together with his habit of introducing trivial ideas, had an unpleasant effect upon his audience, and not unfrequently while he was addressing the house the benches would become deserted. In 1833, being in danger of political persecution, he published in his defence his autobiography, under the title, Hay tiempos de hablar y tiempos de callar; and soon after his death an anonyimous writer, un amigo de Don Cárlos y mas amigo de la verdad, issued Noticias Biográficas del Licenciado D. Cárlos Maria de Bustamante, y Juicio Crítico de sus Obras, Mexico, 1849, pp. 56.
Manuel Larrainzar, in his Algunas Ideas sobre la Historia, supplies a brief sketch of Bustamante s life, with a short review of his principal works. Larrainzar treats him with more generosity and justice than many critics have done. He also informs us that the collection of Bustamante's works comprise 19,142 pages, and cost between $40,000 and $50,000. Soc. Mex. Geog. Bolet., xi. 514-19. Bustamante kept a diary, in which all notable events were entered. Shortly before his death he deposited this manuscript in the archive of the apostolical college of Guadalupe at Zacatecas. It consisted of a great number of volumes — as many as 80 — according to some but the con tents are of no unusual value, as all essential parts of it were used in his printed works. Most of Bustamante s manuscripts after his decease fell into the possession of José María Andrade, a publisher and bibliophilist of Mexico, who laid the foundation of what was intended by Maximilian to be the imperial library of Mexico. After the fall of that prince, the collection of books was transported to Europe and sold. Bustamante's manuscripts formed an interesting portion of this collection, and I fortunately secured most of them, including eight heavy 4to volumes of Memorandum, ó sea Apuntes pa escribir la historia de la principalmente occurrido en Mexico, 1844 to 1847; nine volumes of Voz de la Patria; four volumes of the Gabinete Mexicano; Medidas para la Pacificacion de la América Mexicana; the histories of Victoria s and Santa Anna's administrations, besides others. All these writings are in the author's own. handwriting. They are much more complete than the printed works with which they correspond, or for which they supplied the material. But the most interesting is Mexico en 1848, a frag ment of 44 leaves written on both sides, and representing the last effort of this untiring worker. It contains a series of notes of the principal military and political events in Mexico during the middle of 1848. The first 38 leaves, with the exception of one, are in Bustamante s handwriting, then, as his strength failed, an amanuensis was employed. This fragment was begun March 17th, and ends abruptly on the 24th of June, barely three months before the author s death.
Manuel Rivera, Historia Antigua y Moderna de Jalapa y de las Revoluciones del Estado de Vera Cruz. Mexico, 1869-1871, 8vo, 5 vols. A history of Mexico, but confined principally to the state of Vera Cruz and the town of Jalapa. It begins with the occupation of the territory now called Vera Cruz, by the Ulmecas, previous to the arrival of Cortes, and concludes with the year 1868, by far the larger portion of the work being taken up with the period from 1808 down to the latter date. It was originally intended to divide the work into five parts, but this plan was not adhered to, as the 4th completes the work in vol. v. The promise, too, of an appendix of statistical information at the end is not carried out. Each chapter embraces three histories, namely, the national, the state history, and the local history of Jalapa; generally, but not always, in the above order. Numerous plates, chiefly portraits of governors of Vera Cruz, views, and plans of the principal towns, illustrate each volume. The author derived his information from the writings of Sahagun, Motolinia, Herrera, Betancourt, and Torquemada for the conquest; for the history of later times, from the work of Boturini and some others, who profited by the still fresh remains of Indian history; the works of Humboldt, and the Diccionario de Geografia y Estadística, by Orozco y Berra. For modern history, the writings of Alaman, Bustamante, and Zavala were consulted. The most interesting data, however, were derived from manuscripts furnished by the archives of some of the towns in the eastern part of the republic, and by pri-
