(I have just
received intelligence from my correspondent at Valladolid that forty
copies have been sold at Burgos, the heart of Old Castile), not one word
of complaint has been transmitted to the Government; and though I have
suffered so much persecution in Madrid, I have been but paying (one of my
sources of information is Count Ofalia himself) the account of others who
seem to have been reckless as to how much woe and misery they might heap
on my head, provided they could play the part with impunity which their
own distempered desires dictated.

Now to pleasanter subjects. Count Ofalia has given me very excellent
advice, which it will be well if the Society permit me to follow.
Amongst other things he said:--'Be very cautious for some time, and even
suspend the sale of the Gospel in Madrid, and devote all your energies to
make friends amongst the clergy, very many of whom are disposed to favour
your enterprise. It would not be prudent at present for the Government
to interfere with ecclesiastical matters, as the war is not yet
terminated, but much can be done in a quiet way by yourself.'

I must here state that there is a board of ecclesiastics at present
sitting, occupied in examining the Spanish Bible as printed by the
Society. It has been denounced by the Jesuits as not being a faithful
edition of Father Scio's version, independent of the omission of the
Apocrypha; but hitherto the opinion of the board has been decidedly in
our favour, and the Bishop of Vich has, moreover, declared that it
probably will be expedient to co-operate with the Society in printing
cheap editions of the Scripture for the use of the people, as daily
experience shows that the old system cannot be carried on and that the
sacred writings must be thrown open.

The chief difficulty to settle will be the Apocrypha; but I have
authorised a friend to state that the Society is disposed to make every
possible concession, and to go so far as to relinquish the Old Testament
entirely and to content itself with circulating the New. Perhaps I went
too far in this advance; but I believe a similar concession has been made
in the case of Ireland, and I feared to lose all by aiming at too much.
However flattering affairs may appear at present, I am well aware that a
herculean labour is to be surmounted before matters can be placed on a
safe footing in Spain. Prudence, coolness and firmness are at this
moment particularly necessary; and let it never f