worshipped under their form.  Japanese superstition regards the fox with abject terror; his craft and cunning are celebrated in legendary ballads; and a condition of mental disorder, known as ’possession by the fox,’ is a common belief, bringing crowds of devotees to Inari’s temples, either to pray for the exorcism of the demoniac influence, or to avert the danger of falling under the dreadful spell.” (Macmillan’s Magazine, December, 1904, p. 117.)

[98] Thus in the transcript, but evidently should be 1633; for the reference to the ad interim government of Lorenzo de Olasso, past the middle of this document, shows that it was written in 1632.

[99] From this point to nearly the end of the bull, I have found it necessary to simplify the phraseology considerably, while carefully preserving the sense.  The passage in question, while not hard to understand in Latin, would be, if translated literally, almost unintelligible in English—­a long, wordy repetition of revocatory and annulling clauses, for many of which there is no precise and brief equivalent in English.  Nor is the Latin itself elegant; and a few words and phrases can only be guessed at—­these, however, not affecting the real sense, or involving any matter of importance.—­Rev. T. C. Middleton, translator.

[100] Juan Garcia (afterward named “de la Cruz”) came to the Philippines in 1632; he must therefore have sent to Sevilla almost immediately after his arrival in the islands the letter from which this document was printed.  He spent four years laboring in the Formosa mission; and in 1636 went to China, where he spent most of his remaining years.  Persecuted in that country as a Christian preacher, he finally was seized by Chinese soldiers, and so maltreated that his injuries caused his death December 8, 1665, at Fogan; he was then sixty years of age.  See Resena biog.  Sant.  Rosario, i, pp. 411-414, for sketch of his life.

[101] Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera.  See vol. xvii, p. 291.

[102] See account of the founding of the Jesuit missions in China, vol. vi, p. 208.  The work begun by Ricci (see vol. xv, p. 178) was continued by Johann Adam Schall von Bell, a German Jesuit, who entered China in 1622, remaining there until his death in 1669.  He was a noted astronomer and mathematician, and for his learning and talents was greatly esteemed by the Chinese, especially at the imperial court; the reformation of the Chinese calendar was entrusted to him, and rank and emoluments were conferred upon him.  The missions in China were not molested by the authorities after 1622; but the conflicts between the Chinese and Tartars, which ended in the overthrow of the Ming dynasty, greatly injured the work of the missionaries from 1630 to 1660.  At the time of our text, the Jesuits were on friendly terms with the authorities, and their work prospered especially in Peking.  See account of Catholic missions in China, in Williams’s Middle Kingdom, ii, pp. 290-325; and in Cretineau-Joly’s Hist.  Comp. de Jesus, iii, pp. 165-184.