Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.—Hidalguía, besides its legal privileges, brought with it some fanciful ones to its possessor; if, indeed, it be considered a privilege to have excluded him from many a humble, but honest, calling, by which the poor man might have gained his bread. (For an amusing account of these, see Doblado’s Letters from Spain, let. 2.) In no country has the poor gentleman afforded so rich a theme for the satirist, as the writings of Le Sage, Cervantes, and Lope de Vega abundantly show.

“Y los Capitanes de Tascaltecal con toda su gente, muy lúcida, y bien armada, ... y segun la cuenta, que los Capitanes nos diéron, pasaban de cinquenta mil Hombres de Guerra.” (Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 236.) “I toda la Gente,” adds Herrera, “tardó tres Dias en entrar, segun en sus Memoriales dice Alonso de Ojeda, ni con ser Tezcuco tan gran Ciudad, cabian en ella.” Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 13.