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Show JO BOOK VIII. ~ H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. crown of Mexico, and lord of feveral places. Her mother having been left a widow, married another noble, by whom !he had a fon. The love which they bore to this fruit of their marriage, ind Iced them to pretend the death of their firfi-born. child, tlnt ~he inheritan:e might f:.lll wholly to the lafi. To make 1t appear cred1blc, they deltvercd her up privately to fome merchants of Xicallanco, a city fituatcd upon the borders of Tabafco, at a time when the daughter of on~ of their flaves had died, for whofe death they made as much mourmng as if it had been the death of their own. Thcfe merchants gave her away, or fold her to their neighbours of Tabafco, who, lafily, prefentcd her ·to Cortes, nnfufpicious that that fingul ar flave {houhi contribute by her fpeech to the conqne!l: of all that land. Bcfides the native language of her own country, fhc underfiood the M~u1 language which was fpoke in Yucatan and in Tabafco, and in a little time !he learnt the Spanifl1. Infl:ruCted readily in the tenets of the Chrifiian religion, !he was folemnly baptifed with other flaves by the name of Marina (f). She wa~ always faithful to the Spaniards, and her fervices to them can never be over-rated; as !he was not only the in!l:rument of their negociations with the Mexicans, the Tlafcalans, and the other nations of Anahuac, but frequently f:wed their lives, by warning them of dangers, and pointing out the means of efcaping them. She accompanied Cortes in all his expeditions, [erving fometimes as aa interpreter, fometimes as a counfellor, and fometimes to her misfortune as a mifuefs. The fon which !he had by that conqueror, who was. called Don Martin Cortes, knight of the militar) order of St. Jago, on account of fame ill-grounded fufpicions of rebclLon, was put to the torture in Mexico, in the year I s68; his iniquitous and barbarous judges paying no regard to the meipory of the unequalled fervices rendered by the parents of that i1lufl:rious fufFerer to the Catholic king an<! all the Spaniili. nation (g). After the conque!l: {he was from Marina hcrfel'f. A tradition. alfo, which is !\ill prcfcrvcd' in Co:\tzacunlco, conforms to what we have fniJ. (/) The Mexicans nd~pt the name M:w·inu to their language, ami fay Mnlin tzi11, \~then e came the nnme Mnlim·bi, by which fhe is known ;~mong the Spani.mls of ~Vlexi c o. . (g) Thofc who g:~vc the torture to Dcm Mnrtin Cortes, and' put the m11 rquis of the Va le, h•.s broth~r, in prif'on, were two formi ~l~ble jud ~e s fcnt to Mexico by P,hilip li. 'J' h~; chief of, thofe JUdges callcJ Mug11oz, IMde iuch barbarous clccifiona, that the· king being moved by a ilic H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. was married to a refpeCl:ablc Sf aniard, named Juan de Xaramillo. Dur- BOOK vm. i11g the long and haz.1rdou.s voyage which fl1c made in company with .. - • Cortes to the province of Honduras, in I 524, i11e had occalion in paf!ing through her native country to fee her m.other. and her brother, who prefented themfelves before her, bathed in tears and covered with <:onfufion, as they dreaded 'that from her bcii1g in power and profper-ity, under the protection of the Spaniards, f11e would revenge the wrongs which had been done to ha in her infancy; but il1e received and ca-rdfe~. l them with great affi Cl:ion, fro:n the naturally generous difpofi-tion of her temper, which equall'ed the other excellent talents {he pof-fdfcd. We have thought proper not to omit thofe incidents of a wo-man who was the fir!l: Chrifl:ian of the Mexican empire, who makes fo difiingni£hed a figure in the hifl:ory of the conqueil:, and whofe name has been and is !l:ill fo celebrated, not lefs among the Mexicans than the Spaniards. Cortes having made himfc lf fecure of the tranquillity of Tabu[co, and perceiving that it was not the country to yield gold, refolved to profccutc his voyage and fcck for a region more rich than it ; but as the fc!l:ival of the palms drew near, he was deiirous of giving the natives of Tablfco [orne idea of the folemnity of the Chri!l:ian religion. That day mafs was celebrated with all the poffible forms of £1cred duty; the branches were blefied, and a folemn proceffion, with martial muiic, was made, at all which the Indians wc.:re prefent, and liftened with aftonilhment and awe. 'This funt"tion being performed, and leave taken of the lords of Ta .. bafco, the armament put to fea, and !l:eering to the weil:ward, af~er co~liling along the province of Coatzacualco, and crolling the moqth of the river Papaloapan, it entered the port of St. Juan de Ulua, on l Ioly Tl1Ltrfday, the 21ft of April. They had hardly call: anchor, when they f1W from the a1ore of Chalchiuhcuecan two large canoes rowing towards their admiral, in which were many Mexicans fent by the governor of that coafl:, to know who they were who had arrived in that new armament, and what they wanted, and to offer them all • the complaints of the Mexicans agnin!l him, recalled him to the court, and gnYe him fo fe\'CI'e and fo harfh n rcprim 1nd, lh:t,t he grew mcl:1ncholy and died, c 2 the , |