e Latin tongue, which she
had been taught by a Jesuit priest, an episode which he retold in _The
Bible in Spain_. 'When shall we hear,' he asks, 'of an English rector
instructing a beggar girl in the language of Cicero?' To which Mr.
Brandram, who was rector of Beckenham, replied 'Cui bono?' The letters
of this period are the best that he ever wrote, and are incorporated
more exactly than the earlier ones in _The Bible in Spain_.

[Illustration: WHERE BORROW LIVED IN MADRID

The house of Maria Diaz in the Calle del Santiago. Borrow occupied the
third floor front. A laundry is now in possession.]

[Illustration: THE CALLE DEL PRINCIPE, MADRID

Where Borrow opened a shop for the sale of New Testaments, which was
finally closed by order of the Government.]

Four letters to his mother within the period of his second and third
Spanish visits may well be presented together here from my Borrow
Papers:

To Mrs. Ann Borrow

MADRID, _July 27, 1838._

MY DEAR MOTHER,--I am in perfect health though just returned
from a long expedition in which I have been terribly burnt by
the sun. In about ten days I sold nearly a thousand Testaments
among the labourers of the plains and mountains of Castille and
La Mancha. Everybody in Madrid is wondering and saying such a
thing is a miracle, as I have not entered a town, and the
country people are very poor and have never seen or heard of
the Testament before. But I confess to you that I dislike my
situation and begin to think that I have been deceived; the
B.S. have had another person on the sea-coast who has nearly
ruined their cause in Spain by circulating seditious handbills
and tracts. The consequence has been that many of my depots
have been seized in which I kept my Bibles in various parts of
the country, for the government think that he is employed by
me; I told the B.S. all along what would be the consequence of
employing this man, but they took huff and would scarce believe
me, and now all my words are come true; I do not blame the
government in the slightest degree for what they have done in
many points, they have shown themselves to be my good friends,
but they have been driven to the step by the insane conduct of
the person alluded to. I told them frankly in my last letter
that I would leave their service if they encouraged him; for I
will n