PRELIMINARY NOTICE.

The following Essay was originally designed to close theIntroductory Book, to which it properly belongs. It waswritten three years since, at the same time with that part ofthe work. I know of no work of importance, having refer-ence to the general subject of discussion, which has appearedsince that period, except Mr. Bradford’s valuable treatise onAmerican Antiquities. But, in respect to that part of thediscussion which treats of American Architecture, a most im-portant contribution has been made by Mr. Stephens’s twoworks, containing the account of his visits to Central America and Yucatan , and especially by the last of these publications.Indeed, the ground, before so imperfectly known, has nowbeen so diligently explored, that we have all the light, whichwe can reasonably expect, to aid us in making up our opin-ion in regard to the mysterious monuments of Yucatan . Itonly remains, that the exquisite illustrations of Mr. Cather-wood should be published on a larger scale, like the greatworks on the subject in France and England, in order toexhibit to the eye a more adequate representation of thesemagnificent ruins, than can be given in the limited compassof an octavo page.

But, notwithstanding the importance of Mr. Stephens’sresearches, I have not availed myself of them to make any

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