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
A singular accident befell me immediately after my arrival. On entering
the arch of the _posada_, called La Reyna, where I intended to put up, I
found myself encircled in a person's arms, and on turning round in
amazement beheld my Greek servant Antonio; he was haggard and
ill-dressed, and his eyes seemed starting from their sockets. As soon as
we were alone he informed me that since my departure he had undergone
great misery and destitution, having during the whole period been unable
to obtain a master in need of his services, so that he was brought nearly
to the verge of desperation; but that on the night immediately preceding
my arrival he had a dream in which he saw me, mounted on a black horse,
ride up to the gate of the _posada_, and that on that account he had been
waiting there during the greatest part of the day. I do not pretend to
offer any opinion concerning this narrative, which is beyond the reach of
my philosophy, and shall content myself with observing that only two
individuals in Madrid, one of them Lord Clarendon (late Sir George
Villiers), were aware of my arrival in Spain. I was very glad to receive
him again into my service, as notwithstanding his faults, and he has
many, he has in many instances proved of no slight assistance to me in my
wanderings and Biblical labours, as indeed I have informed you on
previous occasions.
I was soon settled in my former lodgings, when one of my first cares was
to pay a visit to Lord Clarendon. I need not dilate on the particulars
of our interview; suffice it to say, that he received me with more than
usual kindness, and assured me that I might invariably rely upon him, if
I should ever chance to be in need of his assistance and protection. I
told him that it was not our intention to take any steps towards
preventing the civil or ecclesiastical authorities of Toledo from
destroying the Testaments seized at Ocana; and he smiled when I added
that the only wish we ventured to express concerning the matter was that,
in the event of these books, which contain the Word of God, being
committed to the flames, the said authorities, civil or ecclesiastic,
would commit the act with all the publicity possible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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