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Show .. uS BO"OK V. '--Y--J S!CT. XIT. Memorable event of a Me'xican princefa, . H I S T 0 R y 0 F M E X I C 0. them{elves as an orac Ie . He knowing' without doubt, wh. a. t had hf. ap- Pemed between the two kings, inftead of retur~ing a proplttous .an wer to h1.1 1 Jr.O vere•J gn, ,..._... ,.at }eaft one which was eqmvocal, af s 1fu chT ptognof- ·t1·c ators genen1 11 Y d o, confirmed the fatal prophe.c y o t 1eh e:tcdu cahn. . Montezuma was 1r 0 enr.·.·· ged at the •a nfwer ' that m .r eturn e. ma e . ts houfc be pulled to pieces, leaving the unhappy divmer buned amtdft the ruihs of his fantl:uary · . . Thefe and other fimilar prefages of the fall of that emptre. appeat r_e-prefented in the paintings of the Americans, and are related 111 the l~tf· tories of the Spaniards. We are far from thinking. that all th.at w htch hos been wrote on this fubjetl: is deferving of credtt; but t~etther can we doubt of the tradition which prevailed ~mo.ng th.e Amencans, that a new people totally different from the nattve tnhabttants, were to ar- . e at that kingdom and make themfelves mafters of that country. nv . 1 il Thet·e has not been in the country of Anahuac any natton mot·e or e s polifhed which has not confirmed this tradition either by verbal tef-timony or their own hiftories. . . . . . It is impofliblc:: to guefs at the ongm of a tra~ttlo~ fo umverfal as this ; but the event which I am going to relate, IS fatd to have been public, and to have made a confidemble noife ;. to have. ?appene~ alfo in the prefence of the two kings and the Mext~an nobthty. It IS reprefented in fame of the paintings of thofe n~t10ns, and a leg~l atteftation of it even was fent t_o the court of Madnd (h). Though m compliance with the duty of a hiftorian, we give a place to many of the memorable traditions of thofe nations; on thefe, however, we leave our readers to form their own judgm~nt and comments. Papantzin, a Mexican princefs, and fi!l:er of .l\4ontezuma, was mar-ried to the governor of Tlatelolco, and after his death lived in his palace until the year 1509, when the likewife died of old age. Her funeral was celebrated with magnificence fuitable to her exalted birth, the king her brother, and all the nobility of Mexico and Tlatelolco being prefent. Her body was buried in a fubterraneous cavern, in the · garden of the fame palace, near to a fountain where lhe had ufed to bathe, and the mouth of the cave was !hut with a ftone. The day following, a child of five or fix years of age happened to pafs from her mother's apartment to that of the major-domo of the deceafed prince[§, which (b) See Torquemada, lib, il. cap. 9 r, and Bcrencourt, Part iii. Trat, i. cap.S. was H I 5 T 0 R Y Q F . M E X I C 0. was on the other fide of the garden; and in paffing faw the princefs ·fitting upon the ftcps of the fountain, and heard herfelf called by her by the word Cocoton (z'), which is a word of tendernefs ufed to children. The little · child ~ot being capable, on account of its age, of reflecting on' the death of the princefs, and thinking that fl1e was going to bath"' as ufual, approached without fear, upon which lhe fent the child to call the wife of her major-domo; the child went to call her, but the woman '{miling and careffing her, told her, " My little girl, Papantzin is dead, ·" and was buried yefterday ;" but as the child infifted, and pulled he1· by her gown, fi1e, more to ple:lfe, than from belief of what was told her, followed her ; but was hardly come in fight of the princefs, when lhe was feized with fuch horror that !he fell fainting to the earth. The little 'girl ran to acquaint her mother, who, with two other companions . came out to give affiftance ; but on feeing the princefs they were fo affected with fear, that they would have fwooned away if the princefs ner{elf had not endeavoured to comfort them, affuring them lhe was fiill alive. She made them call her major-domo, and charged him to go and bear the news to the king her brother; but he durft not undertake it, as he dreaded that the- king would confider the account as a fable, and would punilh him with his ufual feverity for being a liar, without examining into the ma:tter. Go then to Tezcuco, faid the pdncefs, and in treat the king Nezahualpilli, in my name, to come here and fee me. The major-domo obeyed, and the king having received the information, fet out immediately for Tlatelolco. When he arrived , there, the princefs was in a cham her of the palace ; though full of a!l:oni! hment, the king faluted her, when lhe requefted him to go to Mexico, to tell the king her brother that lhe was alive, and had occafion to fee him, to communicate fame things to him of the utmoft importance. The king fet out for Mexico to execute her commiflion; but Montezuma would hardly give credit to what was told him. However, that he might not do injuftice to fo refpetl:able an ambaffador, he went along with him, and many of the Mexican nobility to Tlatelolco, and having entered the hall where the prince(s was, he demanded of her if fl1e was his fifter. " I am, indeed, fir," anfwered the princefs, tc your iifier Papantzin, whom you buried yefierday; I am truly alive, ( i) CocototJ means little girl, only that it is an ex pre/lion of more tendcrn~fs, A ~'and 22'} BOOK V, ~ ' |