es). These three
persons took one of the largest houses in Manila, and in fact, began to
teach there; but they generally had no scholars. The royal Audiencia
represented to the king that since there were two universities at
Manila, those three posts were useless, since the same branches could
be taught in the universities. Consequently, the king had to pay four
places instead of three, for it was necessary to establish a chair
of canon law and another of the institutes in the university of Santo
Tomas, and the same in the university of the fathers of the Society.

The seminary of Sancta Potenciana was established in 1591; it
served for young girls bereft of father and mother, who were reared
and instructed there at the expense of the king. They had a mother
superior, a chaplain, and a portress. The building of this seminary
having fallen into ruins, Archbishop Roxo proposed to rebuild it,
but the English prevented him from doing so. The bombs and bullets
having finished its destruction, its pensioners were transferred to
Santa Isabela. Santa Isabela is a sort of house or seminary designed
for the rearing of young Spanish girls and orphans. The church is
dedicated to the Presentation of our Lady.

That church and that house are dependent on a confraternity called the
Brotherhood of La Misericordia, founded in 1594, on the model of that
founded in Lisboa, in 1498, by Queen Leonore, widow of Jean [_i.e._,
Joao] II, who died in 1495. That confraternity is composed of persons
of the richest families in Manila, and has a manager, twelve deputies,
one chaplain, and some officers who take charge of affairs. The
revenues of La Misericordia are immense. They all come from legacies
which zealous citizens have left, successively, for employment in
charitable works. Now these funds grow and increase considerably every
year, for the confraternity invest them by furnishing moneys for the
voyage to Acapulco at a very large rate of interest. The cathedral,
the third Order of St. Francis, [80] the Franciscans, the Dominicans,
the Augustinians, and the Recollects, have also legacies or charitable
funds; but their funds are insignificant when compared with those of
the confraternity. The fathers of the Society also have some.

All those houses have been thriving for many years on that silver
that comes on the galleons, from which one may judge of the immense
wealth that they enjoy. We will give an idea of it here in the list
of the reve