Letters Exchanged Between José Rizal and Other Reformers - 1882

001 Vicente Gella, 30 June

Rizal has separated from his family and friends to seek the welfare that we all desire” -- News of Rizal is eagerly awaited -- His friends and relatives are saddened by his absence -- His family approves of his going abroad -- Town fiesta of Kalamba

Trinidad Street, Sta. Cruz, Manila

30 June 1882

Mr. José Rizal

My Dear and Esteemed Rizal,

       If the absence of a son from the bosom of his esteemed family is sad, no less will be that of a friend who, being very dear to all of us who has had the honor of being called his friends and comrades, now is away; from us seeking the welfare that we all desire.  Had it not been for that, the separation would have been more painful for the distance that separates us.  May God help you for the good that you do to your fellow countrymen.

       With the arrival of the steamship Salvadora that took you to Singapore, we have foregathered at the house of your Uncle Antonio to find out something about your trip.  When your Uncle Antonio saw your compadre and me * going up, he gave us at once an embrace on your behalf.  Immediately followed the reading of your letter addressed to the Compañerismo and . . . .

_____________

       * Compadre (masculine) and Comadre (feminine) are terms used by the godfather and godmother to address the father and mother of their godson or daughter and by which the father and mother addresses them.

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002 José M. Cecilio, Manila, 28 August

Rizal is remembered by his friends at Manila -- His fiancée Leonor Rivera feels deeply his absence -- His essay El amor patrio (Love of Country) appears in Diariong Tagalog -- Cholera in Manila -- At Madrid Rizal can cooperate with other Filipinos there whose working for their country’s welfare --The friars in the Philippines are despotic -- Rizal should study law.

Manila, 28 August 1882

Mr. José Rizal

My Dear Namesake and Friend,

       I received your last letter of 28 June from which I learned with genuine pleasure that you are now in Barcelona enjoying the views of that commercial city and that you are freed from the incidents that almost always occur in such a highly important voyage as you have undertaken.  You did not have less of these incidents and some of which were a little extraordinary, as for example, you thought the train departed when scarcely you had begun to do what had compelled you to go down the train.  At first it seemed to make one pity you, but looking at it closely, it is really laughable.

       This morning the landlord (1) received your letter in which you tell him to address his reply to Madrid.  In it I note that you continue to enjoy good health, which, as you know, gives me real pleasure.

       In my preceding letter, written hastily, you will note that I had that I had that blessed ophthalmia (a severe inflammation of the eyeball) for nearly three months.  Now completely well, I have no other complaint but the numerous tasks that have fallen over me. (2) It seems that I have fallen into prison working day and night with the difference that in prison there are whips and in the office none, but soon I shall finish the urgent tasks that compel me to work more hours than are required.

       I delivered in due time the letter of Captain José Valenzuela.

       I made two calls on the family of this gentleman in your name and I found our charming O . . . . even more amiable than before.  On my way to her house I learned from Pedro Gella that it seems that S . . . . has asked for the hand of this young woman.  This somewhat disturbed me since I knew that friend was after D . . . . P . . . . after whom before was P . . . .  In order to find out if it was true I made her this joke, which she denied categorically and I told her that if any news can sadden you in that distant land, it will be no other than for you to learn that your hopes in her have ended.  To this she replied that she did not know that I have lice on my body. (3)

       We played tresiete (4) (T . . . ., O . . . ., Galicano, and I), but afterwards O . . . . spread out her cards and asked me to bet on one of them.  Without hesitation I bet you on a horse against one five and I won.  Then I told her that it was a clear proof that what I told her about your love affairs was true.  I don’t know if she understood that you were the proxy of S . . . .  but I informed her that he was present and she knows too well who he is.

