the hieroglyphical inscriptions to perpetuate a name. The King of Egypt might (and it was a custom) build his own monument and Sarcophagus, inscribe them with his victories and virtues; but his body (after death) would not be placed within, unless at the public ordeal upon his life and character the People should grant permission.

If such a custom obtained at the present day, how many lying tomb-stones and monumental effigies would escape the charge of falsehood; and how many unrecorded possessors of talent and character, would breathe in marble for the imitation of their posterity!

The Enchorial language (i. e. the common or spoken) was not placed (alone) on sacred edifices : therefore its absence on a building almost demonstrates that building to have been erected and adorned for sacred purposes. Upon this consideration we shall view the great edifice of Palenque,-as the Temple, and not the Palace. And, it might naturally be asked if this is a Palace, where is the Temple ?-for in all ancient nations the Temple of worship was always the grandest edifice of a metropolis: the same custom is still continued in more modern times,-Rome has its St. Peter's, and London its St. Paul's.

The hieroglyphics on the Altar and Idols of Copan (vide last Section) in a similar manner demonstrate those sculptures to be of a Religious character, but that fact does not preclude the association of Historical events, they were so introduced and incorporated by

the Egyptians and the ancients, in order to deify those events; and by thus rendering a sacristy of character to the hero, or the glory, to give them both (in their belief) an earthly, or rather a celestial immortality!

Herodotus states (ii. §. 36) that the hieratic (priests) and the demotic (common) were the two written languages of Egypt,-these two were apart from the hieroglyphical or symbolical language. Diodorus Siculus (iii., § 3) supports his predecessor, and says that the former (hieratic) was used only by the priests,— while the latter (i. e. the Enchorial or demotic) was used in common by all the Egyptians,-i. e., that it was the spoken language of the country, and, as already shewn, not used upon sacred edifices. From these facts, derived from ancient custom, may be gathered why the ciphers of the common language of the Mexican Aborigines are not found upon their Temples; and as a consequence, the absence of the spoken lan. guage upon those Temples proves them (from the ancient custom) to have been erected at a period when that peculiar custom was practised; and therefore, (apart from other considerations) the time of their erection must be viewed at a remote antiquity.

"It (the stucco) was painted, and in different places about we discovered the remains of red, blue, yellow, black, and white."

In the language of the Fine Arts "black and white" are not received as colours-they are merely accesso

ries. Red, Blue, and Yellow, are the three; and the only primitive earth-colours, and by their amalgamation in certain proportions (aided by the subordinates, black and white) all secondary colours or tints strictly speaking-are produced. The Rainbow possesses but three primitive colours; but by their juxtaposition and refractions, the purple, orange, green, and violet are produced.

Titian painted a picture in which he used only the three primitives; but taking the Rainbow for his mistress in colouring, he so arranged the juxtapositions of the original and "divine three," that the cloud-created Iris might well be jealous of the triple tints of Titian!

No greater proof could be given of antiquity, than the discovery that the Mexican Aborigines were ignorant of the art of mixing colours-for the three primitives only, and not the secondary colours-are found upon the Temples. The "Tyrian dye" or purple, was not extracted from the earth, but from the Sea, from a shell-fish, since called the purple murex.

For ages it was believed that the Rainbow possessed seven colours. Science has proved that it contains but three. Nature has no more: and without even alluding to other religious opinions-the Trinity is even figured in the Rainbow: and the Divine Arch viewed in this figurative manner, has indeed the Eye of the Almighty upon it-the Three in One-it is not only the "Covenant," but the Type of Salvation from the Father to his children!

The reader will pardon this slight digression, and the writer makes the following assertion for the investigation of the curious, without any fear of a negative being produced. The conclusion is from many years of observation; viz., That every thing in Nature of the Animal or the Vegetable kingdom; the Rainbow and the Elements; that all the works of Art embraced in the comprehensive term, Architecture (Edificial or Naval): in the Arch itself, and even in Mechanics; that in all these productions of Nature or Art there are ONLY THREE GRAND PARTS! And many of those parts contain within themselves three subdivisions. Those subdivisions are only accessories, holding the same relation to the whole, that the secondary colours do to the primitives of the Rainbow. We will give a few illustrations from Nature and Art. For instance,—the Fruit-tree, the three primitive parts are the roots, trunk, and branches, these are composed of fibrum, sap, and bark; the accessories are the leaves and fruit; the leaf consists of the stalk, fibres, and the web; the fruit, of the rind, the apple, and the core. The Human form will bear the same test; viz., head, trunk, and limbs-nay, the very principles of life, brain-lungs, and heart; and also the great combinations in Chemistry! The sublime science of Astronomy also supports the conclusion. For the illustration from Art -a Temple. The three grand divisions are the foundation, body, and roof; the front of the edifice is in three parts-viz., columns, entablature, and pediment;

these being subdivided, and three parts again appear: 1st, a Column, the shaft, capital, and abacus; 2d, the Entablature, the architrave, frieze, and cornice; 3d, the Pediment, the apex, and the two corners, forming a triangle. The triangle is, also, the facial characteristic of a square Pyramid, and its square base contains two triangles; but the true Pyramid contains only three sides, each, with the base, present triangles. If man's efforts in Art have produced by accident the

TRIA JUNCTA IN UNO,

we must feel that nothing in Nature can be accidental, and investigation will prove that the Divine "three" pervade all! We are not aware that the above assertion has ever been made by any author, but we are convinced from years of observation, that although original and startling, it is no less the truth-for being founded in Nature it could not be otherwise. In the third volume this subject will be enlarged upon; for the present we claim the discovery of this great philosophical principle—the true active one of Nature and of Art, with the possession of which a man has the key to the arcana of both.

The Mexican Aborigines then had, apparently, no knowledge of the art of mixing colours, from which fact a strong proof is gained of their great antiquity.

"The piers (i. e. the square columns of the Temple) which are still standing, contained other figures of the same general character, but which unfortunately are