[22] Bartolome (not Bernardino) de las Casas, the great apostle of the Indians. He first went to the New World in 1502 as a planter, became a Dominican religious in 1510, and in 1514 began to preach against the cruelty inflicted on the Indians by the Spaniards, for the purpose of alleviating their misfortunes, making numerous trips to Spain. He finally obtained from Cárlos I the “New Laws,” which were so rigorous that an attempt to enforce them resulted in an insurrection in Peru under Gonzalo Pizarro, for an account of which see Pedro Gutiérrez de Santa Clara’s Historia de las guerras civiles del Peru, 1544–1548 (Madrid, 1904–05). He finally returned to Spain for the last time, and died after a few years in the Dominican convent of Valladolid. His writings are many, and important. The reference in the text may be to his Brevissima relacion de la destruycion de las Indias (Sevilla, 1552); or to his Historia general de las Indias, which existed only in MS., until 1875.
[23] See Vol. XXIX, p. 189, note 42. San Agustin probably refers to his Virtudes del Indio (1650?). Palafox left many writings, a number of which are of a controversial nature.
[24] In D., “taught.”
[25] In D., “collect.”
[26] M. and D. call these last two peoples the “Mogores” and the “Camarines.”
[27] Baltasar Gracian was born in Calatayud, Aragon, in 1601, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1619. He taught belles-lettres, philosophy, moral theology, and the Holy Scriptures, and preached for several years. He was rector of the college at Taragona, Catalonia, where he died December 6, 1658. His first book, El Heroë, appeared in 1630. The most famous of his numerous works was his Criticon, which is probably the book referred to in the text. It is a sort of satire on the vices and customs of the times; and in places reminds one of Pilgrim’s Progress. It was published in three parts, the first in 1650 at Madrid, and the other two at Huesca, in 1653. Most of his works were published under his brother Lorenzo’s name. His talent in writing is vitiated by his affectation and other faults. See Ticknor’s History of Spanish Literature (New York, 1854); Sommervogel’s Bibliothèque; Moreri’s Dictionaire, iv, p. 174; and Hoefer’s Nouvelle biographie générale, xxi, cols. 570, 571.
[28] M. and D. add “For most of the defects and vices of these Indians are common, on account of the,” and continue as above.
[29] This passage is badly confused in the three copies. The transcriber of M. has wrongly made the viviendo acephalos of the Ayer copy, bebiendo à sed [i.e., drinking when thirsty?] which hardly makes sense. That MS. continues, “and in confused anarchy,” which is better than the Ayer reading. D. reads “Who besides having been living as the greatest barbarians, leaderless, and in confused anarchy.”
[30] Both M. and D. omit the passage referring to the influence and dominion of the moon. M. gives the names as “Beyerlinhe,” and D. as “Bayarlinch.”
Laurentius Beyerlinck was a noted Flemish savant and litterateur. He was born at Antwerp in 1578, and, after studying in that city with the Jesuits, went to Louvain, where he enjoyed a benefice until 1605. In that year he was recalled to Antwerp to become head of the seminary, and soon afterward obtained a canonry and then an archdeaconry there. His death occurred in Antwerp June 22, 1627, at the age of forty-nine. Notwithstanding his short life and his religious labors, he wrote a surprising amount. An edition of his Magnum Theatrum Vitæ Humanæ appeared in London, in eight volumes, in 1678. See Moreri’s Dictionaire.