ing at hardships which were become familiar to them, that they were still fresh and alert for service. He knew that the enemy would give themselves up to repose after their fatigue, and deem themselves perfectly secure at a season so unfit for action. He resolved therefore to surprize them by an unexpected attack in the night. His soldiers, knowing that there was no resourse but in some desperate effort of courage, approved of the measure with such warmth, that Cortes in an oration which he delivered to them was more careful to temper, than to inflame, their ardour..

He divided them into three parties: Sandoval commanded the first; this gallant officer was entrusted with the most dangerous and important service, that of seizing the enemy's artillery, which was planted before the principal towers of the temple, where Narvaez had fixed his head quarters. Christoval de Olid com. manded the second, with orders to assault the tower and lay hold on the general. Cortes himself conducted the last and smallest division, which was to act as a body of reserve, and to support the other two as there should be occasion.

Having passed the river de Canoas, which was so swelled with the rains, that the water reached their chins, they advanced in profound silence, each man armed with his sword, his dagger, and his Chinantlan spear. Narvaez, remiss in proportion to his security, had posted only two centinels to watch the motions of an enemy, whom he had such good cause to dread. One of these was seized by the advance guard of Cortes's troops, the other made his escape, and hurrying to the town, spread the alarm of the enemy's approach, so that there was full time to prepare for their reception. But through the arrogance and infatuation of Narvaez, the important interval was lost. He charged the centinel with cowardice, and treated with derision the idea of being attacked by forces so unequal to his own. The shouts of Cortes's soldiers, however, convinced him at last of his mistake.

The rapidity with which they advanced was such, that they fired but one cannon, before Sandoval's party closed with them, and drove them from their guns, and had begun to force their way up the steps of the tower. Narvaez, as brave in action as presumptuous in conduct, armed himself in haste, and by his voice and example eudeavoured to animate his men to the combat. Olid advanced to sustain his companions; and Cortes himself, rushing to the front, conducted and added new vigour to the attack. The compact order of this small body, and the impenetrable front they presented with their long spears, bore down all opposition.

In

They had now reached the gate, and as they were endeavouring to force it open, a soldier set fire to the reeds with which the tower was covered, and forced Narvaez to sally out. the first encounter he was wounded in the eye, with a spear, and falling to the ground, he was in a moment clapped in fetters.

The shout of victory resounded among the troops of Cortes.

Those who had sallied out with their leader, feebly maintained the conflict, or began to surrender. Terror and confusion prevailed. Their own artillery was pointed against them; wherever they turned their eyes, they beheld with astonishment, lights gleaming through the obscurity of the night; which, although · proceeding from what is now well known by the name of the firefly, which abounds in sultry climates, their affrighted imaginations represented as numerous bands of musketeers, advancing with lighted matches to the attack. After a short resistance, the soldiers compelled their officers to capitulate; and before morning all had laid down their arms, and quietly submitted to their conquerors.

This complete victory was the more acceptable, as it was gained with little bloodshed; only two of the soldiers of Cortes being slain; as were also two officers and fifteen privates of the adverse party. Cortes treated the vanquished as friends: offered to send them immediately back to Cuba, or take them into his service, as partners of his fortune, and on the same terms as his own soldiers. They eagerly embraced the latter proposal, and vied with each other in professions of fidelity and attachment to a general, who had given them such a convincing proof of his abilities for command.

Cortes was now placed at the head of a thousand Spaniards, eager to follow wherever he should lead them. Doubly fortunate was this victory for Cortes, as he received intelligence a few days afterwards, that the Mexicans had destroyed his brigantines, and had fallen upon the small party he had left with Alvarado. Had reduced to ashes their magazine of provisions, and carried on hostilities with such fury, that although the Spaniards defended themselves with uncommon bravery, yet without suc cour they must soon have been cut off by famine, or sink under the multitude of their enemies.

