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Show ,, HISTO·RY o·p ME X I'C 0. 74 BOOK JX. there; but nothing £huck tl1eir minis with more o.n:azemcnt th~n. the ~· -·--' lar •re fquare of the market. There was not. a pamar.d who d1d· 110t cKt~l it with fingular praifes, and fornc of rhcn~, who had. travelled. through almoft all Europe, declared, as Bc~nal D~:1z report:-·, that t~e~ hnd never fcen in any place of the world, c1ther (o ~great a numhet .ot merchants,. or fuch variety of merchandize fo well ordered and dJf- SteT. IV. F. fl't£1:s () f Cortes 'a rdigwUII zeal. pofl:d. When the Spaniards mounted the· greater tetnple, they. f.iound the k·ing there. wh had anticipated their. arrival,. in order to preycut, . by his prefence, any attempt of violence againft his ?ods. ' After. hav~ng obfc:rvcd the city from tht\t great height, at the mftance. of the kmg· himfdf, Cortes demanded permiffion to fee the f\:\in·Cbuarjcs which the king granted to him after confulting the priefts. The Spaniar?s entered there, and contemplated, not without compaffion, and liorror, the blindnefs of thofe people, and the horrid £laughter which fttperftition · committed at their G1crifices. Cortes then turning to the king,, faid, " I wonrler, prince, that a monarch·, fo wife as you are~ can adore · thofe abominable ngures of the devil as gods:· " If ~had known," anfwered the king, " that you v.rould have fpoken difrefpetl:fully of our: " gods,. I ihould not h:we yielded to: your requeft .. " Cortes, feeing: him {o much incenfed, begged his excufe, and took leave to withdraw to hist quarters. u Go in peace'," (aid the king; "for l will ·fray here: " to appeafe the anger of our gods, which you have provoked by your. " blafphemy ... Notwithftanding this circumfta.nce of difgufr, Cortes not only obtained p::rmiffion from the king to bllild within the enolofure of hiSJ quarters a chapel in honour of his god, but alfo the workmen .and ma-· terials for the building, in which they ce1ebt•ated mafs, although without wine, and the foldiers daily affembled there to. perform their dcvo-' dons. He fixed alfo, in the principal court, a. great.crofs, that . th~ Mexicans might fee the high veneration in which·they held! th~t fym- · bol of their religion. He w-as moreover· defirous of confecrating the1 very fanCtuary of Huitzilopochtli to· the wodhip of his god, hut at~ that time he w:rs ref\: rained by refpcfr· for the killg atld the p'riefh; but he accomplilhed this purpofe fome month& after,. . having acquired.a) greate~ ' H £' S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. greater authority by the imprifonment of the king, and othct· a&ioos nGt more prudent or lefs ralh, as will prefendy appear. He broke the idols which were wodhippcd there, made tb~m de.an nnd adorn the 1~metuary, placed a crucifix and an image of th·e mothcr~f God in it, and placing himfelf upon his knees before thofe .facrod images~ he thanked the Almighty for having granted kave to adore hitn ih. that place, fo long ddl:ined to cruel and detefl:able idolatry. His f)io us zeal made him frequently repeat to Montezuma his arguments for the tmth of his religion; but although Montezuma was not dif~ pofed to embrace it, moved however by his iuggeil:ions, he com-. manded that from that time forward no human via,ims fhould be .C.tcrificed ; and although he did not agree with the Spanifh general in renouncing idolatry, he continued to carefs him, and no day patTed without his making fome prefent to, and /hewing new civilities to the Spaniards. The order which the king gave refpeeting the f.1crinces were not firiCl:ly obferved, and that great harmony, which had hitherto · fubfifted was difturbed by the daring attempts of the Spanilh general. ' 7S 800KtK. ~ Six days were hardly elapfed after. the entry of the Spaniards into M~xico, when Cortes, finding himfelf, as it were, infulated in the centre of an immenfe rpyriad of people, and confidering how danger .. ous their fituatio{l would become, if the mind of the king ihould ever ch,ange, which event might happen, was perfuaded there was no other conduct to be followed for their fecurity than to ma~e himfelf mafier of the. pe~fon of the king; ?ut fuch a meafure being extremely repugnant ~o JU{hce and reafon, wh1ch demanded from him both ref peel: to the maJefty of that monarch, and gratitude for his great beneficence, he fought for pretences to quiet his confcience, and to fhieJd his honour; for which purpofe he found none fo fitting as th• revolutions at Vera Gruz, the intelligence of which he had kept fecret in his breaft till this time, but being willing now to avail himfelf of it, he revealed it to his officers that they might take into their ferious confideration what would b~ moft proper and effectual to deliver themfelves from fitch immihent danger; and, in order to juftify his attempt, and excite the Spaniards Siler. V, I mprifiln· mcnt of kin~ 1\!ontc~um ... to execute it, he made forne principal perfons of the allies be called ( whofe information ought always to be fu'fpicious, on account of their bitter enmity to the Mexicans), and demanded of them if they had ob .. L 2 ' ferved |