peror had now degraded himself to such a degree, in the eyes of his people, by his abject submission to the Spaniards, that he was ashamed to present himself abroad, and preferred to remain the inglorious slave and tool of his base betrayers. But the spirit of the Mexican people was roused. Indignation and the thirst of vengeance took place of the timid and superstitious dread with which they had at first viewed the Spaniards. Montezuma had now become the object of their scorn and contempt, and they determined to make an effort to free their country from its treacherous invaders. Montezuma, in the most abject and pusillanimous manner, had formally yielded up his empire to the king of Spain, and exhorted all his subjects to transfer their obedience to that monarch. This disgraceful act, and a massacre of the people at a solemn festival by the Spaniards, precipitated the catastrophe, and the insurrection of the Mexicans immediately burst forth.

Cortez, who had been called away from the city by the expedition of Narvaez against him, found, on his return to Mexico, on the 24th of June, an unusual ferment among the people. The bridges were raised from the canals, and there were other signs of threatened hostilities. The following day the Mexicans attacked the Spanish quarters and poured upon it a shower of stones and darts, that, as Cortez says, was like a tempest. The streets were thronged with countless multitudes of people, yet the Spaniards sallied out, and a most bloody combat took place, the Mexicans making up by numbers for their inferiority to their enemies in weapons and discipline. On the

26th, the attack was renewed with equal obstinacy and bloodshed, and continued the whole day. On the 27th a still more furious assault took place. The Mexicans scaled the walls on every side, and fought with such desperation that they forced a passage and commenced fighting hand to hand with the Spaniards. The destruction of the invaders now appeared to be inevitable, when Montezuma, whose every act seems to have been dictated by the evil genius of his country, was seized with apprehensions for his own safety, and resolved to show himself to the people, in hopes to restrain their fury. He accordingly dressed himself in his imperial robes, and, with a large train of attendants, appeared on a terrace in sight of the people, his ministers making signals for silence that he might be heard by them. On beholding the emperor, the whole multitude instantly suspended their hostile rage. All were hushed into silence, and some kneeled to the ground in devout reverence. Montezuma then addressed them in the following terms: "Mexicans,-If you have taken up arms to restore me to liberty, I thank you for your love and loyalty: but you mistake in thinking me a prisoner. I am at liberty to go wherever I choose. If you have taken up arms to expel the strangers, I assure you they will depart as soon as you lay them down. Quiet your fears, and obey my commands, as you dread the vengeance of heaven."

A dead and mournful silence followed these words. At length a Mexican, more daring than the rest, raised his voice from amid the crowd, and called Montezuma an effeminate coward, more fit to handle the distaff

and the shuttle than to govern an empire. Having uttered these and other insulting reproaches, he shot an arrow at him. The multitude, obeying a sudden impulse, instantly followed his example, and a clamor of insulting shouts was heard on every side. Showers of stones and arrows were poured toward the spot, and Montezuma, although shielded by the bucklers of the Spaniards, was struck to the ground by three wounds. An arrow pierced his arm, a stone bruised his head, and another his leg. He lingered but a few days, and expired on the 30th of June, 1520. The immediate cause of his death is not known with certainty. Cortez and Gomara affirm that he died of the wound in his head. Solis declares that his death was occasioned by not having the wound dressed. Herrera makes him die of a broken heart. Sahagun and other Mexican historians assure us that the Spaniards killed him, and one of them mentions the circumstance of a soldier having stabbed him with an eel-spear. Cortez gave his body up to the Mexicans, who celebrated his funeral obsequies with every mark of affection and reverence, notwithstanding their censures of his conduct while living. The corpse was burnt on a funeral pile, at Copalco, and the ashes buried in the same place.

In person, Montezuma was tall and well-shaped, but of a complexion more dusky than was ordinary among his countrymen. His eyes were remarkably expressive. In early life he was courageous and enterprising, though he subsequently enervated himself by voluptuous habits. In his administration of the government he showed a natural disposition

towards justice and clemency, but his fondness for magnificence and show led him to undertakings which oppressed the people, while his reserved and taciturn habits rendered him almost inaccessible to the complaints of his injured subjects. Strength of mind was a quality which he never exhibited, and his generosity and forbearance toward the perfidious Spaniards were so egregiously misplaced as to amount to a fault. He possessed, in short, none of the essentials of a great character, and it is chiefly for his overwhelming misfortunes that he can find a place in history. He left posterity in Mexico, from ne branch of which descended the Counts Montezuma and Tula.