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some slight remnants were preserved, till the 
expulsion of the Jesuits, in the library of St. 
Peter and St. Paul at Mexico. A part of the 
paintings collected by Boturini was sent to Eu- 
rope in a Spanish vessel, which was taken by 
an English privateer. It was never known 
whether these paintings reached England, or 
whether they were thrown into the sea as of no 
value. A well informed traveller has assured 
me, that a Codex Mexicanus is shown in a li- 
brary at Oxford, which in the liveliness of its 
colours resembles that of Vienna ; but Robert- 
son, in the last edition of his history of America, 
says expressly, that no other monument of 
Mexican industry and civilization exists in Eng- 
land, beside a golden cup of Montezuma’s, be- 
longing to Lord Archer. How could this Ox- 
ford collection have remained unknown to the 
( illustrious Scottish historian ? 
The greater part of the manuscripts of Bo- 
turini, those which were confiscated in New 
Spain, were torn, pillaged, and dispersed by 
persons, who were ignorant of the value of these 
objects. What exists at present, in the palace 
of the viceroy, composes only three packets, 
each seven decimetres square by five in height. 
They remained in one of the damp apartments 
of the ground floor with the archives of the 
government, which the viceroy. Count Revilla- 
gigedo removed, because the humidity mould- 
