it, and rode out to the chapel, twelve miles from Mexico. I can form no accurate estimate of the immense concourse which was assembled. If I were to say fifty thousand, I might be under the mark; if I were to say a hundred thousand, I might not be over it.

Besides those who had come as a religious duty, thousands had gone there for the amusements, games, and mummeries which are practised on such occasions; and the diseased from all quarters came there to be cured. As I entered the church I saw a poor Indian woman kneeling before a priest, a white man, with a sick child in her arms. She kissed the hand of the priest, and then handed him two or three coppers, which were worth more than every article of clothing which she had on, and perhaps more than everything else which she possessed in the world. When I caught the eye of the priest, I will not say that he winked at me, but there was a certain sinister leer, the meaning of which could not have been mistaken, and which I interpreted as saying to me, "You, and I understand these things." I thought of Dives and Lazarus, and I do not doubt that in another world the resemblance will continue. I thought, too, of the simple, unostentatious, and sincere worship in my own country-a worship of spirit and of truth—and I could not help asking myself, Is it indeed the same God which we worship, the same religion which we profess? I wished to see the doll, and was at first told that it could not be seen, but when Mr. Black, the American consul, who accompanied me, announced that I was the minister of the United States, a servant was sent to show it to me; for the title el ministro, the minister, or other high station, is an 99 open sesame to everything in Mexico. A deference is paid to station to which we are, and I hope will long remain, unaccustomed. I was carried to a handsome altar,

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where the image stands, but found, to my regret, that the original was not there. It had been carried to Mexico when the Senora Santa Anna was sick, and had not been returned. There was, however, a small wax doll in its place, as its deputy, decked off with diamonds and other jewels not of any great value. I went shortly afterwards to the cathedral, in Mexico, to see the original, which was, as I have described it, a small mutilated alabaster doll; and having the weather-beaten appearance which a service in two or three campaigns in the conquest of Mexico had caused. Various are the stories of the attempts to repair the injured nose and supply the lost eye, all of which have ended in the death of the daring sinner who would attempt to improve an image made in heaven.

It was this miserable doll which I saw carried in that magnificent procession of which I have spoken, in which were all the high dignitaries of the government, the church, and the army; and following immediately the Host itself, which Catholics believe to be Christ in the flesh.

I would remark here a fact which surprised me very much. All know that the doctrine of the real presence in the eucharist is a cardinal point in the Catholic creed, the sanguinary conflicts which this dogma has given rise to, and the controversies arising out of two Greek words, the only difference between which is a single letter-yet I never asked the question of a Catholic in Mexico, and I did so of more than fifty of all classes, from foreign ministers to coachmen and servants, who believed it any more than I did. Whenever I asked the question, "Do you really believe that the bread and wine used in the sacrament are the flesh and blood of Christ ?" the reply in almost every instance was the same as that made to me by more than one member of the diplomatic corps who were Catholics and

educated gentlemen. "What, Sir, do you think that I am a fool no, I believe no such thing. I believe it is a type, an emblem, but nothing more." I replied, "Then you are no Catholic; ask your priest, and he will tell you so." They answered, “Very well, we have never before heard of it, but if the priests say so we have no doubt that it is true, for their lives are dedicated to these studies and they know more about it than we do."

Can free institutions exist in a country where such a state of things exist. Are men either capable of breaking the shackles of despotism, or maintaining free institutions, who delegate to others the privilege and authority of thinking for them on matters involving their eternal welfare?

There was an Irish priest who lived many years in Mexico, and now, I believe, lives in Texas-Padre Maldoun. He abandoned the Catholic church, and gave as his reason, that on one occasion a portion of the bread which was used in the sacrament was left, and that the rats ate it, which they would not of course have done if it had really been the flesh of God incarnate.

Many are the stories, however, which the Catholics relate of fowls and hungry dogs refusing to touch bread which had been thus consecrated.

I reserve for another chapter the other great superstition peculiarly Mexican, which is in no degree less absurd and ridiculous than that of our Lady of Remedies.

CHAPTER XI.

Religious Drama-" Mystery" of the Nativity-The Virgin of GuadaloupeSincerity of Mexican Churchmen exhibited in a Scene of PenanceMorality of the Clergy.

AMONGST the dramatic representations in Mexico, mysteries or religious dramas are very common on occasions of certain festivals-some of them of a character not a little shocking to the eyes and ears of a Protestant. Not an unusual piece on Christmas-Eve is the representation of the Nativity. Joseph appears on a mule with Mary behind him, seeking for lodgings all over the city of Bethlehem, and at last they enter the stable-where the accouchement takes place not in the sight but in the hearing of the audience, with all those circumstances equally revolting to decency and a just respect for holy things. I have seen a similar representation of the story of the virgin of Guadaloupe, and have now a copy of the drama; it was at the theatre " de los gallos," "Theatre of the chicken cocks," a very large edifice formerly used as a cock-pit but now converted into a theatre. The story is this:

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In the year 1531, the Spaniards thinking that the Indians were not converted fast enough to nuestra santa fé (our holy faith) as they always called it, set on foot the following contrivance :-An Indian Juan Diego (John James) was going to Mexico early in the morning, and as he was passing over the mountain three miles from the city, he saw a female descending from the clouds. He was terribly

frightened of course, but the figure, which turned out to be the Virgin Mother, told him not to be alarmed, that she was the Virgin Mary ; that she had determined to become the patron saint of the Mexican Indians, and to take them under her especial protection; and that he must go to the city and tell the bishop that she wished to have a church built at the foot of the mountain, and dedicated to her as the patroness of the Mexicans. The poor Indian flew to the city, and when admitted into the presence of the bishop delivered the message. The bishop was incredulous and drove him off. The next day he met the Virgin by appointment at the same place, and told her that the bishop would not believe him. "Very well," said she, "do you meet me here to-morrow at the same hour, and I will give you a proof which the bishop will not doubt." Punctual to his appointment Juan Diego went the next day and had another interview with the Virgin. She told him to go up to the top of the mountain and he would find the ground covered with roses, to fill his apron with them and carry them to the bishop. The Indian found the roses, and as none had ever grown there, they were, of course, placed there by a miracle; he filled his apron and went again to the bishop, confident in the miraculous evidence of the truth of his statements which he carried with him. When he opened his apron to exhibit the roses he found to his utter consternation that there had been painted upon it by another miracle a portrait of the Virgin, dressed not like the poor carpenter's wife, but in a gorgeous cloak of blue velvet with stars of gold all over it. The bishop could not, of course, resist such evidence as that. The church was ordered to be built, the Indians all contributed whatever they had, and came into the fold by thousands. The Mexicans were not like other people whose patron saints were mere common