passage in question, while not
hard to understand in Latin, would be, if translated literally,
almost unintelligible in English--a long, wordy repetition of
revocatory and annulling clauses, for many of which there is no
precise and brief equivalent in English. Nor is the Latin itself
elegant; and a few words and phrases can only be guessed at--these,
however, not affecting the real sense, or involving any matter of
importance.--_Rev. T. C. Middleton_, translator.

[100] Juan Garcia (afterward named "de la Cruz") came to the
Philippines in 1632; he must therefore have sent to Sevilla almost
immediately after his arrival in the islands the letter from which
this document was printed. He spent four years laboring in the
Formosa mission; and in 1636 went to China, where he spent most of his
remaining years. Persecuted in that country as a Christian preacher,
he finally was seized by Chinese soldiers, and so maltreated that
his injuries caused his death December 8, 1665, at Fogan; he was then
sixty years of age. See _Resena biog. Sant. Rosario_, i, pp. 411-414,
for sketch of his life.

[101] Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera. See vol. xvii, p. 291.

[102] See account of the founding of the Jesuit missions in China,
_vol. vi_, p. 208. The work begun by Ricci (see _vol. xv_, p. 178)
was continued by Johann Adam Schall von Bell, a German Jesuit, who
entered China in 1622, remaining there until his death in 1669. He was
a noted astronomer and mathematician, and for his learning and talents
was greatly esteemed by the Chinese, especially at the imperial court;
the reformation of the Chinese calendar was entrusted to him, and
rank and emoluments were conferred upon him. The missions in China
were not molested by the authorities after 1622; but the conflicts
between the Chinese and Tartars, which ended in the overthrow of the
Ming dynasty, greatly injured the work of the missionaries from 1630 to
1660. At the time of our text, the Jesuits were on friendly terms with
the authorities, and their work prospered especially in Peking. See
account of Catholic missions in China, in Williams's _Middle Kingdom,_
ii, pp. 290-325; and in Cretineau-Joly's _Hist. Comp. de Jesus_, iii,
pp. 165-184.

[103] _Medias anatas_: half of the first year's income; a tax which
was paid to the crown upon entering any office, pension, or grant. It
was introduced into the Indias by a law of 1632. See _Recopilacion
leyes de Indias_, lib. viii, tit. xix.

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