expressing in brief and impressive sentences the universal grief of all the community and the special grief of that royal Audiencia. His Lordship listened to him attentively, and answered him gravely and concisely, with words suitable to the subject, thanking him in the name of his Majesty for the demonstrations of grief which servants so loyal were making on an occasion so consecrated to sorrow. Having finished their oration, the royal Audiencia gave place successively to the ecclesiastical cabildo, the secular cabildo, the tribunal of the royal official judges, the superiors of the orders, the colleges, and the bureau of the Santa Misericordia--each one taking its proper place as regards precedence. All of them observed the courtesies and punctilious forms due to the decorum and seriousness of that function. After these had signified by the gravity of their words, and by the seriousness and sadness of their countenances, the heavy weight of the sorrow which oppressed their hearts for a loss so worthy of immortal lament, and after his Lordship had answered with equally apposite speech what good judgment dictated and sorrow forced out, that act of mourning came to an end. It was no less dignified than refined; and no accompaniment or ceremony was lacking in the decorum of that action--the daughter of the affection with which so faithful vassals serve their king and sovereign. That parade was followed by another of no less gravity, namely the accompaniment of the royal crown to the chapel of the royal camp for the solemnity of vespers and the funeral oration which was prepared [for this occasion]. For that purpose, after the condolences the members of the royal Audiencia returned to the hall of the royal assembly, where the august crown reposed with all authority and propriety, signifying, in the somber mourning with which it was covered, a sorrowing majesty and a monarchy grief-stricken at beholding itself without the head from whose glorious temples it had fallen--Cecidit corona capitis nostri. [3] His Lordship handed the crown to General Don Pedro Mendiola y Carmona, entrusting to his hands the honor of so great a Majesty, and thus crowning the great services which the latter had rendered to his king in the lofty posts that he has occupied in these islands. This was the opening act of the parade, which commenced at the palace, encircled the entire plaza of arms under the galleries, and ended at the royal chapel--the theater, as we have already remarked, destined for the magnificence of that funeral celebration. That act was arranged by the care and foresight of the royal assembly, and carried out by means of the managers with so great brilliancy, gravity, and propriety that it corresponded in all things with the majesty of the [dead] person. The orphan boys of the college of San Juan de Letran--who number more than one hundred and fifty, and are reared at the expense of his Majesty, in charge of the fathers of St.