Another work deserving of praise is the Arte of the Visaya idiom in use in the islands of Sámar and Leite (Binondo, 1872), composed by the Franciscan traveler, Antonio Figuerroa, in which latter language—Leite, that with slight changes is similar to Cebuano, the first grammar was published by the Jesuit missionary, Domingo Ezquerra, in 1662.
Helpful, too, as much as the former Arte in philology is the Christian Doctrine translated into Visaya-Cebuano by the Recoleto scholar and orator, Tomás de San Jerónimo, known to his contemporaries as “the Cicero of Cebú.” His school-book re-issued at Binondo in 1876 is a reprint of his edition of 1731.
Of the Tagal dialect,—a form of speech so hard to acquire with nicety that, according to a Spanish saying, one needs therefor “un año de arte y dos de bahaque,”[2] that is to say, unless I am wrong in my interpretation of the last word—“bahaque” which likely is Aeta, the scholar needs “a year of study and two of practice.”
The earliest Tagal Arte, so styled in chronicles, for what with the universal destructive touch of time, and in Luzon especially, the voracity of that pest of librarians, the anay,—an ant that in a few hours, it is said, will devour a library,—cases as well as books, not a sole copy, apparently, has survived, was composed in 1580 by the Augustinian voyager and missionary, Agustín de Albuquerque, fourth superior of his brotherhood in the Philippines, and printed at Manila in 1637.
In Tagal the works most highly praised are the following: The Critical Treatise on Tagalisms (Mexico, 1742), by the Franciscan linguist, Melchior Oyanguren, the only work known wherein that tongue is contrasted on scientific lines with the classic Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and Mandarin Chinese. The author was moved to prepare his manual for the instruction of his brother missionaries prior to their entrance into their field of work in Luzon.
The Tagal dictionary, by the Jesuit missionary, Juan de Noceda, and others of his society (Manila, 1754), a lexicographical treasure, was reprinted at Valladolid in 1836, and (in its most highly-prized form) again, in 1860, at Manila, with valuable additions by some Augustinian experts.
For the scholar unacquainted with Latin, the most serviceable work for learning Tagal is the Essay on Tagal Grammar (Manila, 1878), composed by the Recoleto missionary and linguist, Toribio Minguella de la Merced, whose Grammar (in the same language) for the use of children (Manila, 1886) was adopted for schools by the Spanish government.
While another helpful work for the study of that same dialect is the Tagal catechism, by the Augustinian, Luis de Amezquita, a popular booklet, first printed in 1666, and (in its thirteenth edition) in 1880, at Manila.
A rare and precious treatise, praised for its critical spirit, is the study on Tagal poetry—a compendium of that dialect reprinted at Sampaloc in 1787, from the first edition of 1703; and again at Manila, in 1879, by another member of the same brotherhood, Gaspar de San Agustín, author, besides, of one of the most valued Conquistas, or histories of the islands.
For the study of Tagal refrains—for this people is ballad-lover to the core—and similar turns of speech, an excellent work, one unique of its kind, is the Colección (Guadalupe, 1890), by two well-known Franciscan linguists, Gregorio Martín and Mariano Martínez Cuadrado.