Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/735

I have said nothing of the organization of society in Mexico, because, in fact, there is none. In the Capital, evening-parties and dinners, except upon some great occasion, are equally unknown. After the Paseo, or evening promenade, which takes place between five and seven, every body goes to the theatre, and after the theatre to bed. The Mexicans have not yet acquired the European habit of meeting frequently in small parties for the promotion of social intercourse. They accept invitations with pleasure from foreigners, but cannot divest themselves of the idea that where any thing is to be given on their side, a degree of superfluous display is requisite, which renders the frequent repetition of such entertainments impracticable. It is only in their Haciendas that they indulge without restraint in the hospitality to which they are naturally inclined. Of the women, in general, it is unnecessary for me to speak in much detail. Their manners and education are just what a person acquainted with Spain would expect to find in a Spanish colony. So little is required of women in the Mother-country, that it would be hardly fair to expect any very great intellectual superiority amongst their descendants. The Mexican ladies, (with some brilliant exceptions, whom it would perhaps be invidious to name,) read and write in about the same proportion as those of Madrid; they speak, in general, no language but their own, and have not much taste for music, or knowledge of it as an