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