ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS.
No. I. — See Yol. I., p. 151.
ADVICE OF AN AZTEC MOTHER TO HER DAUGHTER; TRANSLATED FROMSAHAGUN ’S " HISTORIA DE NUEVA ESPAÑA,” LIB. VI., CAP. XIX
[I have thought it best to have this translation made in themost literal manner, that the reader may have a correctidea of the strange mixture of simplicity, approaching tochildishness, and moral sublimity, which exist together inthe original. It is the product of the twilight of civilization.]
My beloved daughter, very dear little dove, you have alreadyheard and attended to the words which your father has told you.They are precious words, and such as are rarely spoken or listenedto, and which have proceeded from the bowels and heart, in whichthey were treasured up ; and your beloved father well knows that youare his daughter, begotten of him, are his blood, and his flesh; andGod our Lord knows that it is so. Although you are a woman, andare the image of your father, what more can I say to you than has al-ready been said ? What more can you hear than what you have heardfrom your lord and father Í who has fully told you what it is becomingfor you to do and to avoid, nor is there any thing remaining, whichconcerns you, that he has not touched upon. Nevertheless, that Imay do towards you my whole duty, I will say to you some few words.— The first thing that I earnestly charge upon you is, that you observeand do not forget what your father has now told you, since it is all veryprecious; and persons of his condition rarely publish such things; for