Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/795

Rh last change than from the previous, for it prospered sufficiently to be endowed in 1593 with the title of city. There were four other Spanish towns in the province and about three hundred native towns and villages. The population suffered much less here from the epidemics of 1563 and 1575-6, thanks to the many hospitals erected by friars, and to which Quiroga had given impulse by his establishment at Santa Fé. The memory of this good bishop is to this day venerated throughout the province for his

many beneficent acts and fatherly supervision, continued until his death in 1565, the fruits remaining as a bright example to his successors. Of gigantic