Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/98

78 gentlemen whom I have named my executors, or of any one of them who may be present, and that everything suitable thereto be decently ordered.

III. I direct, furthermore, that the beneficed clergy and chaplains of the parish church of the town or place where I die shall carry my body, and that all the monks of the religious Orders shall also march in procession, headed by the cross, and assist at the obsequies which shall be celebrated; and I direct that the usual alms may be given to the said religious orders according to the judgment of my said executors.

IV. Item: I direct that, on the day of my death, fifty poor men be provided out of my means with full gowns of grey cloth, with large hoods of the same, and shall accompany my funeral procession bearing lighted torches, after which each shall receive one real.

V. Item: I direct that on the same day of my funeral, if it should take place before midday, and otherwise on the day following, all the masses possible shall be said in all the churches and monasteries of the said city or town or place of my death; and besides these masses, five thousand more shall be said on successive days in the following manner: one thousand for the souls in purgatory, two thousand for the souls of those who lost their lives serving under me in the discoveries and conquests which I made in New Spain, and the two remaining thousand for the souls of all towards whom I have obligations of which I am ignorant or forgetful; those which I do know and remember shall be discharged as I direct in this my testament. My executors shall recompense the said five thousand masses according to custom, and I beg them in all that concerns my funeral to suppress the worldly pomps, and devote money rather to the good of souls.

VI. Item: On the said day of my burial my executors shall furnish all my own servants and those of my sons with a suitable mourning dress, as they shall judge proper, and during six succeeding months, my servants shall continue to receive their usual stipend with their food and drink, exactly as during my lifetime. Those who do not remain in the service