       T . . . ., your intimate friend, how she remembers the things that you used to do when she was single.  She requests me to give you a pinch of her F . . ., born after your departure from this capital city.  They asked me how long were you going to stay there and I answered them that at least ten years and when you returned you could make love to F . . . .  Then Orang, Candeng, Chengoy, and Titay, who were present, answered that you would kiss their hands.  I rejoined that there was no other remedy, but Mariano, brother of Menthang split the subject in the middle saying that it could not be so for the reason that you ought not to have two objects.  Here Troy burned.  All of them, including Capitana (5) Sanday, send you their most affectionate regards and Orang wishes you to find there a good-looking girl.

       Also, I visited the family of the elegant girl Margarita.  Grateful, she sends you her regards.  According to news the leg of friend V . . . is already well and he will be at this capital city until the beginning of the coming month.  M . . . was almost half breathing, for figure it out if he had not been cured and his leg was amputated if he would have any desire to come to Manila and continue his engagement to her and his studies and above all the most serious question is, would she accept him with one leg.

       There is a person (6) who has felt deeply your absence and says that had she been here when you left you would not have succeeded to get away.  She deserves pity.  You must have already received a letter from her by now as I write this.  That she loves you there is no doubt now.

       In the Diariong Tagalog of the 20^th of this month is published your article El amor patrio.  On this I give you my most enthusiastic congratulation.  I’m only sorry that it has many typographical errors.

       In this newspaper you will see that cholera has invaded Manila and its districts and causes considerable ravages.  It has also invaded the greater number of the provinces in the south.  The landlord will give you a detailed account of its victims.  Because of this terrible guest we are few in the house, many having gone home to their respective towns.

       Vicente Gella is still here.  He was already to go home on account of the cholera but no boat would take him and the poor man is left with his anxiety to leave.

       I’m glad that you will go to Madrid where you can do many things in favor of this country jointly with the other Filipinos.  So long as we have the pen tied to . . . (illegible word) the better said, so long as they do not give us freedom of the press, abuses, arbitrariness, and injustices will prevail more than in other parts of the world.  It is difficult if not impossible to attain this in . . . . (illegible) from the Europeans with vested interests, as in Cuba . . . (illegible) and to this is due its progress as a modern and more liberal and scientific administration.

       Your compadres and comadres send you regards and your godchildren send you their fond kisses.

       The Vasquez girls who inquire about you also sent you regards.

       Don’t change your plan to study law because it will be very useful to you and it will give you glory in that city.

       The landlord’s letter is the leading article and this is of local interest.  Is this not the case?

       You know that he esteems you truly and you can command your affectionate friend.

Che

_____________

(1)         The landlord was Antonio Rivera, Rizal’s uncle and owner of the boarding house where Rizal stayed.  Sometimes referred to as Don Antonio.

(2)         José M. Cecilio was an employee.

(3)         An expression in Tagalog meaning “full of jest”.

(4)         A card game.

(5)         It was customary to address the wife of an official with the feminine form of the husband’s title; thus, the wife of Capitán (municipal executive).

(6)         Leonor Rivera, Rizal’s fiancée.

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003 Basilio Teodoro Moran, Manila, 12 September

Basilio Teodoro Moran, publisher of Diariong Tagalog, reports to Rizal the censorship of his article El amor patrio -- High praise for his literary work -- Moran thinks Diariong Tagalog cannot live long on account of the indifference of the Filipinos -- He will send regularly issues of it to Rizal -- He requests Rizal to send him articles and news digest and appoints him staff writer.

4 Salazar, Tronzo Manila

12 September 1882

Mr. José Rizal Mercado

Esteemed Friend,

       When we published your article El Amor Patrio, the terrible cholera morbidity has begun to claim thousands of victims in this capital city.  In these last days it has slackened its fatal effects, due undoubtedly to the energetic measures that our most worthy governor general, the Marquis of Estella, (1) has taken to combat it and to the atmospheric change observed lately on account of the continuous squalls and rains that we are having.

