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Show , AN .A c c 0 N T OF Tli£ \V I T E R s 0 N THE A N C I E N T H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0 ... In the Sixteenth Century. FEnlinand Cortes. The four very lon.g letters written by this fiun~ ous conqueror to his fovereign, Charles the Fifth, containing a11 accouut of the Conquefl:, and many valuable particulars refpecting Mexico, and the Mexicans, were publiil1cd in Spaniil1, in Latin, in the Tufcan, and other languages; the fidl: of thefe letters was printed ill Seville in r 522 ; they are all well written, and difcover both moddl:y and fincerity in the relation; as he has neither made a boafl: of his owh aCtions, nor thrown obfcnrity on thofe of others. If he had had the raibncfs to deceive his king, his enemies who prefented fo many complaints at court againfl: him, would not have failed to reproa h him with fuch a .crime. Bernal Diaz del Cafl:illo, a foldier and conqueror; A True Iilflory qf the Conqutjl of N1."W Spain, written by him, was printed in Madrid in 163z, in one volume, folio . Notwithfl:anding the mifcarriage of h.is undertaking, and the coadcnefs of the ftyle, this hiftory h as been much efl:cemcd for th<.: fimpli city and fincerity of its author, which is every where difcoverabl e. He was an eyc-wit1 e[s of all that he relates; but, from being illiterate, he was unqualified for the tafk he untook; and frequently fhews himfelf forgetful of .t.~(.b, oy having writ.<.: n many years after the conque.fl. Al- • |