VEYTIA, Mariano (vay-ee'-te-ah), Mexican historian, born in Puebla in 1718; died there in 1779. He was a precocious child, and at the age of fifteen years took his first degree in philosophy. Three years afterward he was graduated in civil law, and in 1737, notwithstanding his youth, he was admitted as lawyer of the audiencia by a special permission of the viceroy, in May, 1737, he sailed for Spain, and at that time he began to write a detailed narrative of his travels. In two years he visited Spain, France, and Holland, and afterward he went to Italy, Portugal, England, and Palestine. In 1742 he became a member of the military order of Santiago in Madrid, and he entered the convent of San Agustin in Puebla in 1768. About that time he devoted himself to the study of the ancient history of Mexico, but at the time of his death he had finished only three volumes of his work, era-bracing the period from the earliest occupation of Anahuac till the middle of the 15th century, which are noteworthy for the fidelity of his researches. Clavigero, who by this time had finished his "Storia Antica del Messico," wrote to Veytia to obtain notes on the period anterior to the beginning of his history. Veytia's work was published under the title of "Historia Antigua de Mexico" (Mexico, 1836), by Jose Ortega. Vevtia left also a manuscript entitled "Historia ecclesiastica," which has not yet been published, and translated the "Cartas provinciales de Pascal."