       Your article was published whole in one single issue (of 20 August last) so that it would not lose its interest.  The censor of this periodical has boldly added the distinctive mark of el Bueno to the name Guzman, which the editor strongly disapproved telling him rightly that he ought never to add to or remove from an article even one letter, inasmuch as the one who does so become ridiculous in desiring to share the glory of its author; and if the editorial staff considers an article bad, it should not publish it, but it must not mutilate it.  After this reprimand of the aforesaid censor, we have excused his fault that was the result of misunderstood zeal rather than of a blamable desire, and I hope you will do the same.

       The members of this editorial staff including the editor, and enlightened groups of this capital have lavished praises on your work and said that neither here nor in Spain, except Castelar, can produce an equal literary work so full of opportune concepts and poetic images.  I therefore felicitate you warmly for it wishes that you continue the work you have begun, for all of us predict for you unfading honors for your own glory and that of the Spanish order that saw you born.

       I don’t know yet if the Diariong Tagalog can support itself.  I doubt it because our fellow countrymen are indifferent to it.

       By this mail we send you a set of this periodical from its first appearance to date and in the future you will receive the issues as they come out.

       We should like to request you to favor us with a fortnightly review of the topmost news of that city and of others in Europe, six or eight articles every fortnight, and see if there are publications there that would like to exchange with us, and if you do not find any, you can subscribe for a year to a newspaper.  If by chance there is some one there who wants to subscribe to ours, it would be desirable for you to accept it.  We give you ample powers and you can consider yourself, as we already consider you, collaborator and staff writer of the Diariong Tagalog. 

       The expenses that you may incur in such activities.

       I avail myself of this opportunity to offer you my highest consideration.

       Your very affectionate friend and servant who kisses your hand.

Basilio Teodora Moran

P.S.

       Also please subscribe to another Madrid periodical for us and send it directly to us because, if it is delayed, its news stories lose their . . . .

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004 José M. Cecilio, Manila, 16 September and 18 October

Misuse of funds assigned for the containment of the cholera epidemic -- Closing of schools on account of the cholera -- News of friends -- Centenary of St. Theresa celebrated -- Reiterates his advice to Rizal to study law -- Italian opera accompany at Manila -- Inauguration of the Carriedo Waterworks -- Leonor Rivera’s tears -- Death of Liceo Artístico Literario de Manila.

Basilio Teodoro Moran

Manila, 16 September 1882

Mr. José Rizal

My Esteemed Namesake and Friend,

       After the visit I made to the Valenzuela family one day last month, it has not been possible for me to make another one on account of the coming of the cholera morbidity which has upset the spirit of the peaceful inhabitants of this capital city.  As a hygienist you know very well that under the present conditions, it is advisable that one should be isolated and refrain from visiting to avoid contagion.  Thanks to the energetic measures adopted by the governor general the evil is not about to disappear, for in some districts no cases are reported and the others trust that they can announce any day now pleasant and comforting news.  You will learn about these measures in the local newspapers.  As in all calamities that occur in this country, there are many who profit from them.  How they swallow with dexterity the funds destined for the calamity and then laugh at half of Manila.

       The measures ordered by the governor general were wise, however, when some of them were interpreted or carried out either through stupidity or evil intention, unfortunately they did not turn out very plausible.  A camarin (1) was built on Sta. Lucia so that poor persons who live 15 to 16 in one tiny flat can go there to live and it turned out that in that camarin there was a crowd of people and when one went out he lost his right to reenter it; that is, they wanted to imprison people there without giving them either water or anything.  AS you understand, it is not very good to mention this.

Manila, 19 October 1882

On account of some pressing work, of which I have written, was suspended, but now I continue it and I do it with the greatest pleasure, for having before me your letter of 31 August last in which I see that you have already received the first letter that I wrote you as soon as I recovered from the eye trouble that I had suffered for a long time.

       In that letter you also inform me of your forthcoming departure from Barcelona for Madrid.  For this I felicitate you, because whatever they may say, Madrid is better than a city of the second class as is Barcelona.

       I am exceedingly pleased to know that you met at Barcelona a Filipino of very fine sentiments and with even a better head who is called Mr. Enrique Rogers.

