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letters-第77章

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I will not detail the events of the next week; suffice it to say  that arranging my forces in the most advantageous way I succeeded  by God's assistance in disposing of in that period from five to six  hundred Testaments amongst the villages from one to seven leagues  distance from Abades。  At the expiration of that period I received  information from Segovia; in which province Abades is situated; to  the effect that my proceedings were known in Segovia; and that an  order was about to be sent to the ALCALDE of Abades to seize all  books in my possession。  Whereupon; notwithstanding that it was  late in the evening; I decamped with all my people and upwards of  three hundred Testaments; having a few hours previously received a  fresh supply from Madrid。  That night we passed in the fields and  next morning proceeded to Labajos; a village on the high road from  Madrid to Valladolid。  In this place we offered no books for sale;  but contented ourselves with supplying the neighbouring villages  with the Word of God; we likewise sold it in the highways。  We had  not been at Labajos a week; during which time we were remarkably  successful; when the Carlist chieftain Balmaseda at the head of his  wild cavalry made his desperate inroad into the southern part of  Old Castile; dashing down like an avalanche from the pine woods of  Soria。  I was present at all the horrors which ensued … the sack of  Arrevalo … and the forcible entry into Martin Munoz and San Cyrian。   Amidst these terrible scenes; we continued our labours undaunted;  with the exception of my servant; who seized with uncontrollable  fear ran away to Madrid。  I now lost Lopez for three or four days;  and suffered dreadful anxiety on his account; apprehending that he  had been shot by the Carlists。  At last I heard that he was in  prison at Villallos; at the distance of three leagues。  The steps  which I took to rescue him you will find detailed in the  communication which I deemed it my duty to transmit to Lord Wm。  Hervey at Madrid; a copy of which; together with the letter of  Lopez which informed me of his situation; I transmit herewith。   After the rescue of Lopez; I thought it advisable to return to  Madrid; more especially as my stock of Testaments was exhausted; we  having in the course of little more than a fortnight disposed of  nearly nine hundred Testaments … not in populous and wealthy towns  but in highways and villages; not to the spurious Spaniards of  Madrid and the coasts; but to the sun…blackened peasantry of Old  Castile; the genuine descendants of those terrible men who  subjugated Mexico and Peru。

My men returned by Pena Cerrada; whilst I; encumbered by two  horses; crossed the Guadarama。  I nearly perished there; having  lost my way in the darkness and tumbled down a precipice。  But I am  now in Madrid and; if not well; trusting in the Lord and defying  Satan。  I shall probably be in England within three weeks。

I remain; Revd。 and dear Sir; truly yours;

G。 B。



LETTER: 19th September; 1838



To the Rev。 A。 Brandram (ENDORSED: recd。 Sept。 28; 1838) MADRID; 19 SEPR。 1838; No。 16 CALLE SANTIAGO。

REVD。 AND DEAR SIR; … I write this to inform you that for the last  ten days I have been confined to my bed by a fever。  I am now  better; and hope in a few days to be able to proceed to Saragossa;  which is the only road open。

I bore up against my illness as long as I could; but it became too  powerful for me。  By good fortune I obtained a decent physician; a  Dr。 Hacayo; who had studied medicine in England; and aided by him  and the strength of my constitution I got the better of my attack;  which however was a dreadfully severe one。

I hope my next letter will be from Bordeaux。  I cannot write more  at present; for I am very feeble。

I remain; Revd。 and dear Sir; truly yours;

G。 BORROW。



Account of Proceedings in the Peninsula



GENTLEMEN OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY  …

I beg leave to call your attention to the following statements。   They relate to my proceedings during the period which embraces my  second sojourn in Spain … to my labours in a literary point of view  … to my travels in a very remarkable country; the motive in which  they originated and the result to which they led … to my success in  the distribution of the Scripture; and to the opposition and  encouragement which I have experienced。  As my chief objects are  brevity and distinctness I shall at once enter upon my subject;  abstaining from reflections of every kind; which in most cases only  tend to embarrass; being anxious to communicate facts alone; with  most of which; it is true; you are already tolerably well  acquainted; but upon all and every of which I am eager to be  carefully and categorically questioned。  It is neither my wish nor  my interest to conceal one particular of what I have been doing。   And with these few prefatory observations I commence。

In the first place; my literary labours。  Having on my former visit  to Spain obtained from the then Prime Minister Isturitz and his  Cabinet permission and encouragement for the undertaking; I  published on my return an edition of the New Testament at Madrid; a  copy of which I now present to you for the first time。  This work;  executed at the office of Borrego; the most fashionable printer at  Madrid; who had been recommended to me by Isturitz himself and most  particularly by my excellent friend Mr。 O'Shea; is a publication  which I conceive no member of the Committee will consider as  calculated to cast discredit on the Bible Society; it being printed  on excellent English paper and well bound; but principally and  above all from the fact of its exhibiting scarcely one  typographical error; every proof having been read thrice by myself  and once or more times by the first scholar in Spain。

I subsequently published the Gospel of Saint Luke in the Rommany  and Biscayan languages。  With respect to the first; I beg leave to  observe that no work printed in Spain ever caused so great and so  general a sensation; not so much amongst the Gypsies; that peculiar  people; for whom it was intended; as amongst the Spaniards  themselves; who; though they look upon the Roma with some degree of  contempt as a low and thievish race of outcasts; nevertheless take  a strange interest in all that concerns them; it having been from  time immemorial their practice; more especially of the dissolute  young nobility; to cultivate the acquaintance of the Gitanos as  they are popularly called; probably attracted by the wild wit of  the latter and the lascivious dances of the females。  The  apparition therefore of the Gospel of Saint Luke at Madrid in the  peculiar jargon of these people was hailed as a strange novelty and  almost as a wonder; and I believe was particularly instrumental in  bruiting the name of the Bible Society far and wide through Spain;  and in creating a feeling far from inimical towards it and its  proceedings。  I will here take the liberty to relate an anecdote  illustrative of the estimation in which this little work was held  at Madrid。  The Committee are already aware that a seizure was made  of many copies of Saint Luke in the Rommany and Biscayan langu
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