that, she states, was shared by the most distinguished persons in Mexico,
who missed the advantages of the days of yore: "I fear we live in a
Paradise Lost," she exclaims, "which will not be regained in our days!"

But this does not mean to say that she withholds praise where praise is
due. On more than one occasion she extols the valour of a soldier, the
talent of a Minister like Cuevas, or the honesty and clearsightedness of a
politician like Gutierrez de Estrada; and when she refers to the rivalry
that arose between the different parties, she has unbounded praises for
the cadets of the Military School, for their patriotic conduct and their
loyalty to the legally established government.

In Madame Calderon's time the Mexican upper classes were an extension, so
to speak, of the old viceregal society. Only the very young had not seen
the Spanish flag flying over the public buildings or had not been more or
less acquainted with the last viceroys. The presidential receptions of a
Bustamante or a Santa Anna in the National Palace, just as during the
short reign of Augustin I de Iturbide, were ablaze with brilliant
uniforms, glittering decorations, fine dresses, and rich jewels, while at
private parties the old family names and titles continued to be borne with
the prestige of former colonial days.

On the other hand, the relations between lord and servant are faithfully
portrayed by Madame Calderon de la Barca. Speaking of life in a
_hacienda_, she describes how the lady of the house sat at the piano,
while the employees and servants performed the typical dances of the
country for the benefit of guests and relatives, without suggesting any
idea of equality or disrespect, more or less in the fashion of the Middle
Ages, when the lord and the lady of the manor sat at table with their
servants, though the latter remained rigorously below the salt. With