183 
Some authors^ have asserted, that the ori- 
ginal of the celebrated collection of Mendoza 
was preserved in the royal library at Paris ; but 
it seems certain, that for a century past this 
library has contained no Mexican manuscript. 
How should the collection purchased by 
Hakluyt, and carried to England, have been 
brought back to France ? We know at present of 
no other Mexican paintings at Paris than some 
oopies contained in a Spanish manuscript, which 
came from the library of Tellier, and of which 
we shall have occasion to speak hereafter. This 
book, highly interesting in other respects, is 
preserved in the superb collection of manuscripts 
in the public library at Paris. It resembles 
the Codex anonymus of the Vatican, N. 3738, 
which is the work of the monk Pedro de los 
Rios f. Kircher has copied a part of the en- 
graving of Purchas 
The collection of Mendoza throws light over 
the history, political state, and domestic life of 
the Mexicans. It is divided into three sections ; 
which, like the skandhas of the Hindoo Puranas, 
treat of subjects altogether different. The first 
section gives the history of the Azteck dynasty 
* Warburton, Essay on Hieroglyphicks, vol. 1, p. 18, 
Papillon, Histoire de la Gravure en Bois, tom. 1, p, 364. 
f See above the description of PI. 7, 
t Kircheri CEdipus, vol. 3, p. 32. 