       I thank you for your congratulations, but the harangue like the few that I have written and you have read when we were living in the Tomasina House does not go beyond there as Raguer said in Ya somos tres. (2) And how do you want me to go beyond there?

       Our brave Macao cook, friend Cabangis, is due the pansitada (3) you had at Barcelona for a farewell.  Did he know how to cook well?  When he returns to this city, he can open a pansit shop in front of the Church of Tondo.

       I thank you also for your wish that I may always enjoy the good health that I incessantly ask Heaven to grant you.

       I shall take good care to vex with jokes those who were surprised at your sudden departure.

       The girls you inquire about in your letter are in good health at the present.  The Vasquez sisters had a mild attack of cholera but not so the poor Andó, their brother, who within a few hours took a trip to eternity.  Mamerta also was at the point of death on account of the same disease but as it was not her hour yes, she was saved.  All these girls and Juana Vasquez, your former client, send you their most affectionate regards.

       Titay de Dionisio, your intimate friend, was also attacked by cholera in this city, according to the news I have received, but thank God she was saved.  I have not visited again this family since the last time I did in your name and of which I gave you an account in my preceding letter sent to Madrid because of the epidemic that has scourged Manila, but I am informed that they are well.

       I did not tell you about your kind family in my letter knowing that the landlord is in charge of writing you about it.  For your satisfaction I can say that your family are in good heath and the town . . . .

       Your friends and fellow townsmen have gone to their town where they are remaining until now on account of the closing of the schools.  These will open soon inasmuch as cholera cases are very few nowadays.  According to the medical meeting held in the Civil Government, the epidemic remains in the city and it is advisable to take very great care so that it would not rebound as it is happening in some districts.

       I can tell you almost nothing about the spirit of the students as the majority of them are out of the city and those who remain here are perturbed, but at present they are recovering their former natural gaiety.

       As there were almost no students at the house we could not do anything on the last day of the Most Holy Rosary of Manila.  For this reason I could not invite our lady friends of Sta. Cruz.  I’m sorry and I’m ashamed of it.

       This is the last day of the novena of Our Lady of the Pillar in Sta. Cruz, for having begun a day ahead, that is, on the 11^th of this month, but I don’t know if the procession came out because there was a heavy downpour at about 7:00 o’clock in the evening which prevented Pichon and me from reaching that district.

       The centenary of St. Theresa was celebrated here with pomp.  Last Sunday, the 15^th instant, the distribution of prizes took place.  You will be glad that almost all those who received prizes were our compatriots, with the exception of the prizes for poetry which was won by one Miss Isabel Schez y Martinez whose work in décimas (4) was w written at Sevilla; accesit, Fr. Arias, your friend; honorable mention, a Filipino of Cavite, Pedro Pay de los Santos; diploma, Fr. Rubin de Celis, parish priest of Malate, Augustinian; and the second diploma Mr. José Ma. De Laredo, secretary of the Council of Administration.  In music one singer of the Cathedral called José Canseco received the gold medal, leaving behind the director of the chapel of the Cathedral because the composition of the letter obtained only the second prize.  The third prize was awarded to a Filipino of Quiapo, Manuel A. Mata, and the honorable mention to Mr. Leonardo Silos, senior musician of the Regiment of Infantry, No. 5.  In sculpture, the first prize went to Captain Chencheng Arévalo and the second prize to Alejandro Barcelón of Sta. Cruz, of the sculptors’ guild.  In painting, the first prize went to Lorenzo Guerrero and the second to Felix Martínez who must be the nephew of Captain Tino of Sta. Cruz.

       What more things are lacking in our Tenorio letters that you would like to know?  If it is about our roaming believe me we have ceased to belong to the roamers.  One gets tired of everything and especially in view of the circumstances that we had gone through.

       I am glad that our actors are better than some there.

       You are right in commiserating with me in these times of earthquakes and cholera that confounded me.

       Don’t fail to study law because it will be useful in the achievement of the purpose you have in mind.  Your brother will be informed when some one shall leave for that country.

