BOOK Spanish authors, defcribe this with rapture, and VII. maintain, that the most celebrated European artifts could not furpafs or even equal them in ingenuity and neatnefs of workmanship. They reprefented men, animals, and other objects, by fuch a difpofition of various coloured feathers, as is faid to have produced all the effects of light and shade, and to have imitated nature with truth and delicacy. Their ornaments of gold and filver have been defcribed to be of a fabric no lefs curious. But in forming any idea, from general defcriptions, concerning the ftate of arts among nations imperfectly polished, we are extremely ready to err.. In examining the works of people whofe advances in improvement are nearly the fame with our own, we view them with a critical, and often with a jealous eye. Whereas, when conscious of our own fuperiority, we furvey the arts of nations comparatively rude, we are astonished at works executed by them under fuch manifeft difadvantages, and, in the warmth of our admiration, are apt to reprefent them as productions more finished than they really are. To the influence of this illufion, without fuppofing any intention to deceive, we may impute the exagge ration of fome Spanish authors, in their accounts of the Mexican arts. VII. Ir is not from thofe defcriptions, but from BOOK confidering fuch fpecimens of their arts as are still preserved, that we must decide concerning their degree of merit. As the fhip in which Cortes fent to Charles V. the most curious productions of the Mexican artifans, which were collected by the Spaniards when they first pillaged the empire, was taken by a French corfair, the remains of their ingenuity are lefs numerous than those of the Peruvians. Whether any of their works with feathers, in imitation of painting, be ftill extant in Spain, I have not learned; but many of their ornaments in gold and filver, as well as various utenfils employed in common life, are depofited in the magnificent cabinet of natural and artificial productions, lately opened by the king of Spain; and I am informed by perfons on whofe judgment and taste I can rely, that these boafted efforts of their art are uncouth representations of common objects, or very coarse images of the human and fome other forms, deftitute of grace and propriety. The juftness of thefe obfervations is confirmed by infpecting the wooden prints and copper-plates of their paintings, which have been published by various authors. In them every figure of men, of Relac. de Cort. Ramuf. iii. 294. F. quadru BOOK quadrupeds, or birds, as well as every repreVII. sentation of inanimated nature, is extremely rude and awkward*. The hardest Egyptian ftyle, ftiff * As a fpecimen of the spirit and ftyle in which M. Clavigero makes his ftrictures upon my hiftory of America, I fhall publifh his remarks upon this paffage. "Thus far "Robertfon; to whom we answer, firft, That there is no "reason to believe that thofe rude works were really "Mexican; fecondly, That neither do we know whether "thofe perfons in whofe judgment he confides, may be per"fons fit to merit our faith, becaufe we have obferved that "Robertfon trufts frequently to the teftimony of Gage, "Correal, Ibagnez, and other fuch authors, who are en tirely undeferving of credit; thirdly, It is more probable "that the arms of copper, believed by thofe intelligent judges to be certainly Oriental, are really Mexican.” Vol. II. 391.-When an author, not entirely deftitute of integrity or difcernment, and who has fome folicitude about his own character, afferts that he received his information concerning any particular point from perfons" on whofe judgment and tafte he can rely;" a very flender degree of candour, one fhould think, might induce the reader to believe that he does not endeavour to impofe upon the public by an appeal to teftimony altogether unworthy of credit. My information concerning the Mexican works of art are depofited in the king of Spain's cabinet, was received from the late Lord Grantham, ambaffador extraordinary from the court of London to that of Madrid, and from Mr. Archdeacon Waddilove, chaplain to the embaffy; and it was upon their authority that I pronounced the coat of armour, mentioned in the note, to be of Oriental fabric. As they were both at Madrid in their public character when the first edition VII. ftiff and imperfect as it was, is more elegant. BOOK The fcrawls of children delineate objects almost as accurately. But however low the Mexican paintings may be ranked, when viewed merely as works of art, a very different ftation belongs to them, when confidered as the records of their country, as edition of the Hiftory of America was published, I thought it improper at that time to mention their names. Did their decifion concerning a matter of taste, or their teftimony concerning a point of fact, ftand in need of confirmation, I might produce the evidence of an intelligent traveller, who, in defcribing the royal cabinet of Madrid, takes notices that it contains "fpecimens of Mexican and Peruvian utenfils, vafes, &c. in earthen-ware, wretched both in taste and execution." Dillon's Travels through Spain, p. 77. As Gage compofed his Survey of New Spain with all the zeal and acrimony of a new convert, I have paid little regard to his teftimony with refpect to points relating to religion. But as he refided in feveral provinces in New Spain, which travellers feldom vifit, and as he seems to have observed their manners and laws with an intelligent eye, I have availed myself of his information with respect to matters where religious opinion could have little influence. Correal I have feldom quoted, and never refted upon his evidence alone. The station in which Ibagnez was employed in America, as well as the credit given to his veracity by printing his Regno Jefuitico among the large collection of documents published (as I believe by authority) at Madrid, A. D. 1767, juftifies me for appealing to his authority. historical BOOK historical monuments of its policy and transVII. actions; and they become curious as well as interefting objects of attention. The nobleft and moft beneficial invention of which human ingenuity can boast, is that of writing. But the firft effays of this art, which hath contributed more than all others to the improvement of the fpecies, were very rude, and it advanced towards perfection flowly, and by a gradual progreffion. When the warrior, eager for fame, wished to transmit some knowledge of his exploits to fucceeding ages; when the gratitude of a people to their fovereign prompted them to hand down an account of his beneficent deeds to pofterity; the first method of accomplishing this, which feems to have occurred to them, was to delineate, in the best manner they could, figures representing the action of which they were folicitous to preserve the memory. Of this, which has very properly been called picture-writing, we find traces among fome of the most savage tribes of America. When a leader returns from the field, he strips a tree of its bark, and with red paint scratches upon it fome uncouth figures which represent the order of his march, the number of his followers, the enemy whom he attacked, the fcalps and captives which he • Divine Legat. of Mofes, iii. 73. brought |