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Show ACCOUNT OF THE WRITERS OF THE Chri!l:ova1 Chaves Cafti11cjo, a Spaniard. He wrote, about the year 1 6 3 2, a volume in folio, on the Origin of the Indians, and their fu-1\: Colonies in the Country of Anahuac. Carlos de Siguenza e Gongora, a celebrated Mexican pr~feflor of mathematics in the univcrfity of his native country. Thts author has bet:n one of the tno11: com prehenfivc writers on the Hi(\:ory of Mexico, as he made, at a gt:eat exr ence, a large and choice colleC.tion of ancient pitlures and manu[cripts, and applied himfelf with the greatc11: diligence and afliduity to illu.fhate the antiquity of that kingdom. Befides many mathematic.\}, critical, hill:orical, and poetical works compofed · by him,; (ome of them l anufcripts, fomc of them printed in Mexico from the year 168o to 169 3, he wrote in Spani01, I. The Mexican Cydograpby, a work of great hbour, in which, by calculating eclipfes and comets, marked in the hi!l:orical piCtures of the Mexicans, he adju! l:ed their epochs with ours, and by availing himfelf of good infl:ructi. on, explained the method they ufed to count centuries, years, aml months. 2. The Hijlory qf tbe Cbecbemecan Empirt, in which he explaius what he found in Mexican manufcripts and paintings concerning the firft colonies which pafied from Afia to America, and the events of .the moO: ancient nations eJhblifh.ed in An:thuac. 3· A long and h:arncd Di!fertation on the Announcing of the Gofpel in Anahuac; which was done there, as he believed, by the apoftle St. Thomas, fuppprting his opinion on traditions of the Indians, croifes found, ~tnd formerly worfhipped in Mexico, and other monuments. 4· The Genealogy of the .Mexican Kings; in which he traced their ~fce~ding line as far back as the feventh century of the Chrifl:ian ~era. .5. ~ritical Annotations on the W arks of Torq uemada and Bernal Diaz; ~11 the.fe moO: learned manufcripts which would have affo,:ded con.fid~rable aid .to this. hi!l:ory, were loil: through the negligence of the heu:s of that learned author; and there now remain only fame fragments of them pre~erved in the works of other contemporary writers, namely, of Gemelli, Betancourt, and Florencia. Aguftino de Betancourt, a Francifcan of Mexico: his Ancient and :ttl9dern ;fliffory of Mexico, printed in that capital, in 1698, in one volume ANCIENT HIS T 0 R Y 0 F ME X I C 0. volume in folio, under the title of The Mexican Theatre, is nothing elfe in refpetl: ·to ancient hifl:ory, but an abridgment of Torquemada dont: in hail:e, and written with .little accuracy. Antonio de Solis, royal hifl:oriographer ' of America. The Hifl:ory of the Conqueft of New Spain, written by this polifl1cd and ingcgenious Spaniard, is more a panegyric than a hiil:ory. His ditl:ion is pure and elegant, but his manner is rather aftetl:ed; the fcntences arc too much laboured, and the public fpeeches are the work of his own fancy; like one lefs ftudious of truth than embclli01ment,. h:: frequently contradiCts authors the moil worthy of credit~ and even Cortes, himfelf, whofe panegyric he undertook. In the laO: books of this hiftory, we .fhall take notice of fame of the mifrakes of this famous: writer. In the Eigbtt!,mtb Cmtu1y. Pedro Fernandez del Pufgar, a ]earned Spaniard, fucceflor to Soli~ in the oflice of hiftoriographer. 'f'he true Hiflory of the Conquejl ~f . N ew Spat"n, written hy him, is found cited in the Prcfa'CC of the modern edition of Herrera, but we h. <.tve not fcen it. It is to be believe(t ~ that he fet abOLlt writing it for the purpofe of correCting the errors of .his predecefior. Lorenzo Boturini Benaducci, of Mihn. Tl'1is cmious and learneLt gentleman arrived in Mexico in 1736; and, ddirous of writing the hiftory of that kingdom,. he made, during. eight years he remained there' the moil: diligent refearches into its antiq,Ltity; acquired a confiderable mail:ery of the Mexican hmguage, entered into fi·iendfhip with the Indians to obtain ti1eir :mcient piCtures from them, and procmed copies· of many valuable manufcri.pts which were in the libraries of the mona! l:eries. The mufcum which he formed of paintings and' ancient manuicripts, was the moil: numerous and fcleCl: ever feen in that kingdom,. excepting thJ.t of the celebrated Siguem:a; but before he put a hand to his work,. the exceffivc jealoufy of the Spani{h government !lrippcd him of all his literary efl:atc, and fent him into Spain, where, oeing XXlH |