My friend and
myself had then much conversation of considerable interest. He lamented
feelingly the deplorable state of ignorance in which his countrymen were
at present buried, and said that his friend the Governor and himself were
endeavouring to establish a school in the vicinity, and that they had
made application to the Government for the use of an empty convent called
the _Espinhero_, or thorn-tree, at about a league's distance, and that
they had little doubt of their request being complied with. I had before
told him who I was; and now, after expressing my joy at the plan which he
had in contemplation, I urged him in the most pressing manner to use all
his influence to cause the knowledge of the Scripture to be the basis of
the education of the pupils in the intended school, and added that half
of the Testaments and Bibles which I had brought with me to Evora were
heartily at his service. He instantly gave me his hand, [and] said he
accepted my offer with the greatest pleasure, and would do all in his
power to further my views, which were in many respects his own. I now
told him that I did not come to Portugal with the view of introducing the
dogmas of any particular sect, but with the hope of introducing the
Bible, which is the well-head of all that is useful and conducive to the
happiness of society and individuals; that I cared not what people called
themselves, provided they read the Scripture, for that where the
Scripture was read neither priestcraft nor tyranny could long exist; and
instanced my own country, the cause of whose freedom and happiness was
the Bible, and that only, for that before the days of Tyndal it was the
seat of ignorance, oppression, and cruelty, and that after the fall of
ignorance, the oppression and cruelty soon ceased, for that the last
persecutor of the Bible, the last upholder of ignorance--_the bloody and
infamous Mary_--was the last tyrant who had sat on the throne of England.
We did not part till the night was considerably advanced; and the next
day I sent him the books, in the steadfast hope that a bright and
glorious morning was about to rise upon the night which had so long cast
its dreary shadow over the regions of the Alemtejo.

The day after this interesting event, which was Saturday, I had more
conversation with the man from Palmella. I asked him if in his journeys
he had never been attacked by robbers; he answered 'No,' for that he
generally travelled in company with