       Our friend J. of Iloilo, according to news, is again suffering from his legs.  Poor man!  All the more because, according       to Leonor, his engagement to the elegant Miss . . . . is broken off.  This family is in good health and has requested me to convey to you every time I write you their most affectionate regards.

       In the house we are very comfortable; we are only five and the lads of the landlord’s family: Pichon, Espina, a new relative of de León, who is in the first year of the secondary course, a telegraph operator called Paredes of Ilocos Norte who moved here some days ago, and your poor namesake who will soon leave this Babylonian mansion with regret perhaps.  I am waiting for my family any day now inasmuch as the contract has terminated since the end of last month and I do not know why they don’t come.  I will give you the address of my new house, for nothing more is wanting.

       We have here an Italian theatrical company that is fairly good.  The opera Faust is announced for this evening.  I do not know if the tenor will sing false notes for the opera is of the first class.

       Yeyeng (Práxedes Fernandez) (5) has left the Compañía de Cubero because she wants to rest.  Now Raguer plays her roles and Tagaroma is still active at present.

       On account of my numerous and pressing tasks I was unable to attend the grand inauguration of the water system, (6) that is, the first system that will supply Manila and its districts with an element whose necessity has long been felt by their inhabitants.  It was solemn and grand according to those who went to Sampaloc to attend it.  The landlord had his difficulties.  This gentleman planned a thing that was carried out but not without giving him headaches and it was the following: Write a speech to be read before the General in Sampaloc on the morning of the inauguration.  The students who would go there with a music band must deliver the aforementioned speech.  A sufficient number of copies of the speech would be printed for distribution among the chiefs and people attending the inauguration.  First difficulty: not finding one to write the speech.  How you were missed!  Second: not finding a music band because all music bands were engaged.  Third: the printing press failed when the copies were being printed.  Fourth: to get the license for printing the speech.  It was true he had thought of doing everything at the eleventh hour.  The landlord reached as far as Malacañang to ask for the permit.  And do you know who agreed to write the speech?  Our friend Juan Miciano and afterwards Mr. Pedro Paterno criticized it.

       Poor Miciano lost his mother a week ago, a victim of cholera.  He lives with his cousin at the Oriental Bazaar.  Of course, without father or mother or brothers, he has no other alternative but to live with his nearest relative.

       I am going to dedicate a paragraph to the woman (7) who loves you most in the world and she is the one of the Orient.  What tears this poor woman shed during the first days after her return from her town and did not find you in the house but five thousand leagues away from Manila!  Your sister María can tell you about her because she cried in her presence.  One day she told me that now she had no humor for anything, not even for her most intimate friends and she wanted to dye all her clothes black.  I replied that she must not despair because the years pasan fugaces (8) (the beginning of my first composition.  Do you remember?); and above all she must console herself for when you left, one of your greatest regrets, if not the only one, was to have to separate from her.  We have to console her somewhat.  The landlady, who likes you very much, also cried every time she remembered you.  Poor girl!

       Give me news of Madrid, of her students, professors, etc., etc., etc.

       The Liceo Artístico (9) has been dissolved, according to what I have heard.  Mr. Francisco Maracia, its enthusiastic member, died of cholera.  Dead also are Quezada of Sta. Cruz, Entrala, author of Filipino scenes.

       Command as you please your very affectionate friend and sincere servant,

José M. Cecilio

_______________

(1)         A Camarin in the Philippines is a barn-like structure used more for storage than for human habitation.

(2)         A plan in which the popular Spanish actress Raguer starred.

(3)         Pansitada is a meal shared with friends where the main dish consists of Chinese noodles much appreciated by Filipinos.

(4)         A Spanish stanza consisting of ten verses of eight syllables.

(5)         Práxedes Julia Fernandez (1871-1919), a talented Filipino actress.

(6)         The Carriedo Waterworks.  The Carriedo Fountain that adorns the Sampaloc rotunda, Manila, commemorates the waterworks for which the Spaniard Francisco Carriedo had donated the sum of 10,000.

