the saintly lives and virtues of prominent friars, but in connection therewith, and in separate chapters, a vast amount of political and church history is given; in part compiled from existing authorities, and in part from original documents. Compared with most of the religious chronicles, however, it is superior in style and treatment, being more concise, and giving dates for nearly all events mentioned. On page 230 is found a curious map representing a topographical view of New Spain, with the various Franciscan convents. Some space is devoted to a general description of the cities and towns wherein were situated convents of the order. A list of works used by the author is given, and also a list of writers of the province who had flourished during the preceding century. Medina, who was a native of Mexico, occupied a prominent position in the Franciscan order. He was lecturer on theology and philosophy for fifteen years, successively held the offices of definidor and guardian of various convents, and in 1670 was appointed visitador of his order in the Philippine Islands. Returning to Mexico, he devoted the remainder of his life to literary pursuits and died in 1697. Besides the work already cited, which was the most important, he wrote several others, all of a religious character, the most complete list of them being given by Beristain.
As early as 1550 the history of the Dominican province of Mexico was begun, and continued by successive writers, being first written in Spanish, and subsequently translated into Latin, but it was not until forty years later that it assumed its present form and was published under the title of Historia de la Fundacion y Discurso de la Provincia, de Santiago de Mexico, de la Orden de Predicadores Por las vidas de sus varones insignes y casos Notables de Nueva España, por el Maestro Fray Augvstin Davilla Padilla. Madrid, 1596, folio. This author, born in Mexico City in 1562, his parents, Pedro Davila and Isabel de Padilla, being among the first families of conquistadores, was, as a child, remarkable for his precocity. At four years of age he astonished all by his intelligence; at twelve he had not only studied grammar but rhetoric; at thirteen he was a philosopher; and at sixteen had taken his degrees as doctor in the university of Mexico. The walls of his apartment falling in on one occasion, he was saved from being crushed to death by taking refuge in a window; and attributing this miraculous escape to Our Lady of the Rosary, who was the object of his special devotion, he resolved to devote his life to the service of God. Entering the Dominican order in 1569, he was appointed professor of philosophy, and distinguished himself in the pulpit. Subsequently he held the office of Qualifier of the Inquisition. Alcedo, Bib. Am., MS., i. 321. In 1589, by order of the Dominican chapter-general of Mexico, he began the Historia de la Fundacion. The history thus far written was in Latin. After its translation into Spanish it was found so incomplete as to require much research. According to Brasseur de Bourbourg, Bib. Mex. Guat., 53, Davila-Pad ilia is said to have drawn some of his material from the then manuscript work of Duran, published in 1867 by Ramirez. The work was finished in 1592. The lack of paper, however, prevented its pubbcation in Mexico, and it was taken to Spain in 1595, whence Davila-Padilla proceeded as procurator-general, and published the following year. A second edition with the same title was issued at Brussels in 1625, both of which have become exceedingly rare, and still a third edition, in 1634, at Valladolid, with the