important public works, among which were the national roads and the magnificent palace of Chapultepec, the favorite retreat of his father. This splendid architectural combination of fortress and palace, was a costly luxury to the Spanish government, for the documents of the period declare that, up to the month of January, 1787, one hundred and twenty-three thousand and seventy-seven dollars had been expended in its construction. Nor was the ministry well pleased with so lavish an outlay upon this royal domain. Placed on a solitary hill, at a short distance from the capital, and built evidently for the double purpose of defence and dwelling, it created a fear, in the minds of some sensitive persons, that its design might not be altogether so peaceful as was pretended. An ambitious viceroy, surrounded by troops whose attachment and firmness could be relied on, might easily convert the palace into a citadel; and it was noted that Galvez, had upon various occasions played the demagogue among the military men who surrounded him in the capital. All these fears were, however, idle. If the count, in reality, entertained any ambitious projects, or desired to put himself at the head of an American kingdom independent of Spain, these hopes were soon and sadly blighted by his early death. He expired on the 30th of November, 1786, in the archiepiscopal palace of Tacubaya.
His funeral ceremonies were conducted by the archbishop, and his honored remains interred in the church of San Fernando. At the period of the viceroy's decease his wife was pregnant; and it is stated, in the chronicles of the day,—and we mention it as a singular illustration of Spanish habits,—that the daughter, of which she was delivered in the following month of December, received the names of, Maria de Guadalupe Bernarda Isabel Felipa de Jesus Juana Nepomucena Felicitas, to which was joined at the period of the lady's confirmation, the additional one of Fernanda! The Ayuntamiento of Mexico, in order to show its appreciation of the viceroy's memory, offered to become god-father of the