(7)         Leonor Rivera.

(8)         The years are fleeting.

(9)         The Liceo Arístico - Literario de Manila.  In 1879 it awarded Rizal the first prize for his poem A la Juventud Filipina (To the Philippine Youth).

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005 Basilio Teodoro Moran, Manila, 27 September

Basilio T. Moran reiterates his request that Rizal write for Diariong Tagalog -- He also invites Dr. Gregorio Sanciangco to send articles.

4 Salazar, Trozo, Manila

27 September 1882

Mr. José Rizal

Dear friend,

       By the past mail I sent you a registered letter to Barcelona, because I did not know that you have gone to Madrid.  In case you have not received it, I’ll reproduce there its contents.  In it I informed you that I sent you a set of the Diariong Tagalog and I asked you to subscribe to two periodicals of that city for us, among them La Correspondencia, as exchange or paid subscription.  I also told you that your article El Amor Patrio was published in our periodical and it was the object of numerous congratulations, so much so that impartial persons of recognized ability said that it could pass for one of the articles of Castelar.

       Likewise I told you not to fail to send us directly every fortnight six articles and one news review, because if they are sent through your Uncle Antonio I receive them late, so that the news you give us are already published in other periodicals thus losing their importance.

       I tell you not to fail to send us articles for I intend to cut the budget for the editorial staff so that the periodical may live longer.  Our fellow countrymen look upon it with indifference.

       Tell Mr. Gregorio Sanciangco (1) to consider this letter addressed to him also.  I don’t write him, as I do not know his address.

       Your reply should bear the following address:

Manila

Basilio Teodoro Moran

4 Salazar, Trozo

       Regards to friend Don Gregorio and know that your attentive servant distinguishes you and kisses your hand.

Basilio Teodoro Moran

P.S.

Don Antonio and his family are well.

_____________

(1) Mr. Gregorio Sanciango y Gozon in 1886 was a member of the committee called Juventud Escolar Liberal at Manila whose objective was to secure rights for the Filipino clergy.  After the tragic events of 1872 he left for Spain to finish the law course and obtained the degree of Doctor of Civil and Canon Laws.  In 1881 he published at Madrid El Progreso de Filipinas, cited by Rizal in his essay La indolencia de los Filipinos (The Indolence of the Filipinos).  With separatist ideas he returned to the Philippines in 1884.

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006 Tomás Cabangis, Barcelona, October

Cabangis, Filipino medical student from Tondo, Manila, inquires about the Circulo Hispano-Filipino of Madrid

Barcelona, October 1882

Mr. José Rizal y Mercado

My dear Compatriot and good Friend,

       I received your letter of the 8 instant in which you relate to me your painful trip, which I regret very much.  I’m glad however that no personal mishap befell you.

       I appreciate the news you give me of the fellows there as well as of the cost of living there.  If, as you say, one can live there well and decently with little money, it is easy for me to hasten my trip to that city, for the only thing that deters me is, as you know, my small allowance.

       I’m afraid that the bed-bugs and fleas may prevent Perio from fulfilling his duty as a friend; or chilblains (sore caused by exposure to cold), which, I have no doubt will soon appear on his body as a result of the cold, for he is very susceptible to this Spanish plague.  Poor lad!  Recommend to him the Cabangis remedy, especially if the cold prevents him from writing, for it is an infallible remedy for the ailment, and as a sedative, it is well known throughout the Spanish territory.

       One night Lorenzo took me to the house of some of his friends (J. D.?) where there were dancing and music and we spent the evening very enjoyably, without failing to remember you . . . . 

       One day when I go to Julia’s house, I am going to convey your regards, but with a certain jingle especially to Rosalia, so that when she goes to Madrid, she will look for you and not you for her.  Hey!  Beware of the Madrid girls.

       One day, when you are not busy, I should like some details about the Circulo Hispano-Filipino and also news about our countrymen.  Let me see if they have the custom of meeting on holidays as here.

