How often has the timid, trembling maid Upon the verge of ruin sought thy help, Shutting her eyes to pleasure and to gold At thought of thee, O Maiden pure and meek! Centuries and ages will have vanished by, Within their currents bearing kings and men; Great monuments shall fall; the pyramids Of lonely Egypt moulder in decay; But time shall never place its fatal hand Upon the image of the Holy Maid, Nor on the pious love of Mexico. Manuel Carpio, who wrote this, his first poetic composition, in 1831, when forty years of age, was a scholar and professor, and in 1824 a congressman. He made the Bible, we are told, his favorite study; and certainly it supplied him with the themes for his best poems. But he was not the only poet of Mexico who bore earnest witness to the faith of which we speak. Padre Manuel Sartorio, who wrote about the time of Iturbide, deprecates the idea of preferring a capricious doubt respecting "la Virgen de Guadalupe" to a constant belief founded in tradition. In the following lines the nature of his own belief is fully attested: "Of Guadalupe, that fair image pictured Unto the venerating eye of Mexico; With stars and light adorned, the figure painted Of a most modest Maiden, full of grace; What image is it? Copy 'tis divine Of the Mother of God. * * * * * And what assures me this? My tender thought. Who the design conceived? The holiest love. Who then portrayed it? The eternal God." In other lines on the same subject, Sartorio speaks of the Lady of Guadalupe as "the purest rose of the celestial field," and pays special respect to her image in the Portal of Flowers, of which there is a tradition, not vulgar, of having spoken (hay tradicion no vulgar de haber hablado) to the Venerable Padre Zapa, in order to instruct the Indians, as relates Cabrera, "Escudo de Armas de Mexico, numero 923." Who this Cabrera may be we are not aware, and cannot affirm that he is identical with the great painter Cabrera, whose belief in Our Lady of Guadalupe was so distinct and positive. One other poet of Mexico we shall summon to give testimony. It is Fray Manuel Navarrete, who wrote a series of poems, well-known to his countrymen, called "Sad Moments." He was also the author of a number of tributes to the fame of Carlos IV. and Ferdinand VII., and seems to have possessed more influence, if not more merit as a poet, than Padre Sartorio. From a posthumous volume, bearing date of 1823, we take the following lines, the allusions of which sufficiently explain at what time they were written: TO THE MOST HOLY VIRGIN UNDER THE INVOCATION OF GUADALUPE.