from the Portuguese New Testament; but of all those whom he addressed none appeared to have read the Scriptures, or to know anything of what they contain.

After spending four or five days at Lisbon, Borrow, accompanied by Antonio, proceeded to Cintra. {155a} Here he pursued the same method, also visiting the schools and enquiring into the nature of the religious instruction. During his stay of four days, he "traversed the country in all directions, riding into the fields, where I saw the peasants at work, and entering into discourse with them, and notwithstanding many of my questions must have appeared to them very singular, I never experienced any incivility, though they frequently answered me with smiles and laughter." {155b}

From Cintra he proceeded on horseback to Mafra, a large village some three leagues distant. Everywhere he subjected the inhabitants to a searching cross-examination, laying bare their minds upon religious matters, experiencing surprise at the "free and unembarrassed manner in which the Portuguese peasantry sustain a conversation, and the purity of the language in which they express their thoughts," {155c} although few could read or write.

On the return journey from Mafra to Cintra he nearly lost his life, owing to the girth of his saddle breaking during his horse's exertions in climbing a hill. Borrow was cast violently to the ground; but fortunately on the right side, otherwise he would in all probability have been bruised to death by tumbling down the steep hill-side. As it was, he was dazed, and felt the effects of his mishap for several days.

On his return to Lisbon, Borrow found that Mr Wilby was back, and he had many opportunities of taking counsel with him as to the best means to be adopted to further the Society's ends. He learned that four hundred copies of the Bible and the New Testament had arrived, and it was decided to begin operations at once. Mr Wilby recommended the booksellers as the best medium of distribution; but Borrow urged strongly that at least half of the available copies "should be entrusted to colporteurs," who were to receive a commission upon every copy sold. To this Mr Wilby agreed, provided the operations of the colporteurs were restricted to Lisbon, as there was considerable danger in the country, where the priests were very powerful and might urge the people to mishandle, or even assassinate, the bearers of the Word.

By nature Borrow was not addicted to half measures. His whole record as an agent of the Bible Society was of a series of determined onslaughts upon the obstacles animate and inanimate, that beset his path. Sometimes he took away the breath of his adversaries by the very vigour of his attack, and, like the old Northern leaders, whose deeds he wished to give to an uneager world in translated verse, he faced great dangers and achieved great ends. Recognising that the darkest region is most in need of light, he enquired of Mr Wilby in what province of Portugal were to be found the most ignorant and benighted people, and on being told the Alemtejo (the other side of the Tagus), he immediately announced his intention of making a journey through it, in order to discover how dense spiritual gloom could really be in an ostensibly Christian country.

The Alemtejo was an unprepossessing country, consisting for the most part of "heaths, broken by knolls and gloomy dingles, swamps and forests of stunted pine," with but few hills and mountains. The place was infested with banditti, and robberies, accompanied by horrible murders, were of constant occurrence. On 6th December, accompanied by his servant Antonio, Borrow set out for Evora, the principal town, formerly a seat of the dreaded Inquisition, which lies about sixty miles east of Lisbon. After many adventures, which he himself has narrated, including a dangerous crossing of the Tagus, and a meeting with Dom Geronimo Joze d'Azveto, secretary to the government of Evora, Borrow arrived at his destination, having spent two nights on the road. During the journey he had been constantly mindful of his mission; beside the embers of a bandit's fire he left a New Testament, and the huts that mark the spot where Dom Pedro and Dom Miguel met, he sweetened with some of the precious little tracts."

He had brought with him to Evora twenty Testaments and two Bibles, half of which he left with an enlightened shopkeeper, to whom he had a letter of introduction. The other half he subsequently bestowed upon Dom Geronimo, who proved to be a man of great earnestness, deeply conscious of his countrymen's ignorance of true Christianity. Each day during his stay at Evora, Borrow spent two hours beside the fountain where the cattle were watered, entering into conversation with all who approached, the result being that before he left the town, he had spoken to "about two hundred . . of the children of Portugal upon matters connected with their eternal welfare." Sometimes his hearers would ask for proofs of his statements that they were not Christians, being ignorant of Christ and his teaching, and that the Pope was Satan's prime minister. He invariably replied by calling attention to their own ignorance of the Scripture, for if the priests were in reality Christ's ministers, why had they kept from their flocks the words of their Master?

When not engaged at the fountain, Borrow rode about the neighbourhood distributing tracts. Fearful lest the people might refuse them if offered by his own hand, he dropped them in their favourite walks, in the hope that they would be picked up out of curiosity. He caused the daughter of the landlady of the inn at which he stopped to burn a copy of Volney's Ruins of Empire, because the author was an "emissary of Satan," the girl standing by telling her beads until the book were entirely consumed.

