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Rh instruction in distinct departments, under women. As a rule, they were sent to convents, there to be trained chiefly in feminine accomplishments.

The Jesuits exercised a great influence in favor of public instruction. Their method of teaching was admired, and aid was readily granted them by citizens for establishing colleges. They had enemies, however, who first restricted and finally drove them away. They early established four colleges at Mexico, notably the San Pedro y San Pablo, all of which were by the second decade of the seventeenth century merged into one, under the name of San Ildefonso. Nevertheless, the Jesuits continued their efforts, and at the time of their expulsion in 1767 possessed twenty-three colleges, and a number of seminaries in different provinces, only a portion of which were reopened under other teachers.

The example of the Jesuits was followed by others, and several colleges and seminaries were the result of it. Still, quite a number of provinces were devoid of facilities for anything above elementary training. At Mexico there were in 1790 eight colleges for males, only two of which fell under control of friars.

The deficiency of high schools has been glossed over by directing attention to the founding of the university. Mendoza, the first viceroy, left property for its establishment; and during the rule of the elder