FAITH AND FORTUNE.

A ROMANCE OF CENTRAL AMERICA.

ALMOST all ancient nations have their hero, whose adventures and achievements having, in the course of time, become mingled with romance, make up an ideal of character a little beyond humanity, yet not without its uses in establishing a high national standard, and awakening in ardent minds an enthusiasm which leads to emulation. Gods and demigods were made thus in ancient Greece; and less romantic England has her Arthur; France her Charlemagne; and other nations their traditionary great men, sometimes imbued with supernatural powers, always with wonderful ones, and with qualities the very invention of which affords some idea of the people in whose minds they originate. The early inhabitants of Central America-a race scarcely traceable among the present population of that now unhappy region—are no exception to the fact of a heroic remembrance. They, too, had their highsouled, indomitable Arthur-their ideal of all noble and chivalrous qualities-in a young prince of Tezcuco, who lived in the fifteenth century; modern time compared with the pyramids, but quite a respectable antiquity for the western world.

This hero was no knight-errant who went about seeking for adventures by which to immortalize himself. Greatness was thrust upon him sorely against his will; for the rancorous pursuit of an inveterate foe, forced him into action before he had attained his sixteenth year. His name was Nezahualcoyotl-a dignified appellation, no doubt, in its day, and one which we may imagine was pronounced by contemporaries somewhat like an intercepted sneeze, but which, fortunately, we are justified in supposing was habitually abridged, as most very ponderous names are. We shall, therefore, by way of adopting a safe middle course, take the liberty of calling our hero Hualco-a cognomen which, we hope, no young lady will object to as inelegant, while it will spare us the frequent writing of an unreasonable number of syllables.

The city of Tezcuco was one of those which boasted a barbaric splendour at the period of which we write. No wonder that rumours of a western El Dorado had reached Europe. A bird of the air might carry the matter, in the shape of wings besprent with gold-dust, or a collar of emeralds worth an emperor's ransom. Sir John Maundeville's account of Prestor John's riches, seems scarcely fabulous after reading the history of these cities. Their sovereigns reigned like the kings in fairy land-absolute masters of treasures inexhaustible. Their country, limited as it was in extent, comprised every variety of climate, from the perpetual snow that crowned the mountains to the burning plains on the Atlantic coast. Between these extremes were ample regions of unchanging verdure, and that vast table-land, which, elevated six thousand. feet above the level of the sea, is yet sheltered by a stupendous range of hill, and is at this day, in temperature, fertility and natural advantages, one of the most delicious regions on the face of the globe. The productions of this favoured country comprised all

that nature ever grants to man; and the system of taxation insured to the sovereign a tribute in kind from everything yielded by earth, air, or water. Gold, silver, amber, turquoise, tortoise-shell, were the materials of drinking-vessels and other utensils, not only in the royal palaces, but in the dwellings of the nobility; and these are but a specimen of the wealth and luxury which prevailed. Over all this the king had nearly absolute power; and he was regarded by his people with almost the reverence due to a god.

But no splendour or dignity can secure the possessor against misfortune. Camaca, king of Tezcuco, in the midst of his prosperity-perhaps because of it—became an object of enmity to a neighbouring nation, the Tepanecs; and after a series of aggressions, the detail of which would be foreign to our present intention, these warlike people succeeded in overwhelming and destroying the more luxurious monarch. His son Hualco beheld the barbarous murder of his father, and but for the vigilance and fidelity of the tutor who had charge of him, would have met the same fate. This faithful friend contrived to secrete or disguise his master's heir so successfully, that the Tepanecs were baffled in their design to extinguish the royal blood of Tezcuco.

The young prince, who was surrounded by a few faithful friends, was at first inconsolable, both that his father was basely murdered and that he himself still lived. He dashed himself on the ground in all the extravagance of passionate youth's first grief, and declared his determination to rid himself of a life rendered hateful by misery and disgrace.

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'Why didst thou hinder me, Atahuilpa,' he said, when I would have cast myself before my father, and received in my bosom the darts which were aimed at him? Thine own lessons have taught me to prefer many things before life; yet it is thy fault that I live

the life of a coward and a slave, while my father dies and his kingdom is usurped by his murderers.'

'If thy death could have saved the life of the king,' said the old man, 'I myself would have urged thee-nay, forced thee to the sacrifice. But thou wouldst only have furnished another victim, and a more complete triumph. The lives of princes are the property of their people; and thou wert no less cowardly to throw away thine in despair, than thou wouldst have been to withhold it if it could have preserved thy father. In this world of war and strife, Hualco, he is the brave man who dares to live. If thou wouldst show thyself worthy to avenge thy sovereign upon his enemies, thou must begin with a mastery over thyself."

Hualco had been taught from infancy the most implicit obedience to his preceptor. The customs of his country gave those to whom was confided the instruction of youth of the higher classes, and particularly those of the blood-royal, unlimited authority. The words of Atahuilpa aroused the prince to reflection, and he took part in the council which was now held, as to the safest disposition of his person, and the carrying out of those plans of education ordained by law for the heir of the crown. The posture of affairs allowed no present hope of an armed resistance to the Tepanecs, whose warlike habits and unscrupulous ambition would incline and enable them to retain the power they had gained in a kingdom now under the disadvantage of a royal minority. It was therefore considered advisable that Hualco should retire with his tutor to a rural retreat not far from the city, and there adopt such precautions as would secure, as far as possible, the incognito rendered necessary by his present unhappy position.

Stripped of the golden ornaments which denoted his rank, and clothed in a garment of nequen-a coarse cloth made from the

fibres of the aloe, and used by the lower classes-Hualco was conducted by his tutor to the humble residence which was to be his home for the present. It was a cottage of considerable size, thatched with palm-leaves, and shaded by the magnificent cypresses which at that time abounded in the country, and were afterward destroyed by the Spaniards. Here, with his excellent tutor, the prince applied himself assiduously to his studies.

The gods have already shown thee, Hualco,' said the sage, that thou art but as a feather in their hands. Whether they will have thee monarch or peasant, they require of thee knowledge and virtue, which will fit thee for either destiny. If, in spite of all my cares and all my hopes, thou art reserved but to grace a sacrifice of the Tepanecs, their fires can detain thee but for a moment from the presence of the Sun, where thou wilt take rank with other glorified spirits, according as thou hast well used the few years of thy probation here.'

By such counsels, heard by the youth with the deepest reverence, did the wise and good Atahuilpa seek to train by study, effort, and sacrifice, the precious charge upon whose course the eyes of all true Tezcucans were secretly fixed. It is not surprising that in such society, and secluded from all injurious influence, the young prince grew in all good things, even as his slender and graceful proportions gradually assumed the strength and symmetry by which he was afterward distinguished. The elders of his people, the priests, the caciques, and such of the nobility as had not been won over by the splendid bribes of the conqueror, found means not unfrequently to visit the lonely cottage, strengthening the resolution and encouraging the hopes of the prince and his preceptor, and devising plans for a concerted attempt to restore the liberties of the kingdom. Perhaps, by means of these visits, the vigilance of hatred