Letters of George Borrow to the British and Foreign Bible SocietyBorrow, George
Religion
Letters of George Borrow to the British and Foreign Bible Society
Borrow, George
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Correspondence; British and Foreign Bible Society; English letters
I returned to Madrid from my long, fatiguing and most perilous journey,
in which I must be permitted to say that independent of a thousand
miraculous escapes from the factious and the banditti I had been twice
arrested as a spy, namely, once at Vigo and subsequently at Cape
Finisterre, in which latter instance I narrowly escaped with life, the
ignorant fishermen having determined upon shooting me and my guide. Upon
finding the booksellers of Madrid, with the exception of Razola, a man of
no importance, averse to undertake the sale of the New Testament I
determined upon establishing a shop of my own, a step to which I was
advised by many sincere friends of the Cause and of myself. Having
accomplished this, I advertised the work incessantly, not only in the
public prints but by placards posted in all the streets of the city; but
I wish it to be distinctly understood that the advertisement which I used
was the same quiet innocent advertisement, a copy of which you possess,
and of which I have availed myself in the provinces, an advertisement
which had never given offence nor was calculated to give offence if
squandered about the streets by millions. I make this statement in
self-justification, I having, in consequence of a letter in which I made
some observations respecting advertisements and handbills, received a
paragraph in a communication from home, in which I was checked with
having made a plentiful use of advertisements and handbills myself. It
would have been as well if my respected and revered friend the writer had
made himself acquainted with the character of my advertisements before he
made that observation. There is no harm in an advertisement, if truth,
decency and the fear of God are observed; and I believe my own will be
scarcely found deficient in any of these three requisites. It is not the
use of a serviceable instrument, but its abuse that merits reproof, and I
cannot conceive that advertising was abused by me when I informed the
people of Madrid, that the New Testament was to be purchased at a cheap
price in the _Calle del Principe_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account