be done so
with care. Perhaps in a few days I shall send a general account of what
I have been about since my arrival at Madrid, but I am at present very
feeble and languid, and can scarcely hold a pen. There is nothing new
here, all is quiet, and I hope will continue so. My time does not pass
very agreeably, I am without books or conversation, for all my
acquaintance have left the place to escape from the intolerable heat. I
often sigh for Russia, and wish I was there, editing Mandchou or
Armenian; pray remember me kindly to Mr. Jowett and to my other friends.
I remain, etc.

G. BORROW.

About one o'clock in the afternoon of the 6th of January, 1836, I crossed
the bridge of the Guadiana, a boundary river between Portugal and Spain,
and entered Badajoz, a strong Spanish town containing about 8000
inhabitants, and founded by the Romans. I instantly returned thanks to
God who had protected me during a journey of five days through the wilds
of Alemtejo, the province of Portugal the most infested by robbers and
desperate characters, and which I had traversed with no other human
companion than a lad, nearly idiotic, who was to convey back the mules
which carried myself and baggage. It was not my intention to make much
stay at Badajoz, and as a vehicle would set out for Madrid the day next
but one after my arrival, I proposed to depart therein for the capital of
Spain.

The next morning I was standing at the door of the inn where I had taken
up my residence; the weather was gloomy, and rain seemed to be at hand.
I was thinking of the state of the country I had lately entered, which
was involved in bloody anarchy and confusion, and where the ministers of
a religion, falsely styled Catholic and Christian, were blowing the trump
of war, instead of preaching the love-engendering words of the blessed
Gospel. Suddenly two men wrapped in long cloaks came down the narrow and
almost deserted street. They were about to pass me, and the face of the
nearest was turned full towards me. I knew to whom the countenance which
he displayed must belong, and I touched him on the shoulder. The man
stopped and his companion also; I said a certain word, to which after an
exclamation of surprise he responded in the manner which I expected. The
men were of that singular family, or race, which has diffused itself over
every part of the civilized globe, and the members of whic