Borrow had been greatly handicapped through the lack of letters of introduction to influential people in Portugal. He wrote, therefore, to Dr Bowring, now M.P. for Kilmarnock, telling him of his wanderings among the rustics and banditti of Portugal, with whom he had become very popular; but, he continues:

"As it is much more easy to introduce oneself to the cottage than the hall (though I am not utterly unknown in the latter), I want you to give or procure me letters to the most liberal and influential minds in Portugal. I likewise want a letter from the Foreign Office to Lord [Howard] de Walden. In a word, I want to make what interest I can towards obtaining the admission of the Gospel of Jesus into the public schools of Portugal, which are about to be established. I beg leave to state that this is MY PLAN and no other person's, as I was merely sent over to Portugal to observe the disposition of the people, therefore I do not wish to be named as an Agent of the B.S., but as a person who has plans for the mental improvement of the Portuguese; should I receive THESE LETTERS within the space of six weeks it will be time enough, for before setting up my machine in Portugal, I wish to lay the foundations of something similar in Spain."

P.S.--"I start for Spain to-morrow, and I want letters something similar (there is impudence for you) for Madrid, WHICH I SHOULD LIKE TO HAVE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. I do not much care at present for an introduction to the Ambassador at Madrid, as I shall not commence operations seriously in Spain until I have disposed of Portugal. I will not apologise for writing to you in this manner, for you know me, but I will tell you one thing, which is, that the letter which you procured for me, on my going to St Petersburg, from Lord Palmerston, assisted me wonderfully; I called twice at your domicile on my return; the first time you were in Scotland--the second in France, and I assure you I cried with vexation. Remember me to Mrs Bowring, and God bless you." {159a}

In this letter Borrow gives another illustration of his shrewdness. He saw clearly the disadvantage of appealing for assistance as an agent of the Bible Society, a Protestant institution which was anathema in a Roman Catholic country, whereas if he posed merely as "a gentleman who has plans for the mental improvement of the Portuguese," he could enlist the sympathetic interest of any and every broad-minded Portuguese mindful of his country's intellectual gloom. In response to this request Dr Bowring, writing from Brussels, sent two letters of introduction, one each for Lisbon and Madrid.

After remaining at Evora for a week (8th to 17th December) Borrow returned to Lisbon, thoroughly satisfied with the results of his journey. The next fortnight he spent in a further examination of Lisbon, and becoming acquainted with the Jews of the city, by whom he was welcomed as a powerful rabbi. He favoured the mistake, with the result that in a few days he "knew all that related to them and their traffic in Lisbon." {159b}

Borrow's methods seem to have impressed Earl Street most favourably. In a letter of acknowledgment Mr Brandram wrote:-

"We have been much interested by your two communications. {159c} They are both very painful in their details, and you develop a truly awful state of things. You are probing the wound, and I hope preparing the way for our pouring in by and by the healing balsam of the Scripture. We shall be anxious to hear from you again. We often think of you in your wanderings. We like your way of communicating with the people, meeting them in their own walks."

Thoroughly convinced as to the irreligious state of Portugal, Borrow determined to set out for Spain, in order that he might examine into the condition of the people, and report to the Bible Society their state of preparedness to receive the Scriptures. On the afternoon of 1st January 1836 he set out, bound for Badajos, a hundred miles south of Lisbon. From Badajos he intended to take the diligence on to Madrid, which he decided to make his headquarters.

Having taken leave of his servant Antonio (who had accompanied him as far as Aldea Gallega) almost with tears, Borrow mounted a hired mule, and with no other companion than an idiot lad, who, when spoken to, made reply only with an uncouth laugh, he plunged once more into the dangerous and desolate Alemtejo on a four days' journey "over the most savage and ill-noted track in the whole kingdom." At first he was overwhelmed with a sense of loneliness, and experienced a great desire for someone with whom to talk. There was no one to be seen-- he was hemmed in by desolation and despair.

At Montemor Novo Borrow appears in a new light when he kisses his hand repeatedly to the tittering nuns who, with "dusky faces and black waving hair," {160a} strove to obtain a glance of the stranger who, a few minutes previously, had dared to tell one of their number that he had come "to endeavour to introduce the gospel of Christ into a country where it is not known." {160b}

One adventure befel him that might have ended in tragedy. Soon after leaving Arrayolos he overtook a string of carts conveying ammunition into Spain. One of the Portuguese soldiers of the guard began to curse foreigners in general and Borrow, whom he mistook for a Frenchmen, in particular, because "the devil helps foreigners and