from Rome "by certain promises and hopes held out" to him. He had accordingly left his benefice and gone to Gibraltar to receive instruction at the hands of Mr Rule. On his return to Valencia his salary was naturally sequestrated, and he was reduced to want. When he arrived at Madrid it was with a letter (12th April) from Mr Rule to Borrow, in which it was stated that Mann was sent that he might "endeavour to circulate the Holy Scriptures, Religious Tracts and books, and if possible prepare the minds of some with a view to the future establishment of a Mission in Madrid."

Borrow had commiserated with the unfortunate Mann, even to the extent of sending him 500 reals out of his own pocket; but on hearing that he was on his way to Madrid to engage in missionary work, he immediately wrote a letter of protest to Mr Brandram. He was angry at Mr Rule's conduct in saddling him with Mann, and that without any preliminary correspondence. He had entertained Mr Rule when in Madrid, had conversed with him about the unfortunate ex-priest; but there had never been any mention of his being sent to Madrid. Mr Rule, on the other hand, thought it had been arranged that Mann should be sent to Borrow. The whole affair appears to have arisen out of a misunderstanding. There was considerable danger to Borrow in Mann's presence in the capital; but it was not the thought of the danger that incensed him so much as what he conceived to be Mr Rule's unwarrantable conduct, and his own deeply-rooted objection to working with anyone else. Mr Brandram repudiated the suggestion that assistance had been promised Mann from London (although he authorised Borrow to give him ten pounds in his, Brandram's, name), and gave as an excuse for what Borrow described as the desertion of the ex-priest by those who were responsible for his conversion, that "the man had returned of his own accord to Rome," Graydon vouching for the accuracy of the statement.

On the other hand, Mann stated that he was persuaded to secede by promises made by Graydon and Rule, and induced to sign a document purporting to be a separation from the Roman Church. He further stated that he was abandoned because he refused to preach publicly against the Chapter of Valencia, which in all probability would have resulted in his imprisonment. Whatever the truth, there appears to have been some embarrassment among those responsible for bringing in the lost sheep as to what should be done with him. "I hope that Mann's history will be a warning to many of our friends," Borrow wrote to Mr Rule and quoted the passage in his letter to Mr Brandram, {226a} "and tend to a certain extent to sober down the desire for doing what is called at home SMART THINGS, many of which terminate in a manner very different from the original expectations of the parties concerned." Mr Brandram thought that Borrow was a little hard upon Graydon, and that he had not received "with the due grano salis the statements of the unfortunate M." He intimated, nevertheless, that the Committee had no opening for Mann's services.

That Borrow was justified in his anger is shown by the fact that, as he had foreseen, he reaped all the odium of Mann's conversion. The Bishop of Cordoba in Council branded him as "a dangerous, pestilent person, who under the pretence of selling the Scriptures went about making converts, and moreover employed subordinates for the purpose of deluding weak and silly people into separation from the Mother Church." {227a}

Although Borrow was angry about the Mann episode, he did not allow his personal feelings to prevent him from ministering to the needs of the poor ex-priest "as far as prudence will allow," when he fell ill. He even went the length of writing to Mr Rule, being wishful "not to offend him." None the less he felt that he had not been well treated. To Mr Brandram he wrote reminding him "that all the difficulty and danger connected with what has been accomplished in Spain have fallen to my share, I having been labouring on the flinty rock and sierra, and not in smiling meadows refreshed by sea breezes." {227b}

On 14th July 1838 Borrow made the last reference to the ex-priest in a letter to Mr Brandram: "The unfortunate M. is dying of a galloping consumption, brought on by distress of mind. All the medicine in the world would not accomplish his cure." {227c}

The watchful eye of the law was still on Borrow, and fearful lest his stock of Bibles, of which 500 had arrived from Barcelona, and the Gypsy and Basque editions of St Luke should he seized, he hired a room where he stored the bulk of the books. He now advertised the two editions of St Luke, with the result that on 16th April a party of Alguazils entered the shop and took possession of twenty-five copies of the Romany Gospel of St Luke.