The Mexicans had flattered themselves, that now when their invaders were divided, was the time to deliver themselves from the odious dominion of strangers, and release their sovereign. Alvarado, though a gallant officer, had not that capacity and dignity of manners, by which Cortes had acquired such an ascendancy over the minds of the natives. Instead of employing address to disconcert the plans or soothe the spirits of the Mexi cans, he waited the return of one of their solemn festivals, and when the principal persons of the empire were dancing in the court of the great temple, he seized all the avenues which led to it, and allured partly by the rich ornaments which they wore in honour of their gods, partly by the facility of cutting off at once the authors of a conspiracy which he dreaded, he fell upon them unarmed, and unexpected, and massacred a great number, those only escaping who made their way over the battlements of the temple.

This treacherous and cruel action filled the city and the whole empire, with indignation and rage. All called aloud for venge.

ance; and regardless of the life or safety of their monarch, or of their own danger in assaulting an enemy, who had been so long the object of their terror, they committed all those acts of violence of which Cortes had received an account.

To him the danger appeared so imminent as to admit of no deTay. He set out instantly with all his forces. At Tlascala he was joined by two thousand chosen warriors. On entering the Mexican territories, he found disaffection to the Spaniards was not confined to the capital. The principal inhabitants had deserted the towns through which he passed; no person of note appeared to meet him with the expected respect; no provision made for the subsistence of his troops, as usual; and though he was permitted to advance without opposition, solitude and silence reigned in every place: a deep rooted antipathy had taken place, which excited the most just alarm.

Notwithstanding their enmity was become so implacable, they knew not how to take proper measures for their own safety, or the destruction of their enemies. Instead of breaking down the bridges and causeways, by which they might have enclosed Alvarado and his party, and stopped the career of Cortes, they again suffered him to march quietly; and on the twenty-fourth of June, 1520, he took peaceable possession of his former quarters.

The transports of joy, with which Alvarado received Cortes and his companions, cannot be described; but the general seemed to have forgotten that sagacity and caution, which had hitherto accompanied him. He not only neglected to visit Montezuma, but, added expressions full of contempt for that prince and his people.

The forces of which he had now the command, appeared to him irresistible; so that he began to assunie a higher tone, and lay aside the mask of moderation, under which he had hitherto concealed his designs. Some Mexicans who understood the Spanish language, reported the contemptuous words and conduct of Cortes, to their countrymen, which renewed their rage. They resumed their arms, with additional fury, and attacked a body of Spaniards, as they were marching to the great square, where the public market was held; who were compelled to retire with loss. Delighted to find that their oppressors were not invincible they advanced next day with extraordinary martial pomp, to assault the Spanish quarters.

Their number was formidable, and their courage great. Though the artillery was pointed against them, when they were crowded in narrow streets, and swept off multitudes at every discharge, their impetuosity did not abate. Their broken ranks were continually filled up with fresh men; these were succeeded by others no less intrepid and eager on vengeance.

The abilities and experience of Cortes, seconded by the disciplined valour of his troops, was hardly sufficient to defend the

fortifications, into which the enemy were several times on the point of entering.

Some immediate and extraordinary effort was now requisite to extricate themselves out of their present situation. As soon as the evening induced the Mexicans to retire, in compliance with their custom of ceasing from hostilities with the setting sun, Cortes began to prepare for a sally, with such a force as might either drive the enemy out of the city, or compel them to listen to terms of accommodation.

He conducted in person the troops destined for this important enterprize. Every invention known at that time in the European art of war, as well as every precaution, suggested by his long experience in the Indian mode of fighting, were employed to ensure success. The enemy, he found ready prepared, and determined to oppose him. The force of the Mexicans was greatly encreased by fresh troops which poured in continually from the country. Led by their nobles, inflamed by their priests, and fighting in defence of their families, under the eye, as they judged, of their gods, they made a desperate resistance, and fought with enthusiastic ardour, in contempt of danger and death. Wherever the Spaniards could close with them, the superiority of their arms and discipline, obliged the natives to give way; but, in the narrow streets, and where the bridges of communication were broken down, they could seldom come to a fairencounter, and the Spaniards, as they advanced, were exposed to showers of arrows and stones from the tops of houses.

