presented themselves,
whereupon I have departed almost broken-hearted; but the next day I have
been summoned in a great hurry and informed that 'all was right,' and
that on the morrow a regular authority to print the Scriptures would be
delivered to me; but by that time fresh and yet more terrible
difficulties had occurred--so that I became weary of my life.

During the greatest part of the last six weeks I have spent upon an
average ten hours every day, dancing attendance on one or another of the
Ministers, and when I have returned home I have been so fatigued that I
have found it impossible to write, even to my nearest friends. The heat
has been suffocating, for the air seems to be filled with flaming
vapours, and the very Spaniards are afraid to stay out, and lie gasping
and naked on their brick floors; therefore if you have felt disappointed
in not having heard from me for a considerable time, the above statement
must be my excuse.

During the last fortnight the aspect of my affair has become more
favourable, and, notwithstanding all the disappointments I have met, I
now look forward with little apprehension to the result. The English
Ambassador, Mr. Villiers, has taken me by the hand in the most generous
manner and has afforded me the most effectual assistance. He has spoken
to all the Ministers, collectively and individually, and has recommended
the granting of my petition in the strongest manner, pointing out the
terrible condition of the people at present who are without religious
instruction of any kind, and the impossibility of exercising any species
of government over a nation of atheists, which the Spaniards will very
shortly become if left to themselves. Whether moved by his arguments or
by a wish to oblige a person of so much importance as the British
Ambassador, the Cabinet of Madrid now exhibit a manifest willingness to
do all in their power to satisfy me; and though by the law of Spain the
publishing of the Scripture in the vulgar tongue without notes is
forbidden, measures have been taken by which the rigor of the law can be
eluded and the printer be protected, until such time as it shall be
deemed prudent to repeal the law made, as is now generally confessed, in
a time of ignorance and superstitious darkness.

I herewith send you a letter which I received some days since from Mr.
Villiers; I have several others on the same subject, but I prefer sending
this particular one as it is the last. Sin