Life in Mexico

Life in Mexico

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Title: Life in Mexico
Author: Frances Calderón De La Barca
Release Date: November, 2005 [EBook #9364] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 25,
2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English

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EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY
664
TRAVEL & TOPOGRAPHY
Everyman, I will go with thee, and be thy guide, In thy most need to go
by thy side.
FRANCES CALDERON DE LA BARCA, born in Edinburgh, 1804,
the daughter of William Inglis. After her father's death she settled in
America, where she married the Spanish diplomat, Don Angel
Calderon de la Barca. She accompanied him on his various
appointments to Mexico, Washington, and finally to Madrid, where she
was created Marquesa de Calderon de la Barca by Alfonso XII and died
in 1882.

FRANCES CALDERON DE LA BARCA
LIFE IN MEXICO
INTRODUCTION BY MANUEL ROMERO DE TERREROS
MARQUES DE SAN FRANCISCO
First published 1843
INTRODUCTION
In the year 1843, two new books took the American public by storm:
one was Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico, and the other
Life in Mexico by Madame Calderon de la Barca. William Hickling
Prescott was already known as an able historian on account of his
scholarly Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain which had appeared
four years before and elicited praise from all quarters; but his new work
outran the former in that the author had succeeded in depicting one of
the most stirring episodes of history with the grandeur of an epic and
the interest of a novel.

It was therefore natural that a book with Prescott's endorsement should
be favourably received by the general public; but Life in Mexico
immediately attained wide circulation on its own merits, and was
received with unbounded enthusiasm. Soon the slight veil that
pretended to hide the author's name was drawn aside and Madame
Calderon de la Barca became famous in literary and social circles.
Frances Erskine Inglis was born in Edinburgh in the year 1804. Her
father, William Inglis, belonged to a distinguished Scottish family,
related to the Earls of Buchan, and was a grandson of a gallant Colonel
Gardiner who fell in the battle of Prestonpans, while her mother, a Miss
Stern before her marriage, was a celebrated beauty of her time.
Fanny, as Frances was familiarly called, was still very young when her
father found himself in financial difficulties and decided to retire with
his family to Normandy where living was supposed to be cheaper. But
William Inglis died a few years later, and his widow determined to
settle in America. In the United States Mrs. Inglis established a private
school first in Boston, later in Staten Island, and finally in Baltimore,
and her daughter was a great help, for she immediately revealed herself
as an excellent teacher. Besides, Fanny became a great friend of
Ticknor, Lowell, Longfellow, and especially of Prescott, who thought
her "ever lively and spirituelle."
In 1836 a Special Diplomatic Mission from Spain arrived at
Washington, and at its head came Don Angel Calderon de la Barca, a
gentleman of high social standing and an accomplished man of letters,
who, naturally enough, soon established literary relations with William
Prescott, then at work on his History of the Reign of Ferdinand and
Isabella. In this connection he became acquainted with many of
Prescott's friends, the Inglis ladies among others, and the result was that
he fell in love with the accomplished Fanny, and married her in 1838.
Shortly afterwards Don Angel was appointed Isabel II's Minister to
Mexico, the first Spanish Envoy to the young Republic that had
formerly been the Kingdom of New Spain. The newly married couple,
accordingly, started on their journey to Mexico, which