144 
FRAGMENT 
OF A 
HIEROGLYPHICAL MANUSCRIPT 
PRESERVED IN THE ROYAL LIBRARY 
AT 
I 
DRESDEN. 
PLATE XLV. 
According to the principle that monuments ex-^ 
plain each other ; and that, to study profoundly 
the history of a nation, we should have under 
our eyes the whole of the works, to which it has 
affixed its character ; I have determined to en- 
grave on plates 45, 46, 47, and 48, fragments 
taken from the Mexican manuscripts of Dresden 
and Vienna. The first of these manuscripts was 
altogether unknown to me, when the printing of 
these sheets was begun. It is not easy to give 
a complete notice of the hieroglyphical paint- 
ings, that have escaped the destruction, with 
