The memory of that letter, which your Excellency wrote to the bishop of Zebù, when the latter was president, governor, and captain-general of these islands, does not fail to corroborate this idea [i.e., of the archbishop's sanity]. In that letter you advised him that in order that you might undertake to consecrate him, he must first assure your Excellency, among other things, that he would not hold dances of women and men in the palace, as that was entirely opposed to modesty, prudence, and a delicate conscience of bishops, as well as outside the object of the consecration. That advice was very worthy of praise, although it would appear that it was idle and could have been excused because of the solid virtue and religious conduct of Señor Espeleta. But (oh human misery and weakness!) your Excellency did not practice that healthful counsel in the celebration of the patronage of our Lady of Guadalupe. For, to the universal confusion and laughter of all your flock, and of the respect due to your exalted dignity, your Excellency invited to your palace, all the ladies of distinction and the women of the lower class, in order that they might celebrate said festivity with contradances, fandangos, and other dances, which lasted on different nights from six in the evening until one or two in the morning; and those ladies made use of your Excellency's privy and bedroom for that indecent although natural easing of the body. Neither was your Excellency dissuaded by the consideration that during the carnival days of the year 1762, you preached, as a good shepherd and vigilant prelate, against dancing, portraying with just arguments the spiritual risks and ruin which followed from it and especially from those dances in which the dancers hold one anothers' hands and clasp arms, as well as from those which caused some immodest movements; and yet, it was public and notorious that on the night preceding said sermon and on the following night, your Excellency had in your palace the greatest concourse of men and women of all classes ever seen in Manila, and the same women whom your Excellency chid in the pulpit, and [whose procedure you] considered as an action very near to spiritual ruin, were incessantly engaged in dancing. It is worth noting that some ladies excused themselves from attending said party, and you expressed your indignation, saying that you would compel them to attend such functions. Equally, or much more, is this idea confirmed by the reflection of what happened in Cavite, on the occasion of your Excellency having gone to inspect the keel of a ship which was to be constructed; for under this pretext, your Excellency invited and even compelled many ladies of Manila to go to said port, where, and on distinct nights, your Excellency made the round of the village amid fine music and ladies, inciting the latter to sing the Chairo, the Forito, and other profane songs, interpolating them with the most