154 



ROYAL AUDIENCE. 



j^nd because thou art not lettered, thou shalt not have any vote in 

 the halls of justice. It is likewise accompanied by the testimony 

 given by Nicholas Grado, public scriviner, by which it ap- 

 pears that, on the 26th of x^pril 1558, the royal seal was re- 

 ceived at Lima with every solemnity. It had been brought to 

 Callao on the preceding day by the licentiate Saavedra, and 

 was accompanied by the new viceroy, Don Andres Hurtado 

 de Mendoza, Marquis of Canete. The canopy was supported 

 by the judges Bravo Saravia, Mercado de Penaloza, and Gon- 

 zalo de Cuenca ; and the horse was led by the corregidor Se- 

 bastian Chirinos, attended by the alcaids Rodrigo Nino, and 

 Vasco de Guevara. In this manner the procession reached 

 the royal palace, where the seal was put into the hands of the 

 secretary, Juan Munoz, to be delivered by him to the chan- 

 cellor. 



There cannot be any doubt but that this public entry was 

 that of the royal seal transmitted to the audience of Lima by 

 Philip II. when, by the abdication of his august father, in 

 1556, he entered on the government of the kingdoms of Spain 

 and the Indies. 



The above monarch, in the instrudlions which he gave to 

 Don Francisco Toledo, who was received in this capital on 

 the 26th of November 1569, apprized him of the establish- 

 ment of a royal court, annexed to the audience, for the trial 

 of criminal causes. In 1626, Philip IV. created the two posts 

 of fiscals, which are now filled (in 1791) by the licentiates To- 

 rijos and Enciso. He, at the same time, augmented the num- 

 ber of judges to eight. 



On the absence of the president Gasca, in 1550, the royal 

 audience took on itself the government of the whole kingdom » 



as, 