On the publication of the Gypsy St Luke, a fresh campaign had been opened against Borrow, and accusations of sorcery were made and fears expressed as to the results of the publication of the book. Application was made by the priestly party to the Civil Governor, with the result that all the copies at the Despacho of the Basque and Gitano versions of St Luke had been seized. Borrow states that the Alguazils "divided the copies of the gypsy volume among themselves, selling subsequently the greater number at a large price, the book being in the greatest demand." {228a} Thus the very officials responsible for the seizure and suppression of the Bible Society's books in Spain became "unintentionally agents of an heretical society." {228b}

Disappointed at the smallness of the spoil, the authorities strove by artifice to discover if Borrow still had copies of the books in his possession. To this end they sent to the Despacho spies, who offered high prices for copies of the Gitano St Luke, in which their interest seemed specially to centre, to the exclusion of the Basque version. To these enquiries the same answer was returned, that at present no further books would be sold at the Despacho.

As evidence of the high opinion formed of the Romany version of St Luke, the following story told by Borrow is amusing:-

"Shortly before my departure a royal edict was published, authorising all public libraries to provide themselves with copies of the said works [the Basque and Gypsy St Lukes] on account of their philological merit; whereupon on application being made to the Office [of the Civil Governor, where the books were supposed to be stored], it was discovered that the copies of the Gospel in Basque were safe and forthcoming, whilst every one of the sequestered copies of the Gitano Gospel had been plundered by hands unknown [to the authorities]. The consequence was that I was myself applied to by the agents of the public libraries of Valencia and other places, who paid me the price of the copies which they received, assuring me at the same time that they were authorised to purchase them at whatever price which might be demanded." {229a}

Borrow's enemies acknowledged that the Gitano St Luke was a philological curiosity; but that it was impossible to allow it to pass into circulation without notes. How great a philological curiosity it actually was, is shown by the fact that the ecclesiastical authorities were unable to find anywhere a person, in whom they had confidence, capable of pronouncing upon it, consequently they could only condemn it on two counts of omission; firstly the notes, secondly the imprint of the printer from the title-page.

The Basque version was by no means so popular; for one thing, "It can scarcely be said to have been published," Borrow wrote, "it having been prohibited, and copies of it seized on the second day of its appearance." {229b} Several orders were received from San Sebastian and other towns where Basque predominates, which could not be supplied on account of the prohibition.

The official remonstrance from Sir George Villiers to Count Ofalia in respect of the seizure of the Gypsy and Basque Gospels is of great interest as showing, not only the British Minister's attitude towards Borrow, but how, and with what wrath, Borrow "desisted from his meritorious task." The communication runs:-

MADRID, 24th April 1838. SIR,

It is my duty to request the attention of Your Excellency to an act of injustice committed against a British subject by the Civil Authorities of Madrid.

It appears that on the 16th inst., two officers of Police were sent by the Civil Governor to a Shop, No. 25 Calle del Principe occupied by Mr Borrow, where they seized and carried away 25 Copies of the Gospel of St Luke in the Gitano language, being the entire number exposed there for sale.

Mr Borrow is an agent of the British Bible Society, who has for some time past been in Spain, and in the year 1836 obtained permission from the Government of Her Catholic Majesty to print, at the expense of the Society, Padre Scio's translation of the New Testament. He subsequently sold the work at a moderate price and had no reason to believe that in so doing he infringed any law of Spain or exposed himself to the animadversion of the Authorities, otherwise, from my knowledge of Mr Borrow s character, I feel justified in assuring Your Excellency that he would at once, although with regret, have desisted from his meritorious task of propagating the Gospel. Some months ago, however, the late Civil Governor of Madrid, after having sent for and examined a copy of the work, thought proper to direct that its further sale should be suspended, which order was instantly complied with.

Mr Borrow is a man of great learning and research and master of many languages, and having translated the Gospel of St Luke into the Gitano, he presented a copy of it to Don Ramon Gamboa, the late Civil Governor, and announced his intention to advertise it for sale, to which no objection was made.

Since that time neither Mr Borrow nor the persons employed by him received any communication from the present Civil Governor forbidding the sale of this work until it was seized in the manner I have above described to Your Excellency.

I feel convinced that the mere statement of these facts without any commentary on my part will be sufficient to induce your Excellency to take steps for the indemnification of Mr Borrow, who is not only a very respectable British subject but the Agent of one of the most truly benevolent and philanthropic Societies in the world.

I have, etc., etc., etc. GEORGE VILLIERS.

His Excellency Count Ofalia.

CHAPTER XV: MAY 1-13, 1838