CHAPTER CCIV.

plain, excepting on particular occasions, when, indeed, no expense was spared. He was always affable to us officers and his companions in arms, particularly to those who joined him in the first instance at Cuba. He was a good Latin scholar, and whenever he was in conversation with men of learning he always spoke that language; indeed, I have heard say, he was a bachelor of laws. He was also fond of poetry, and composed several pretty pieces himself, and wrote good prose. His manner of speaking was calm and his sentences were well chosen, and his manner of arguing was remarkably convincing. When he rose in the morning he prayed from his breviary, and he attended mass every day with fervent devotion. For his tutelar saint he had chosen the blessed Virgin Mary, whom, indeed, every faithful Christian ought to look up to as his protectress and holy guardian. He also held in particular veneration St. Peter, St. Jacob, and St. John the Baptist, and was liberal in bestowing alms. His oath was, Upon my conscience! And whenever he was annoyed with any of us soldiers who were upon more intimate terms with him, he used to say, May the plague take you! When he was in a passion, a vein in his forehead and neck distended considerably; and when excessively annoyed with any one, he flung down his cloak: yet he never made use of any low or unbecoming expression to his officers or soldiers. He bore everything with great patience, and though sometimes the soldiers were very inconsiderate in their behaviour, yet Cortes never forgot himself in wrathful expressions towards them, and all he said was, Hold your tongue! or, In the name of God, be gone, and for the future be more guarded in your language, for you might have to pay dearly in repeating such conduct. If he had once made up his mind to anything, he was not to be dissuaded from it, particularly in matters relating to war; and we might argue with him as we liked on the inconsiderateness of any command he might issue, it was all to no purpose,—we were obliged to act up to it, whatever the cost might be. This was frequently the case on our expeditions to the large townships which lay on the lake of Mexico, and in our attacks upon those mountains which are now known by the