unable to
affirm positively that there was a real marriage ceremony performed,
can readily be accepted. It must be remembered that the Jesuits were
themselves under the official and popular ban for the part they had
played in Rizal's education and development and that they were seeking
to set themselves right in order to maintain their prestige. Add to
this the persistent and systematic effort made to destroy every scrap
of record relating to the man--the sole gleam of shame evidenced in
the impolitic, idiotic, and pusillanimous treatment of him--and the
whole question becomes such a puzzle that it may just as well be left
in darkness, with a throb of pity for the unfortunate victim caught
in such a maelstrom of panic-stricken passion and selfish intrigue.

[15] A similar picture is found in the convento at Antipolo.--_Author's
note_.

[16] A school of secondary instruction conducted by the Dominican
Fathers, by whom it was taken over in 1640. "It had its first beginning
in the house of a pious Spaniard, called Juan Geronimo Guerrero,
who had dedicated himself, with Christian piety, to gathering orphan
boys in his house, where he raised, clothed, and sustained them, and
taught them to read and to write, and much more, to live in the fear
of God."--Blair and Robertson, _The Philippine Islands_, Vol. XLV,
p. 208.--TR.

[17] The Dominican friars, whose order was founded by Dominic de
Guzman.--TR.

[18] In the story mentioned, the three monks were the old Roman god
Bacchus and two of his satellites, in the disguise of Franciscan
friars,--TR.

[19] According to a note to the Barcelona edition of this novel,
Mendieta was a character well known in Manila, doorkeeper at
the Alcaldia, impresario of children's theaters, director of a
merry-go-round, etc.--TR.

[20] See Glossary.

[21] The "tobacco monopoly" was established during the administration
of Basco de Vargas (1778-1787), one of the ablest governors Spain
sent to the Philippines, in order to provide revenue for the local
government and to encourage agricultural development. The operation
of the monopoly, however, soon degenerated into a system of "graft"
and petty abuse which bore heartily upon the natives (see Zuniga's
_Estadismo_), and the abolition of it in 1881 was one of the heroic
efforts made by the Spanish civil administrators to adjust the archaic
colonial system to the changing conditions in the Archipelago.--TR.

[22] As a result of his severity in