At this juncture the marquis of Villa-Mediana arrived. From as far as we could see him we went to meet him. When he asked us whence we came, Madame Roxo told him what had just happened. But the marquis, far from approving the generosity of his daughter, put on a severe countenance, and scolded her for it roundly in my presence. He told her in express terms _that she had performed a very wrong action, which would be the cause of a greater evil; that that woman would not fail to commit that sin again, and perhaps several times, and the blame and sin for it would rebound on her who had asked for the pardon_. [Le Gentil concludes this article by a further translation and synopsis of the same chapter of San Antonio, which relates entirely to the characteristics of the natives--matter which will, if space permit, be embodied in this series.] CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE OF THE FRIARS [The following is taken from volume ii of Sinibaldo de Mas's _Informe sobre el estado de las islas Filipinas en 1842_ (Madrid, January, 1843).] The ecclesiastical estate Shortly after Legaspi had discovered the islands, came successively religious of St. Augustine, St. Dominic, and St. Francis, who spread through the interior and founded convents in Manila. They were the ones who accomplished most in the spiritual and temporal conquest, as is attested uniformly by writers, native and foreign, even the least devout. Some years later, bishoprics were erected; and from that moment began a struggle between the bishops and the monastic orders as to whether or no the friar curas should be subject to the diocesan visit. Innumerable are the treatises, opinions, superior decrees, and scandalous disputes, which took place on this account, as we have already seen in the chapter called "History." The arguments of the religious were founded on the fear of falling into relaxation of their regular observance, as they believed that they could not be good ministers without being good religious. The religious of the Order of St. Dominic, discussing this point in the year 1710, resolved that, if the lords ordinary [98] attempted to subject them to the diocesan visit, they would first abandon all their missions; _for the province regards it as certain and evident that the ruin of the ministering religious must follow the said visit; and of this opinion have been, for many years past, grave religious and zealous and superior prelates whom the province has had_. In the year 1757, Governor Don Pedro Manuel Arandia claimed, with the greatest firmness, that the regulars should submit to the laws of the royal patronage in respect to the appointment of religious for the curacies, and that they should receive the canonical installation. He first directed himself to the provincial of the calced Augustinians, even going so far as to warn him that, if he did not obey his behests and commands in this matter, the governor would proceed to his exile and the occupation of his temporalities.