After a day of incessant exertion, though vast numbers of the Mexicans fell, and part of the city was burned, the Spaniards, weary with the slaughter, were at length disposed to retire, with the mortification of having accomplished nothing so decisive, as to compensate for the loss of twelve soldiers killed, and sixteen wounded: another sally was made w greater force, but with no better success; and in it the general was wounded in the hand. Cortes perceived, when it was too late, his error in treating with contempt, the Mexicans. He became sensible that he could neither maintain his present station in the city, or retire from it without imminent danger. There was, however, one resource left; Montezuma was still in his power.

When the Mexicans approached next morning to renew the assault, that unfortunate prince, was reduced to the sad necessity of becoming the instrument of his own disgrace; he advanced to the battlements in his royal robes, and with all the pomp in which he used to appear on solemn occasions. At the sight of their sovereign, the weapons dropped from their hands, every tongue was silent, all bowed their heads, and many prostrated themselves on the ground. He tried to assuage their rage by every soothing argument. When he had ended his discourse, a sullen murmur ran through the crowd; to this succeeded reproaches and threats; and their fury rising in a moment above every restraint and respect, flights of arrows and vollies of stones, poured

in so violently from the ramparts, that before the Spanish soldiers had time to shield Montezuma with their bucklers, two arrows wounded the unhappy monarch, and a stone which struck him on the temple, brought him to the ground.

On seeing him fall, the Mexicans were so much astonished, that they passed in a moment from one extreme to another; remorse succeeded to insult, and they fled with terror, as if the vengeance of heaven was pursuing them for the crime which they had committed. The Spaniards without molestation carried Montezuma to his apartments; and Cortes hastened thither to console him under his affliction. But the haughty spirit of that unhappy monarch, which seemed to have been long extinct, returning, he seemed to survive this last humiliation, and protract a life of ignominy. In a transport of rage, he tore the bandages from his wounds, and obstinately refused to take any nourishment, that his wretched days might be soon ended: rejecting with disdain all the solicitations of the Spaniards to embrace the christian faith.

The fate of Montezuma, deprived Cortes of all hopes of bringing the Mexicans to any accommodation; and he saw no hopes of safety, but in attempting a retreat; and he began to prepare for it. But a sudden motion of the Mexicans, involved him in fresh difficulties. They took possession of a high tower of the great temple, which overlooked the Spanish quarters, and placing there some of their principal warriors, not a Spaniard Could stir without being exposed to their missile weapons.

From this post it was necessary, at every hazard to dislodge them, and Juan de Escobar, with a numerous detachment of chosen soldiers was ordered to make the attack. But Escobar, though a gallant officer, and at the head of troops accustomed to conone, was thrice repulsed. Cortes sensible that the reputa tion and safety of his army depended upon this assualt, ordered a buckler to be tied to his arm, as he could not manage it with his wounded hand, and rushed with his drawn sword into the thickest of the combatants. Encouraged by the presence of their general, the Spaniards returned to the charge with such vigour, that they gradually forced their way up the steps, and drove the Mexicans to the platform at the top of the tower. There a dreadful carnage began, when two young Mexicans of high rank, observing Cortes as he animated his soldiers by his voice and example, generously resolved to sacrifice their own lives, that they might cut off the author of all their calamities.

They approached him in a suppliant posture, as if they intended to lay down their arms, and seizing him in a moment, hurried him towards the battlements, over which they threw themselves headlong in hopes of dragging him along with them, to be dashed in pieces by the same fall. But Cortes by his strength and agility, disengaged himself from the grasp, and the gallant youths perished in this unsuccessful attempt to save their country. The Spaniards after they became masters of the tower, set fire to it,