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Show ' DISSER 1'. VI. 1 '--r--1 ' . . ·H I s T 0 R Y ~J 0 F M E X I C 0. into Caftilinn; amongfl: others 1deferving of mention,_ ~re . D. F. lx.tlil.:. . /o..h'tl • whom we have fo often cited; D. A. Valenanes, of Azca.- xo~. 1 , h 1 · n. · .,... pozalco, the mail:er in the Mexican language to t e 1m:opan ~or-ctnema d a, &c . We know from the Hifto• r. y .o f t·h e Co.n queft, that th.e cdebrated Indian donna Marina, learned WJthJgreat qmckr}efs,and fa<;:t• lity the <:;afiiEan Iangnage, and that 01e fp~ke the Mexican, a~d , alfo the Maya language well, which are more! ddtcrent £tom ~e~ch .o~her than the French, the Hebrew, and the Illyrian. There havmg been at all times, therefore, very many Spaniards who have learned the Mexi~an, as w~ £hall ihew, and very many Mexicans who have learned the vpal'" niih, why might not the Mexicans have been able to infi:.q.:tCt the Spa-niards in the tignifications of their piCtures? , With refpett to the copies of the Mexican paintings, publithed by Purchas and Thevenot, it is truc ' t11at the proportions, or laws of per-; fpeCtive, are not obferved in them ; ~ut thofe gro~s ~oarfe copies hav.ing been cut in wood, thefe authors have p~ffibly mcreafed t.he defeefs of the originals; nor ought we to wonder 1f they have om1tted fomc ·things contributing to the perfeCtion of thofe 'piCtures; as .we k1~ow that they omitted the copies of the twelfth and twenty-fecond pamtings of that colleCtion altogether, and the images of the cities in moil: bf the oth.ers; and befides, they change the figures of the years correfp~ nding to the 'reigns of Ahuitzotl an.d Mon~ezuma II .. ~s we ~ave already mentioned. Boturini, who faw 111 Mextco the ongmal pamtings of thofc annals, and of the regifter of the tributes which were contained in the copies publilhed by Purchas and Thcvenot, laments the great defeCts of thofc editions. It is fufficient to compare the copies publilhed in Mexico, in 1770, by Lorenzana, with. tho~e publiilied in London by Purchas, and in Paris by Theven0.t, to perceJve and know the great diftetence there is between copy and original. But we do not mean to maintain the perfeCtion of the original, copied by Purchas ; we rather doubt not that they have been imperfect, as all the hiftorical paintings were, in which. the painters contented themfelves with outlines, regardlefs of the proportions or colouring of objeCl:s, the light and fhade, or rules of perfpettive. Nor was. it poflible. they fi1oHld obfervc thofe laws of the art, on· account of their extraoPdinary expedition in making pictures, 't\S Cortes, Diaz and other eye-witneffes · 9 hav(' H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. 379 have attefl:ed. But let us obferve the conclufions M. de Paw deduces DISSERT, from thence. His arguments are thefe : the Mexicans did not ob- ~ ferve the laws of perfpettive in their paintings ; rhey could not there-fore, by means of them, perpetuat~ the memory of events: the Mexi-cans were wretched painters, therefore they could not. be good hifto-rians; but at the fame time that he makes ufe of this fpecies of logic, he ought alfo to have faid, that all thofe who in writing do not make good charaCters cannot be good hiftorians ; for that which letters are to our hill:orians, were the figures of the Mexican hiftorians ; and as go6d hifiories may be written with a baJ charaCter, fo may faCts be well reprefented by coarfe pictures; it is fufficient that either hiftorj.an make hiinfelf underjl:ood. But this is what Mr. de Paw cannot find in the copiea mad~ by Purchas. He declares that having compared the figures of them in diffenmt manners with the interpretations annexed, he could never difcover any connection between them; that which they interpret to be eight kings of Mexico, they might equaUy well interpret to be eight concubines of Montezuma. But the fame thing might be L'lid byM., de Paw, if the book Chun-yum of the philofopher Confucius, written in Chinefe characrers, was prefented to him, with the interpretation in French bolide it1 He would compare in various modes thofc-characrers with the intet·pretations, and fuppoling that he could not·find 2ny conneCl:ron be tween' ,th ~tn, he might fay, that as they interpret that book of the nine qualifications which a good emperor ought to have, they migh.t alio interpret it of nine concubines, or nine eunuchs of fomc ancient empcro~, bccaufo he· uqd(lt -thnds almoil: full 1'1.6 much of the Chin e[~;; characters as df the Mexican fi..;ures . If we had· an interviewJ w·ith M . de E'aw, we cou.H:l expJ:.Un· to him what conncxion thcfe fig ures have with their interpretation ; but, as he does not know it himielf, he onght to. t ke the judgment of thofe who unc'cdl: md th em. , I I He believes, or would rriake us heliewe, , tl1at thofe ,pi{tures alot'l. · which Pu rchn~ copied1 wcrr 0.vecL from :the b~u·n ~llg mall# by the fit-it n1iffion::trics ; but this is mo(\: erroneou:,, as we have alrc..'ldy U)i\dc nppc:: tr againll Robertfon in the beginn iug of the fidl: volun"e. The pain ~ ings faved from that burning were io mal'\Y ill number, that tbq fu} L ·.plied the m a teri:~ l s for tb.c anci.ent thiftory. of:. M~xico, pot only to1 the ( · c <; 2 Spani{h |