other; yet I am going
forth without the slightest fear, trusting in God; for if He is with me,
who shall stand against me?

I have a servant, a person who has been a soldier for fifteen years, who
will go with me for the purpose of attending to the horses and otherwise
assisting me in my labours. His conduct on the journey is the only thing
to which I look forward with uneasiness; for though he has some good
points, yet in many respects a more atrocious fellow never existed. He
is inordinately given to drink, and of so quarrelsome a disposition that
he is almost constantly involved in some broil. Like most of his
countrymen, he carries an exceedingly long knife, which he frequently
unsheaths and brandishes in the faces of those who are unfortunate enough
to awaken his choler. It is only a few days since that I rescued the
maid-servant of the house from his grasp, whom otherwise he would
undoubtedly have killed, and all because she too much burnt a red herring
which he had given her to cook. You perhaps wonder that I retain a
person of this description, but, bad as he is, he is the best servant I
can obtain; he is very honest, a virtue which is rarely to be found in a
Spanish servant, and I have no fear of his running away with the horses
during the journey, after having perhaps knocked me on the head in some
lone _posada_. He is moreover acquainted with every road, cross-road,
river, and mountain in Spain, and is therefore a very suitable squire for
an errant knight, like myself. On my arrival in Biscay I shall perhaps
engage one of the uncorrupted Basque peasants, who has never left his
native mountains and is utterly ignorant of the Spanish language, for I
am told that they are exceedingly faithful and laborious. The best
servant I ever had was the Tartar Mahmoud at St. Petersburg, and I have
frequently repented that I did not bring him with me on my leaving
Russia; but I was not then aware that I was about to visit this
unfortunate country, where goodness of every description is so difficult
to find.

To the Rev. A. Brandram

(_Endorsed_: recd. May 23, 1837)
MADRID, _May_ 10_th_, 1837.

REVD. AND DEAR SIR,--I herewith send the long promised account of my
private expenses, which I hope will be found correct. I start to-morrow
for Salamanca, at which place I should now be, but for the misconduct of
my servant,