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Show XX.VIll p A I N· T I N G s. the general hi!l:ory of the travels of Prevo~, and others, is repr.efent .. ed a beautiful road made over the Mextcan lake,. fron.l Mextco. to Tczcuco, which is certainly the greateft abfurdity 1mag1nable. . The great work, entitled, La Ga/erie agreable du Mond,. fays that ambafiadors were fent in former times to the court of Mex1co, mounted on elephants. Such fiCtions belong to romance not hiftory. 0 F P l\ I ~ 1r I ~ CJ S. WE do not pretend here to give a regifter of all the Mexican pictures faved from the burning of the fir!\: miffionaries, or executed afterwards by the Indian hiftorians of the fixteenth century, of which [orne SpaniOl writers have availed themfclves, as fuch an enumeration would not be lefs ufelefs than tedious to our readers ; but will only mention fome colleCtions, the knowledge of which may be of fervice to any one inclined to write the hiftory of that kingdom. I. The collection of Mendoza. Thus we call the colleCtion of fixtythree Mexican paintings made by the firfi bi010p of Mexico, D. Antonio Mendoza, to which he caufe~ to be added ikilful interpretations in the Mexican and Spnni01languagcs, for the purpofe of fending them to the emperor Charles V. The vd1el in which they were fent was t:1k<.:n by a French cor fair, and carried into F rance. The paintings fell into the hands of Thevenot, geographer to his moil: hriftian majcf\: y, of whofe heirs they were purchafed at a high price by Hakluit, then chnpbin to the Englifh :unba!lador at the court of Fra ncq~ Being from thence carried into E ngland, the Spanifh interpretations were tranflatcd into E ngl i{h by Locke, bnt not the famous metaphyfician, by order of fi r W alter Ralegh; and lal1ly, at the req uefl: of the learned fi r Ilenry Spelman, publifhed by Samncl P urchas in the third volume of his Colle 2ion. In 1692, they were afreih printed in Paris,. with a F rench intc1'prctation by Thcvenot, in the fecond volume of his work, uti tlcd, R dation de divers Voiages Curieux. The piCtures as. we .. p A I N T I N s. we have mentioned before, were fixty-threc in number; the twelve :fidl: containing the hiftory of the foundation of Mexico, the years and conquefis of the Mexican kings; the thirty-fix following , reprefenting the tributary cities of that crown, and the quantity and fpec ies of their tributes; and the remaining fifteen, explained a part of the education of their youth, and their civil government. But it is neccffary to obferve, that the edition by Thevenot is iniperfeet; for in the copies of tl~e eleventh 'and twelfth piCtures, the figure of the years are c.hanged; the fig ures which bcloug to the reign of M ontezuma, being applied to the reign of Ahuitzotl; and on the contrary: the copies of the twcnty-firfi and twcnty- fccond piCtu res arc entirely wanting, and allo in great part the . .figures of the tributary cities . Kirker republi01ed a copy of the firfl painting from that of Pur h as, in his work, entitled, Oedipus .!Egyptiacus. This collection of Mendoza we h ave diligently fiudicd, and obt..tincd much a!Tiibnce to our hiftory from it. II. The colleCtion of the Vatican. Acoll:a makes mention· of fomc pai~ted Mexican annals which were in his time in the library of the Vat1can. ~e. have no doubt but they arc ftill there ; confidcr ing the laudable cunohty and great attention of the Italian gentlemen to prefcrve fuc.h monuments of antiquity;. but we had not any opportunity. of applymg there to confult them. III. The colleCtion of Vienn:1. Eight M t:xic:m pa111tmgs arc prcfcrved in the library of this court. "l· r m a note," f:tys Dr. Robert.~ j(m., " to this M exican code, it ap pe•u·s, th at it was made a pre' ~ ient by Emanuel, king of Portugal, to pope lemen t V II. Afte ~ " having pa!fed through the h ands of fc vcral ill Ldtr'ions proprietors, it " carne into the pofidfion of the cardinal of s~\XC Eife nach, who p re" fen ted it to. the tmperor Leopold.'' The (,unc author, in his Iifl:ory of ~me rica, gives a copy of one of theic paintings, the fi. ril part of wh1ch reprefents ·t king, who makes r upon a. c ity :-tf'ter hav ing fent an ernba.!Ty to it. The fig ures o[ temples , and of fome yc:1rs ;1tlcl day. appear m 1t; but as it is a fin gle copy w ithou t colonrs, or tho!(; rnar~s in the llllman figures, which , in other Mexican p.1intiugs, cn- ~b l!! • . XX1X. |