authorities. The next morning I was informed that the
ruffian the _Alcalde_ had upon his own authority entered my house and
searched for prohibited books, hoping, if he found any, to justify to a
certain degree his conduct to me. He found none, and is now quite in my
power, without a shadow of excuse--he having entered by force the house
of a foreigner, without authority, and not in the presence of the consul
of the nation. I have now been here four-and-twenty hours, and am
assured that my liberation will have been effectuated before another day
shall have passed over. My fellow-prisoners have treated me with
unbounded kindness and hospitality, and I have never found myself amongst
more quiet and well-behaved men. Yet--what is their history? The
handsome black-haired man who is now looking over my shoulder is the
celebrated thief Palacio, the most expert housebreaker and dexterous
swindler in Spain--in a word, the modern Guzman Dalfarache. The brawny
man who sits by the _brasero_ of charcoal is Salvador, the highwayman of
Ronda, who has committed a hundred murders. A fashionably dressed man,
short and slight in person, is walking about the room: he wears immense
whiskers and mustachios; he is one of that most singular race the Jews of
Spain; he is imprisoned for counterfeiting money. He is an atheist, but
like a true Jew the name which he most hates is that of Christ. Yet he
is so quiet and civil, and they are all so quiet and civil, and it is
that which most horrifies me, for quietness and civility in them seem so
unnatural.

Novr. 26th. Since writing the above, I have been set at liberty. I am
going to Madrid in a few hours to demand redress, and to make
preparations for leaving Spain as soon as possible. There is nothing
more to be done here for the present in the cause of the Gospel. I
received your letter, which I read with great pleasure. You are quite
right in most of your observations, and especially in one. That circular
_was_ uncalled for.

Ever yours,

GEORGE BORROW.

To the Rev. A. Brandram

(_Endorsed_: recd. Jan. 3, 1840.)
_Decr._ 24, 1839,
MADRID, No. 16 CALLE SANTIAGO.

REV. AND DEAR SIR,--The last letter which I wrote to you was from
Seville, and in that I gave you an account