have sent before me two
hundred Testaments.

I remain, etc.,

G. BORROW.

To the Rev. A. Brandram

(_Endorsed_: recd. July 28, 1838)
VILLA SECA, DISTRICT OF TOLEDO,
_July_ 14, 1838.

REVD. AND DEAR SIR,--I write these lines from Villa Seca, a village
situated on the bank of the Tagus about nine leagues from Madrid. A few
minutes before my departure I received your letter of the 29th June, in
which you mention letters being on the way for me. I, however, could not
wait for them for many reasons, principally because in that event I
should have lost a considerable number of Testaments, which I had sent
before me. I am moreover tolerably well acquainted with the contents
[of] those communications from the one which I have already received.

For some time past I have been determined at whatever risk to make an
effort to circulate the Scriptures in the rural districts of New Castile,
where I am grieved to say the most profound ignorance of true religion
prevails. I have been induced to take up my quarters for the present in
Villa Seca, from being well acquainted with a labourer of the place;
moreover its situation is favourable to my views as there are many other
villages in its vicinity. Poverty it is true abounds, but I am perfectly
sure that our friends at home are disposed to make every reasonable
sacrifice, and not for a moment to balance the dust of Mammon against the
eternal welfare of their fellow-creatures.

For the last two days I have been riding in various directions. It is a
great blessing that heat agrees with me wonderfully, as we have no less
than thirty-six degrees according to Reaumur; otherwise it would be
impossible for me to accomplish anything, the atmosphere resembling the
flickering glow about the mouth of an oven. I have already disposed of
about thirty Testaments, of course at exceedingly low prices. To-day,
however, I have commenced a new course, and have sent abroad various
peasants with some parcels of Testaments; my host, whom it has pleased
the Lord to render favourable to the cause, has himself taken the field,
and has proceeded to the neighbouring village of Vargas mounted on his
donkey. If success do not attend my efforts, the Lord knows that it will
be no fault of