A description of the villa Tezcotzinco, as it existed in its ancient beauty and grandeur, according to traditional history, will be interesting in this connection, to give the reader some idea of the splendor and elegance of the great Indian Prince, Hualcoyotl's, manner of living. The villa was situated on a cone-shaped hill, about two leagues from the city of Tezcuco. We here quote from the historian: "It was laid out in terraces, or hanging gardens, having a flight of steps five hundred and twenty in number, many of them hewn in the natural porphyry. In the garden on the summit was a reservoir of water, fed by an aqueduct that was carried over hill and valley for several miles on huge buttresses of masonry. On a lower level there were three other reservoirs. From these copious basins the water was distributed in numerous channels through the gardens, or was made to tumble over the rocks in cascades. In the depths below, marble porticoes and pavilions were erected, and baths excavated in the solid rock, which have become noted as the 'Baths of Montezuma.' The visitor made the descent by steps cut in the rock and polished so bright as to reflect like mirrors. Toward the base of the hill, in the midst of cedar groves, rose the royal villa, with its light arcades and airy halls." Such was Tezcotzinco, the chief country seat of Prince Nezahualcoyotl, to which he often retired to throw off the cares of state, and recuperate his jaded spirits in the society of his favorite wives, of whom Oxie was one, and especially favored. Here he often entertained his royal brothers of Mexico and Tlacopan, and other close friends, in the pleasures of the chase through the grand forests that surrounded the villa, or in the milder pleasures of its paradisaical bowers and alluring shades. The prince did everything he could to promote and broaden the intelligence of his people. Among other things, of an educational character, which he established, was a tribunal before which, on stated days, compositions of prose and poetry were recited by competitors for valuable prizes. The compositions in prose were restricted to the subjects of science and history; while the poems treated of moral and traditional topics. The great benefit derived from this and similar institutions was seen in the Tezcucan authors and orators, who stood far in advance of those of any other nation of Anahuac. Prince Hualcoyotl himself was one of the most illustrious of their writers, especially in compositions of a poetical nature. Such lines as the following are attributed to him by historians: "If there are bounds to pleasure, the saddest life must also have an end. Then weave the chaplet of flowers, and sing thy songs in praise of the all powerful God, for the glory of this world soon fadeth away. Rejoice in the green freshness of the spring, for the day will soon come when thou shalt sigh for these joys in vain." And again: