The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-27
MEZICO'S ANTIQUE ERA
When Religion Was the Rule in
the Land of Montezuma.
Relics of n Period When Half the
City Was Occupied byroConvents.
"Reminiscences Drawn Out by
Quaint Houses and Picturesque
notwithstanding Old Palaces.

Mexico has her nobility as we'll as oil,
their programmes, or parchments, with al
the more care now that the modern spiri
OF democracy does not permit titles to bl
used. Besides the descendants of Monte.
yuma and Cortes, who live here, or il
Europe 1.-THE Empress Eugene is of tn,
line of the Montezumas). and who nat
4 urally take pride in their illustrious an
cestorS. there are other families of hgt
lineage. who not infrequently are found ir
narrow circumstances through the vicissi
tudes of fortune SO common in earlier days
in this once politically volcanic Mexico
Some titles are of Spanish origin. theiI
former possessors having xemigrated TO this
country in ancient times. ancient as an
| tiquity goes in our New World while other
titles are of colonial origin. the first hold
eTs having been granted patents of no.
bility for distinguished services during the
stormy period of the Conquest, and quite as
many OF the most famous titles of Old
Spain were won during 500 years struggle
against the naughty Moors.
Besides titles granted for services in war,
| some were bestowed on account of emf
nent ability displayed In posts of the vice.
| regal Government. and many private per :
sons were ennobled for special services or
merits. and history also records that
wealth. even in those old days of defer
ence to title and blood. purchased distinc-
.tion A chronicler remarks on this point ::
| at is true that not all the nobility of New
| Spain possessed clean escutcheons legiti-
| mately obtained: that is to say, some held
their patents of nobility for the part they
| took In the massacre of the Indians while
| there were. on the other hand, mobiles as
| philanthropic as the Count OF Regla, and
as patriotic as the Marquis of San Juan
de Rayas."
Some of the old families of Mexico pre-
serve the Illuminated and many sealed
! parchments which bestowed rank and
privileges on their ancestors, but in very
many cases the old patents of nobility have
been lost in the course of turbulent and
revolutionary centuries
In these days of commerce and manu-
featuring the foundations for the Mexican
social aristocracy of the twentieth cen
fury have been laid by busy men who may
fairly be ranked with the Venetian or
F1orentine mobiles who by industry won
their titles. often descriptive of former
trades or vacations. The Florentine tan
ner. enobled. did not disdain to take the
name OF the ruddy dye he had employed
with brilliant commercial success. Bank
ers and manufacturers. and merchant prin-
ces. were promoted to the aristocracy, and
SO in Italy there was established a prece-
dent for such an awarding OF titles as in
this century We have Seen made in Eng
land. 't"s ''
The Old Mobility.
Here in the City of Mexico many houses
and streets recall the old Mexican nobility,
and one may see. even, today, the battle
mented roofs. of the casas ialmenadas. in
dicating the nobility of the first owner.
and mos rrnta tk. Ia.
over the high and massive doorways. The
house of the Counts of Santiago still stands
in Gale de Jesus. and the huge and noble
edifice of the Banco Nacional de Mexico
was formerly the stately residence OF the
Marquesa de San Mateo Valparaiso. and is
situated on the corner of Capuchinas and
the Bridge of Holy Spirit Streets. The
present Hotel del Bazaar was once the pail
ace of the Counts of Miravalle. and the
Hotel Iturbido. now known to a small
army of tourists, although not occupied
as a hotel till 1885, was built by the just
mentioned Marquesa de San Mateo VAL
paraise as sort OF spite house. She
was immensely rich. and the people who
were legally her heirs she did not like.
owing to some family differences; SO she
built the huge mansion, believing that no
one would ever care to occupy 1t. The
land on which the Hotel Iturbde stands
vent of Santa Brigida. the church Of the
same name still standing on Gale San
Juan de Letran, the headquarters of the
Jesuit fathers. and now most fashionable
place of worship. The hotel in question
was occupied by the Emperor Iturbide as
his palace during his brief reign, and from
the great door on San Francisco Street he
walked, under a gorgeous canopy, 10 the
Cathedral on his coronation day. 1t is
h.. II
which is wholly distinct from the Itur-
bdes
Those were the old picturesque days
when half of Mexico City was covered by
massive converts and great churches. when
friars in the habits of their orders walked
the streets of the capital of New Spain in
company with counts and marquises in
powdered wigs short breaches. silk stock
ings, and silver buckled shoes.
The handsomest house, or rather palace.
OF the old Mexican nobility still existing is,
without doubt. that of the Counts of the
Valley of Orizaba, popularity known as the
"Caca de Azulejos or Tiled House. and |
otherwise as the Porcelain Palace. at pres
ent occupied by the Jockey Club. This |
splendid old mansion, one of the most ar |
tistic houses on the continent which no |
new millionaire of the States may ever /
hope to rival, stands on the corner of the |
jon de la Condesa, or Lane of the Coun-
tess
A Mansion of Romantic History,
Away back in. the sixteenth century |
there embarked in Spain for Mexico Don |
Rodrigo de Vivero Velasco. descendant |
of the historic Don Aionzo Perez de Vi |
vero. who was hurled to the ground from |
an upper window in Burgos by the Con- |
destable de Castillo. Don Aware de Ia |
Luda. though some chroniclers say that |
Don AlonzO was thrown from a tower in
Valladolid. the ancient capital OF Spain. !
This new arrival from old Spain had. by
a marriage in this country son, also
Don Rodrigo. who made he mark in gov
and in letters. having written
Treatise on Political Economy" and also
various "Discourses." besides an account OF
his shipwreck on returning to Mexico from
the Philippine Islands. where he had served |
a term as Governor and Captain General
Here he founded "mayorazgo' or es-
ate. which was elevated to the ''countship
Of the Valley of OriZaba.' a grant made
By the King of Spain in concentration
Of his notable service in the Philippines
Artists from abroad have made studies
in vivid color of the tiled staircase of the
Jockey Club. for these tiles are unprocur-
able in our age of machinery and formal
ism. They are slightly irregular and
bulge In the centre. and are for this rea-
son all the more attractive to artists, and
The lovely coloring, especially the inimita-
Bile yellows. is sure TO fill the visitor of
artistic taste with enthusiasm. The house
IS OF the type Of the lordly casas senoriales
Of Sevilla and other Andalusian cities, and
Of its own type II is unsurpassed. And
he Jockey Club contains rare carved and
nlaid furniture of Mexican workmanship
bo ,f |
Don Rodrigo made an illuStrinus rlar-