f the friar telling
him that I hoped to meet him again at Philippi. I must now be brief. In
a few days Antonio arrived with the horses. Difficulties now began to
show themselves. All the Testaments were stopped at the custom house,
they were contained in two large chests: but I now know Spain and the
Spaniards. For a few dollars I procured a _fiador_ or person who engaged
_that the chests_ should be carried down the river and embarked at San
Lucar for a foreign land. Yesterday I hired a boat and sent them down,
but on the way I landed in a secure place all the Testaments which I
intend for this part of the country. The chests therefore, with the
copies required for Tangiers and England, with the hundred Gospels in
Gitano and Basque for the Library of the Bible Society, are at present at
San Lucar in the custom house, from which I expect to receive to-morrow
the receipt which the authorities here demand, and which will be
necessary for the security of my voucher. Indeed the whole affair,
though attended with considerable trouble and expense to me, was a mere
formality, as I was given to understand. I was myself treated with the
greatest politeness, and was told that my intentions were known and
honoured. Late last night Antonio and myself returned from an excursion
on foot, bringing beneath our cloaks, as if they were smuggled goods, a
considerable number of Testaments; our path lay along the banks of the
Guadalquivir, the rain poured and the river roared, and by the time we
reached Seville we were wet through and covered with mud from head to
foot. To-day I am laid up, being so _stiff_ and sore that I can hardly
move; but anything for the Gospel's sake.

It is my opinion, and I am not one of those who hazard an opinion rashly,
that much may be accomplished in this place, which, though by no means
the most populous and wealthy, is the most interesting town in all Spain,
and stands beneath the most glorious heaven, and amidst the most
delightful environs; but to effect anything, patience must be exhibited
and prudence employed, and much of both. Consider my situation here. I
am in a city by nature very Levitical, as it contains within it the most
magnificent and splendidly endowed cathedral of any in Spain. I am
surrounded by priests and friars, who know and hate me, and who, if I
commit the slightest act of indiscretion, will halloo their myrmidons
against me. The press is closed to me, the libraries are ba