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
(_Endorsed_: recd. Apr. 8, 1839)
20 _March_ 1839,
MADRID, CALLE SANTIAGO.
REVD. AND DEAR SIR,--Having much to communicate, and of no slight
importance, I shall offer no apology for now addressing you. My last
letter was from Naval Carnero, in which I informed you of various
circumstances, connected with the distribution of the blessed Gospel,
which had recently occurred. I likewise stated that it was very probable
that I should proceed to Talavera, for the purpose of seeing what might
be done in that neighbourhood. The day, however, subsequent to
dispatching my letter ushered in events which compelled me to alter my
resolution; twenty Testaments were seized in a village in the
neighbourhood of Naval Carnero, and I learned that our proceedings, on
the other side of Madrid, had caused alarm amongst the heads of the
clergy, who made a formal complaint to the Government--who immediately
sent orders to all the _Alcaldes_ of the villages, great and small, in
New Castile to seize the New Testament wherever it might be exposed for
sale, but at the same time to be particularly careful not to detain or
maltreat the person or persons who might be attempting to vend it. An
exact description of myself accompanied these orders, and the
authorities, both civil and military, were exhorted to be on their guard
against me, and my arts and machinations; for, as the document stated, I
was to-day in one place and to-morrow at twenty leagues distance. On
receiving this intelligence, I instantly resolved to change for a time my
strategic system, and not to persist in a course which would expose the
sacred volume to seizure at every step which I might take to circulate
it. I therefore galloped back to Madrid, leaving Vitoriano to follow.
It will be as well to observe here, that we sold twenty and odd
Testaments in villages adjacent to Naval Carnero, before the orders had
arrived.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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