In spite of the wealth which the New World had poured into Spain many of the noble families were poor in the seventeenth century, and some of these found it difficult to give their sons such an education as their talents and station demanded. Frequently young persons of this class secured positions as pages in the viceroy’s household, and were educated under his supervision, sometimes remaining in Peru and acquiring distinction in the affairs of the state or the Church. Some of them with the viceroy’s approval joined religious orders. Ignacio de Arbieto is an instance of one who became a Jesuit. [Sidenote: Arbieto’s life and writings] He was born in Madrid in 1585. At Lima he studied in the college of San Pablo, later taught Latin in the same institution, became professor of philosophy at Quito, was transferred to the college in Arequipa, where he became rector of the institution, returned to the college of San Pablo in Lima as professor of theology, was appointed rector of the college at Chuquisaca, and subsequently took up his duties as rector of the college of San Martín in Lima. After long service as professor and rector of various colleges of the Society, he died in Lima on August 7, 1676. During his last years he served as counsellor of the provincial, and at the same time was occupied in writing his _Historia del Perú y de las fundaciones que ha hecho en él la Compañía de Jesús_. A _Suma de las obras teológicas del P. Francisco Suárez_ is attributed to Padre Arbieto. [Sidenote: Arbieto’s successor] [Sidenote: Barrasa’s _Historia de las fundaciones_] The failure of Arbieto’s work to receive the approval of the General of the Society led to the demand that another person should be charged with writing the history of the Jesuit foundations. By vote of the provincial congregation of 1674 Padre Jacinto Barrasa was appointed to undertake the task, which he completed in a manuscript volume of 1350 pages to the satisfaction of the authorities; but this appears not to have been published. The book was more exclusively devoted to the affairs of the Jesuits than were most of the writings of the Jesuit historians. He treated neither of the political history of the country nor of its geography, affirming that these phases of the subject had been sufficiently presented by Calancha in his _Crónica moralizada_. His course with respect to the second subject was altogether unusual, for from the beginning even to the present geographical description has been a conspicuous feature of South American writings. The real theme of Barrasa’s book is sufficiently set forth in its title: _Historia de las fundaciones de los colegios y casas de la provincia del Perú de la Compañía de Jesús, con la noticia de las vidas y virtudes religiosas de algunos varones ilustres que en ella trabajaron_.