       Farewell, my friend, until the next, and command in everything that he can be useful to you, your friend, who loves you truly.

Tomás Cabangis

P.S.

My regards to Perio and I tell you that until now I have not received letters from the Philippines.

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007 Tomás Cabangis, Barcelona, 4 November

Offers to send Rizal Baltazar’s Florante at Laura (1) -- Gregorio Sanciangco calls on him -- Inquires about the professor of obstetrics at the Colegio de San Carlos at Madrid where Rizal is enrolled.

Barcelona, 4 November 1882

Mr. José Rizal

My dear Friend and good Compatriot,

       I received your letter dated 30 October and from it I have learned that you are well and contented, which makes me very glad.  Thank God, I too am well as always.

       The postman of . . . . Street has asked me for your address in order to forward to you a registered letter from the Philippines.  I gave him your Sauco Street address, inasmuch as until then I had not received any letter from you.  This very morning I gave him the Amor de Dios Street so that he can forward those he will receive henceforth.

       I conveyed to Julia and her companions what you asked me to tell them.  They are grateful to you and at the same time resentful, for they say that it does not take many days to know Madrid for a talented young man like you; just like them.

       About R . . . . I can tell you many things, but let us wait for the opportunity to be able to talk personally for a detailed explanation.  It seems to me that it will be very soon, because I have already my mother’s permission.  I’m only waiting for the special examinations that they will give us on the occasion of the Queen’s delivery.  The rumor is that it will be for next December, so that I cannot go to that city until after Christmas.

       It seems to me that Lorenzo does not want to go thee any more on account of his family, so that if you need the Florante soon, I have no inconvenience in sending it to you by mail, otherwise I shall take it to you myself.

       I received good news from the family, thank God.  I hope that the typhoon of 20 October did not cause them losses as the cholera did.  You will receive my congratulation if you too have received the same news.

       Sanciangco called on me many times before leaving.  The other countrymen behaved very badly towards him because they did not even call on him knowing that he was here.  They did not do that to Genato when he came . . . .

       Farewell, my friend, until my next letter.  In the meantime receive the tender embraces of your friend who loves you.

Tomás

P.S.

Regards to Perio and other countrymen who know me.  Tell Perio to apply the Cabangis remedy if he feels cold there.

The Same

Do me the favor of finding out if the professor of obstetrics there is good or bad, for I intend to transfer my matriculation in case the special examinations are not held.

_______________

(1) The masterpiece of the renowned Tagalog poet, Francisco Baltazar or Balagtas.  Rizal liked to read it to improve his command of the Tagalog language.

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008 Tomás Cabangis, Barcelona, 25 November

He has received a copy of the review published by the Círculo Hispano-Filipino at Madrid -- Wishes to join the association.

Barcelona, 25 November 1882

Mr. José Rizal

Dear Friend and good Countryman,

       Without any letter of yours to answer I write you this to ask you a new favor.

       The members of the Circulo Hispano-Filipino have sent me a copy of their fortnightly review that they publish. (1) I have read in that review that regular members are excused from the payment of the entrance fee and will pay only 2 pesetas monthly, according to article 4 read at the meeting held on 7 October of this year.  Therefore, if that new rule is in force at present in that Círculo, please let me know immediately so that I can send you two pesetas in stamps for my membership fee, which you will kindly pay for me.  I should like them to send the future issues of the review to my house, which is yours too, until further notice from me, for I am intending to go to that city, at the latest, in February.

       When I go there, I hope you will congratulate me for fulfilling my promise with regard to what I told you about R . . . .

       Valentín is leaving for that city in December and he always asks me about you.

       Don’t fail to answer this letter, though briefly, for I want to take advanta of this occasion to become a member of that Círculo.

       Your countryman and friend who is ready to serve you in what he can.

       Your faithful servant who kisses your hand.

Tomás

P.S.

Regards to Perio and the other countrymen.

_______________

(1) Edited at Madrid by Mr. Juan de Atayde.  Its first issue came out on 29 October 1882 and the second on 24 November 1882.