Sire, I kiss the feet of your Majesty, your humble chaplain,
Fray Ygnacio, Archbishop of Manilla.
Sire:
Although I wrote another letter to your Majesty in which I give an account of the affairs in this country, I am obliged to write this one to give your Majesty an account of my own affairs, which cannot be successful unless regulated by your royal hand, from which I would receive death, if I deserved it, more willingly than life from another. It has come to my knowledge that the governor of these islands is writing to your Majesty and complaining of me. As everything which I shall say now is true, I beseech your Majesty to give it credit. If your Majesty should find that I do not tell the truth to the last word, I charge your Majesty to visit upon me a heavy punishment.
I brought with me from España a son of one of my nephews. He is a youth of great virtue and worth, with no manner of vice; and, desiring that he should choose for a wife someone who was his equal in worthiness, while coming on the ship my eyes fell upon a daughter of the licentiate Tellez de Almansa, an auditor who was coming out to this royal Audiencia of your Majesty. She is a very honorable and good woman, and as it appeared to me that that was what was fitting for the young man, rather than greater beauty or property, I made known my desire to a doctor of theology, who was traveling in the ship, in company with the said auditor, so that I might know whether her parents were favorable to my intentions. As he told me that they were
