nsidered to be the simple propagation of the Scripture--that I should
avoid with diligence the giving offence to the prejudices of the people,
especially in the rural districts, and endeavour everywhere to keep on
good terms with the clergy, at least one-third of whom are known to be
anxious for the dissemination of the Word of God though at the same time
unwilling to separate themselves from the discipline and ceremonials of
Rome. I bore this advice in mind, which indeed perfectly tallied with my
own ideas, and throughout the two thousand miles of my peregrination
during the summer of last year, I performed much if not all of what I
proposed, and am not aware that in one single instance my proceedings
were such as could possibly merit reproof. I established depots in all
the principal towns of the north of Spain, and in all gave notice to the
public of the arrival of the New Testament in a mild yet expressive
advertisement which I here exhibit, and which I beg leave to state is the
only advertisement which I ever made use of. The consequence was that
the work enjoyed a reasonable sale, and I experienced no
opposition--except in the case of Leon, a town remarkable for its
ultra-Carlism--but on the contrary much encouragement especially on the
part of the ecclesiastics. I visited Salamanca and Valladolid the chief
seats of Castilian learning, I visited Saint James of Compostella, the
temple of the great image of the Patron of Spain, and in none of these
cities was a single voice raised against the Bible Society or its Agent.
But I did not confine myself to the towns, but visited the small and
large villages, and by this means became acquainted with both citizens
and rustics; amongst the former I found little desire for sober serious
reading, but on the contrary a rage for stimulant narratives, and amongst
too many a lust for the deistical writings of the French, especially for
those of Talleyrand, which have been translated into Spanish and
published by the press of Barcelona, and for which I was frequently
pestered. I several times enquired of the book-sellers of the various
towns which I visited as to the means to be used towards introducing the
Scripture amongst the villagers; but to this question they invariably
replied that, unless the villagers came to the towns and purchased the
work, they saw no means of making it known amongst them, unless I made
friends in the villages in whose hands I could deposit copies fo