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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