No. XVI.]

ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS.

479

3st honor to the ashes of Hernando Cortés. The place of intermentwas the church of St. Francis in Mexico . The procession set forthfrom the palace of the Marquess of the Valley. In the advance werecarried the banners of the various associations ; then followed the dif-ferent orders of the religious fraternities, all the tribunals of Mexico ,and the members of the Audience. Next came the Archbishop andthe Chapter of the cathedral. Then was borne along the corpse ofthe Marquess Don Pedro Cortés in an open coffin, succeeded by theremains of Don Hernando Cortés, in a coffin covered with black velvet.A banner of pure white, with a crucifix, an image of the Virgin andof St. John the Evangelist, embroidered in gold, was carried on oneside. On the other were the armorial bearings of the King of Spain ,also worked in gold. This standard was on the right hand of thebody. On the left hand was carried another banner, of black velvet,with the arms of the Marquess of the Valley embroidered upon it ingold. - The standard-bearers were armed. Next came the teachers ofdivinity, the mourners, and a horse with sable trappings, the wholeprocession being conducted with the greatest order. The members ofthe University followed. Behind them came the Viceroy with a largeescort of cavaliers ; then four armed captains with their plumes, andwith pikes on their shoulders. These were succeeded by four com-panies of soldiers with their arquebuses, and some with lances. Be-hind them banners were trailed upon ihe ground, and muffled drumswere struck at intervals. The coffin enclosing the remains of theConqueror was borne by the Royal Judges, while the knights of theorder of Santiago supported the body of the Marquess Don Pedro Cor-tés. The crowd was immense, and there were six stations where thecoffins were exposed to view, and at each of these the responses werechanted by the members of the religious fraternities.

The bones of Cortés were secretly removed from the church of St.Francis, with the permission of his Excellency the Archbishop, on the2nd of July, 1794, at 8 o’clock in the evening, in the carriage of theGovernor, the Marques de Sierra Nevada, and were placed in a vault,made for this purpose, in the church of Jesus of Nazareth. The boneswere deposited in a wooden coffin inclosed in one of lead, being thesame in which they came from Castilleja de la Cuesta , near Seville .This was placed in another of crystal, with its crossbars and plates ofsilver; and the remains were shrouded in a winding-sheet of cambric,embroidered with gold, with a fringe of black lace four inches deep.