44 



Greece religion beeame the chief support of the 

 fine arts, to which it gave existence ; and the ima- 

 gination of the Greeks spread a soothing charm 

 over the most gloomy objects. Among a people 

 groaning beneath the yoke of a sanguinary wor- 

 ship, death every where obtrudes itself under the 

 most hideous emblems ; it is engraven on every 

 stone, inscribed on every page of their books, 

 and their religious monuments seem to be reared 

 with no other view, than to produce terror and 

 dismay. 



I have thought proper to make these observa- 

 tions, before I fix the attention of the reader on 

 the monstrous idol represented in the 29th plate. 

 This rock, sculptured on every side, is more than 

 three metres high, and two broad. It was dis- 

 covered under the pavement of the Plaza Mayor 

 at Mexico, within the enclosure of the great 

 temple, in the month of August, 1 790 ; conse- 

 quently a few months before* the discovery of 

 the enormous stone, which displays the holidays 

 and the hieroglyphics of the days of the Azteck 

 calendar. The workmen, who were employed 

 in making excavations in order to build a sub- 

 terraneous aqueduct, found it in a horizontal 

 position, thirty-seven metres to the west of the 

 Viceroy's palace, and five metres north of the 

 Azequia of St. J oseph. As it is scarcely probable, 



* See vol, xiii, p. 397- 



