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I
•
BooK
II.
Royal
Com1nentariet.
Many days after I Ind wrote this Chapter,
turning
o_ver the Leayes of rhe
Book of
Acofta,
I
met with forne
t~ing
to
t~is
purpofe,
m
C?~~rmauon
of
the
Miracles
which our Lord Jefus
Chnfi,
and his Mother the
Vugm
M ary,
Qg_een
of the Angels, had wrought in the New World, in favour of our holy Faith
and Religion; which when
I
had read, and
fou~d
my
own _Reports confirmed
by
his
Auchoricy,
I
cannot exprefs the Joy
I
conceived by this nappy (Oncurrence.
· For fince the Delivery of truth
is
my
chief
Aim
and Defign,
I
cannot but be great–
ly
delighted when
I
find
my
R~lations
confirmed either
in
part, or
in.
who_le, by
the Authority of other Hill:onans; for
I
hate the Character of bemg either
a
Flatterer or a fabulous Writer; which
to
avoid
I
have thought fit to produce
the Wo;dsof
Acofta
in the z7th Chapter ofhis 7th Book, which are
as
followeth.
" When the
Spaniard.r
were befieged in the City of
Couo,
and
fo
dofely pref–
,, fed and firaicned, that without the Affill:ence of Heaven
it
was jmpoffible for
" them to e(cape,
I
have hear
from very credible Perfons, tfiat the
IndiJtn.r
'' threw Fire on the Roof of
t
at Houfe where the
Spaniard1
were lodged, and
" where now the Cathedral Church
is
built; and though the Covering of the
'' Houfe was
a
fort of Thatch, (which they call
Chicho,
or rather
Tchu,)
and that_
'' the Fire was made with a ralimy
kind
of burning Wood, yet
it
cook no hold
" _' on that combufi:ible matter; for our Lady appearing from above, kept a con–
,, fiant Guard over that place, and immediately extingui!hed the Fire;
all
which
" the
Indian.r
vifibly
faw,
and remained with afionifhment. All the Relations
'' and HHl:ories, which are wrote on this Subject, report
for a C€rtain
truth, that
" in
divers Battels, which the
Spaniardr
fought in New
Spain,
and
in
Peru,
the
''
Ind n.r
plainly difcovered
in
die
Air,
a Cavalier, mounted on a white Horfe,
'' with a Sword in
his
Haad,
fighting
for the
Spaniard.r;
whence it
is,
that
in
all
'' parts of the
Weft-Indies
great Devotion and Honour is paid to that glorious
'' Apofile Sc.
'fame1;
and at other times
in
feveral difficult Encounters, the Image
"' of our Lady hath prefented it felf, from which Chrifilans have received inex·
cc
preffible Benefits; and were
all
thefe Apparitions and Wonders of Heaven
par–
'' ticularly defcribed, they
would
fwell aVolume too large for
this
Hillary,
&c.
, Thus
far
are the Words of
Acofta,
who reports,
that
almofi:
fourty
years afcer
thefe matters were tranfacted he made a Voyage into
Peru,
where he received
In–
formation
of
all
thefe particulars. And having faid thus much, we will return
again to our
Spaniard.r,
who remaining under fuch propitious circumfiances. of the
Pivine Providence, were enabled to become
the
Mafiers of
an
hundred
New
Worlds.
(
-
A
a a a
2
CH
AP.
·.
547