Santiago del Riego, 1596 
375 
the workmen of that city have been aggrieved, and with reason. I ar¬ 
ranged with the viceroy count that they should be published in all New 
Spain, but he wished to see and examine them first very carefully, and 
his constant occupations have not given him an opportunity for it until 
now; neither has the order been given for them to be published in the 
other places of New Spain where there are shops because they have not 
been inspected. It is necessary for the service of God and of your Majesty 
that they be published and observed. Not only should those be observed 
which Viceroy Don Luis ordered, but also the other three or four ordi¬ 
nances in which he did not agree with my opinion, which I sent together 
with those published, and which I believe ought to be published and ob¬ 
served. Your Majesty will order what suits your pleasure. 
In the last letters which I wrote I gave account to your Majesty that, 
the administration of the College of San Juan de Letran having fallen 
to me this year, I found a notable shortage in it. When I came to take 
account of its income I found that of the penas de cámara / 6 which your 
Majesty had granted for it, there were owing to it more than forty thou¬ 
sand pesos. The work of that college is pious and good, if it were properly 
administered. Neither the children, nor the rector, nor the majordomo, 
nor the children’s teacher have a house, for all is falling to ruin. If your 
Majesty would be pleased to order that what is owing it be paid, a suitable 
house could be erected. The work is pious and of the sort which your 
Majesty supports, and I beg that you will deign to grant the favor to it 
as soon as possible. 
In my last letter I also stated that this year there fell to me the judging 
of the goods of deceased persons, which is in little better state than the 
administration of the college, and I begged that your Majesty would 
issue certain orders that would be conducive to your service. As will 
appear by my letter I am asking the same now, for I know that it will con¬ 
duce to the service of God and of your Majesty. 
I would have made use of the three-year leave of absence which your 
Majesty granted me, because the services of thirty-three years which I 
have given in the audiencias urged me to do so and I would have gone to 
those kingdoms if I had not feared that, if God should give me life until 
the three years had passed, I should be compelled to return to this New 
Spain in order to find a support for myself, my wife, and my children, 
in accordance with the favor which your Majesty was pleased to grant me 
after the three years should be passed, but such a weary old age and so 
much work would be an intolerable thing. I beg that your Majesty will 
be pleased to grant me the favor complete for all the days of my life to 
enjoy my office while remaining in my house under the same conditions 
under which I now enjoy it, with permission to go to those kingdoms, for 
my age is so great and my health is failing so much that if I am alive at 
the end of the three years it will be remarkable, and if I do last beyond 
them it will be but a little time, and the favor to me will be very great. 
May our Lord guard the Catholic person of your Majesty, etc. Mexico, 
November 10, 1596. Doctor Santiago del Riego. [ With rubric.'] 
