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Show ... XVlll ACCOUNT OF THE WRITERS OF TilE tremely converfant with the antiquities of his nation, wrote. at the re .. quell of the viceroy of Mexico, feveral very lean~ed and valuable works; 1 . The Hifiory of New Spain; 2. The H1fi:ory of th_e Che-chemecan Lords; 3· An Epitome of tho Hifi:ory of the Kmgd~m of Tezcuco; 4· Hifi:orical Memoirs of the :rolteca~, and other natim\ s of Anahuac. All thefe works, written m Spamfh, were preferv ... t:d in the library of St. Peter and St. Paul of the Jefuits of Mexico, and from them we have extraCted fome materials for thi~ hifi:or1. The nuthor was fo cautious in writing, that, in order to remove any grounds for fufpicion of fiCtion, h~ made ~is a~counts con~or~ exa~Uy with the hifi:orical paintings, wluch he mhented from Ius 1lluftr~ous anceftors. Juan BatiO:a Pou1ar, of Tezcuco, or Cholula, a defcendant from a baftard of the royal houfe of Tezcuco. He wrote Hifi:orical Memoirs of that Kingdom, which Torquemada. h as made ufe of. Domingo de San Anton Muiion Chi1:nalpain, a noble Indian of Mexico. He wrote in the Mexican language four works, moch l'fieemed by the intelligent: I. American Chronicle, containing aH .lh~ Events of tha.t Nation. from the Year I o68, to the Yef1r 1 597 of the vulgar era. 2. The Hifi:ory of the Conque!l: of Mexico by the Spaniards. ~. Or£ginal Accounts of the Kingdoms of Acolhuacan, of Mexico, and of other provinces. 4· Hiflorical Commentaries from the year 1064 to 1521. Theil! works, which I moft ardently wifhed for,. were preferved in the library of the college of St. Peter and St. Paul of Mexico. 13oturini had copies of them, as well as of almofi all the works of the Indians, which I have mentioned; tT1ere was a copy of the Chronicle alfo ia the library of the college of St. Gregory of the Jdi.tits of Mexico. Fernando d.' Alvarado Tezozomoc, an Indian of Mexico. He wrote in Spanifh a Mexican Chronicle, about the year 1 598, which was preferved in the above mentioned library of St. Peter and St. Paul. Bartolome de Las Cafas, a famous Domin~an Spani<lrd, , firft bifhop of Chiapa, and hi gh~y worthy of memory among the l ndians. The bitter AN C I E NT H I S T 0 R Y 0 F l\'.1 E X I C 0. bitter memorials prefented by this venerable prelate to king Charlc V. and Philip II. in favour of the Indians, and agai11fi the Spanilh conquerors, printed in Seville, and afterwards tranfi~ted and reprinted, in odium to the Spaniards, in various bnguagcs of Europe; contains fome particulars of the ancient hifl:ory ot the l'v'lexicans, but fo altered and exaggerated, we cannot rely on the authority 0f the author, however otherwiie rcfpeCl:able. The cxceflive fire of his zeal fent forth iight and fmoke together, that is, he mi xed truth with falfdwod, 110t bccanfc he fiudied an opportunity of deceiving his king and the world,. as a fufj)icion of {uch guilt in him \\·ould be offering wrong to that virtue which his enemies acl nowlcdged and revered ; but becaufc, not having been prefent at what he relates concerning M xico, he trufted too much to information from others, which will be made to appear in fome parts of this hifl:ory. We i110uld have, probably, been much more affifi:ed by two great works of the i?une prelate never publifhed, the one, A Hifl:ory of the Climate and Soil of the Countries of America; and the Genius and Manners, &c. of the Americans under Sub. jection to the Catholic King. This manufcript, con lifting of 8 30 pages, was prefcrved iu the library of the Do:ninicans of Valladolid, in Spain, where it was put by Rcmeft1l, as he makes us credit in his Chronicle of the Dominicans of Chiapa and Guatemala. The other, A General Hifi:ory of America, in three volumes, folio ; a copy o( which was in the library of the count of Villaumbrofa, in Madrid, where Pinelo f.'lw it, as he affirms, in his Bibliotbl'Ca Occidentali: two volumes of this hiil:ory the above mentioned author f.1w in the celebrated archives of Simancas, which have been the fcpulchre of rttany precious manufcripts on America. Two volumes alio were in the library of J, Kricio, at Amfterdam. Agu O:ino Davila, and Padillo, a noble and ingenious Dominican, of Mexico, preacher to king l'hilip III. royal hiil:oriographer of America, and archbifhop of the ifland of St. Domingo. Befides the Chronicle of the Dominicans of Mexico, printed in Madrid, in r 596, and the Hiil:ory of New Spain and Florida, printed in Valladolid, in 1632, he .wrote the Ancient Hifiory of the Mexicans, employing materials already. collt:Cl:etl by Fernando Duran, a Dominican of Tezcuco ; but tl1is work has not been found. c- 2 DoCl:or X! X , |