The city of gold; or, The wonderful story of H. Cortes and the conquest of Mexico

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Book Society, 1884 - 245 Seiten

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Seite 21 - Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken; Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He stared at the Pacific — and all his men Looked at each other with a wild surmise — Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
Seite 82 - His countenance was distorted into hideous lineaments of symbolical import. In his right hand he wielded a bow, and in his left a bunch of golden arrows, which a mystic legend had connected with the victories of his people. The huge folds of a serpent, consisting of pearls and precious stones, were coiled round his waist, and the same rich materials were profusely sprinkled over his person. On his left foot were the delicate feathers of the humming-bird, which, singularly enough, gave its name to...
Seite 82 - Huitzilopotchli, the tutelary deity and war-god of the Aztecs. His countenance was distorted into hideous lineaments of symbolical import. In his right hand he wielded a bow, and in his left a bunch of golden arrows. which a mystic legend had connected with the victories of his people. The huge folds of a serpent, consisting of pearls and precious stones, wert coiled round his waist, and the same rich materials were profusely sprinkled over his person.
Seite 106 - The tidings of his death,' says the old Castilian chronicler, Diaz, ' were received with real grief by every cavalier and soldier in the army who had had access to his person ; for we all loved him as a father, — and no wonder, seeing how good he was.
Seite 72 - Spanish soldier find no parallel but in the imaginations of his favourite romance. Like Granada, encircled, but not frowned upon, by mountains ; fondled and adorned by water like Venice ; as grand in its buildings as Babylon of old ; and rich with gardens like Damascus, — the great City of Mexico was, at that time, the fairest in the world, and has never since been equalled.
Seite 45 - The destruction of his fleet by Cortes is, perhaps, the most remarkable passage in the life of this remarkable man. History, indeed, affords examples of a similar expedient in emergencies somewhat similar; but none where the chances of success were so precarious and defeat would be so disastrous.
Seite 72 - It ought to be one who had seen all the wonders of the world; and he should have for an audience those who had dwelt in Venice and Constantinople, who had looked down upon Granada from the Alhambra, and who had studied all that remains to be seen of the hundred-gated Thebes, of Babylon, and of Nineveh. The especial attributes of the most beautiful cities in the world were here conjoined; and that which was the sole boast of many a worldrenowned name formed but one of the charms of this enchantress...
Seite 225 - Gomara, of 3000 miles," — (the distance must be greatly exaggerated,) — 'from famine, from the hostility of the natives, from the climate, and from hardships of every species, has nothing in history parallel to it, but what occurs in the adventures of the other discoverers and conquerors of the New World. Cortes was employed in this dreadful service above two years; and, though it was not distinguished by any splendid event, he exhibited, during the course of it, greater personal courage, more...
Seite 73 - There Aztlan stood upon the farther shore ; Amid the shade of trees its dwellings rose, Their level roofs with turrets set around, And battlements all burnished white, which shone Like silver in the sun-shine. I beheld The imperial city, her far-circling walls, Her garden groves and stately palaces, Her temples mountain size, her thousand roofs ; And when I saw her might and majesty My mind misgave me then.
Seite 55 - The golden glitterance, and the feather-mail, More gay than glittering gold ; and round the helm, A coronal of high upstanding plumes Green as the spring grass in a sunny shower ; Or scarlet bright, as in the wintry wood The clustered holly ; or of purple tint, . . Whereto shall that be likened ? to what gem Indiademed, . . what flower, . . what insect's wing ? With war-songs and wild music they came on, We the while kneeling, raised with one accord The hymn of supplication.

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