COPYRIGHT, 1927, BY N. ANDREW N. CLEVEN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 327.8 The Athenæum Press 010-15-27 Done. AND THOU, BELOVED COMPANION, ENJOY THE BEAUTY OF THESE FLOWERS, REJOICE WITH ME, CAST OUT FEARS, FOR IF PLEASURE 1 I FEAR NO OBLIVION FOR THY JUST DEEDS, STANDING AS THOU DOST IN THY PLACE APPOINTED BY THE SUPREME LORD OF ALL, WHO GOVERNS ALL THINGS. ALL THE EARTH IS A GRAVE AND NAUGHT ESCAPES IT; NOTHING IS SO PERFECT THAT IT DOES NOT FALL AND DISAPPEAR. THE RIVERS, BROOKS, FOUNTAINS, AND WATERS FLOW ON AND NEVER RETURN TO THEIR JOYOUS BEGINNINGS, THEY HASTEN ON TO THE VAST REALMS OF TLALOC AND THE WIDER THEY SPREAD BETWEEN THEIR MARGES THE MORE RAPIDLY DO THEY MOULD THEIR OWN SEPULCHRAL URNS. THAT WHICH WAS YESTERDAY IS NOT TO-DAY; AND LET NOT THAT WHICH IS TO-DAY TRUST TO LIVE TO-MORROW. Nezahualcoyotl, the famous literary light of the Aztecs, died forty-seven years before the Cortesian conquest. The above excerpts from his poetry were translated by Herbert Joseph Spinden and were published by the Forum in its issue of September, 1925, in Dr. Spinden's article "What is Civilization? The Answer of Ancient America." ん 10-14.-27 195571 35 32 3c. PREFACE This volume has been prepared to meet the need for collateral readings in Hispanic American history. It is meant to be one more tool in the study of that subject. It has been my purpose to impress upon the student the wealth and variety of materials of which Dr. Robertson treats in the introduction; for his statement that the editor "has suffered from an embarrassment of riches" is more than a mere figure of speech: it is the statement of a fact. The materials in the various archives of which he writes, added to those which have already been made available, are well-nigh inexhaustible. In this collection I have freely culled from a variety of sources: from royal decrees and instructions; from laws and decrees of legislative bodies; from official and semiofficial reports; from addresses; from proclamations; from declarations of independence; from treaties; from awards of arbitrators; from diplomatic correspondence; from memoirs; from diaries; from letters; from observations of travelers, etc. I hope that the readings will help to arouse a sustaining interest in this field of study, and that there will be those who will dedicate their lives and talents to a search for truth in the Elysian fields of Hispanic American history. It has been my plan to place the greatest emphasis on the documents themselves. For that reason the explanatory materials have in most instances been purposely made brief. This volume is not intended as a history text; it is a modest selection of sources from which history may be made. They are merely intended to do what all readings should do: aid in illuminating and enlivening the textual narrative. I have not thought it necessary to provide either a separate bibliography or a set of sug V |