Of all thatextensive empire which once acknowledged the authority of Spain in the NewWorld, no portion, for interest and importance, can be compared with Mexico - andthis equally, whether we consider the variety of its soil and climate; theinexhaustible stores of its mineral wealth; its scenery, grand and picturesquebeyond example; the character of its ancient inhabitants, not only farsurpassing in intelligence that of the other North American races, butreminding us, by their monuments, of the primitive civilisation of Egypt andHindostan; and lastly, the peculiar circumstances of its conquest, adventurousand romantic as any legend devised by any Norman or Italian bard of chivalry.It is the purpose of the present narrative to exhibit the history of thisconquest, and that of the remarkable man by whom it was achieved.

The countryof the ancient Mexicans, or Aztecs as they were called, formed but a very smallpart of the extensive territories comprehended in the modern Republic ofMexico. The Aztecs first entered it from the north towards the beginning of thethirteenth century, but it was not until the year 1325 that, led by anauspicious omen, they laid the foundations of their future city by sinkingpiles into the shallows of the principal lake in the Mexican valley. Thus grewthe capital known afterwards to Europeans as Mexico...