Note 17 — Chapter VIII
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The disposition of that favorite was very ambitious and proud, which greatly resembled that of the harsh and austere governor. Consequently, that sympathy [in characteristics] conciliated the will of the governor to such an extent that he gave the favorite complete control of the government—giving him more confidence than he ought, in order to sink farther into his natural retirement. He decreed what this man ordered to him, and executed only what was directed by the favorite’s influence. Thereupon the latter began with that license to avenge certain passions and arrogated to himself all the grandeur, fear, and respect which was due only to the supreme character of the governor. Master Don José de Poblete,17 who died as bishop-elect of Nueva Segovia, wrote a printed relation at the order of the supreme Council of the Indias, and in accordance with a decree of his Majesty Don Felipe V, of happy memory, in which his Majesty ordered that an exact relation be given of the condition of those islands, in order that he might give notice to his chronicler-general, Don Tomás Tamayo de Vargas, for the general history of the islands which he was composing; therein he uses these words, when describing the condition of Manila at that time: