with the crowd and escaped. When
reminded of the circumstance, the padre said it was true, but that the
thief was a _Frenchman_. After taking leave of the Virgin, we visited the
padre in his own old house, attached to the church, where his only
attendant, as usual among padres, is an old woman.
We then made our way on foot down a steep hill, stopping to admire some
noble stone arches, the remains of an aqueduct built by the Spaniards for
conveying water from one mountain to the other; and with an Indian for our
guide, visited a newly-discovered, though anciently-opened mine, said to be
of silver, and which had until lately been covered with rubbish. We groped
through it, and found vaults and excavations and a deep pit of water. C---n
got some Indians to break off pieces of stone for him, which were put into
a sack and sent home for examination. We were so tired of our walk down
this steep and mountainous path, that on our return, I mounted a horse with
a man's saddle, belonging to one of the servants, and contrived to keep on,
while it climbed up the perpendicular ascent. As this seemed rather a
selfish proceeding while the others walked, I invited the Señora ----- to
mount also in front; which she did, and the path being almost
perpendicular, my head nearly touched the ground, which certainly made the
seat not over safe or easy. However, we reached the top of the mountain in
safety, though somewhat exhausted with laughing, and were driven home with
the speed of a rail-car.