44 
Greece religion became 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 pf the Plaza Mayor 
at Mexico, within the enclosure of the great 
temple, in the month of August, 1790; 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 yol. xiii, p. »307- 
