At The Desire Of Sir George Villiers, I Drew Up A
Brief Account Of The Bible Society, And An Exposition Of Its Views,
Especially In Respect To Spain, Which He Presented With His Own
Hands To The Count.
I shall not trouble the reader by inserting
this memorial, but content myself with observing, that I made no
attempts to flatter and cajole, but expressed myself honestly and
frankly, as a Christian ought.
Ofalia, on reading it, said, "What
a pity that this is a Protestant society, and that all its members
are not Catholics."
A few days subsequently, to my great astonishment, he sent a
message to me by a friend, requesting that I would send him a copy
of my Gypsy Gospel. I may as well here state, that the fame of
this work, though not yet published, had already spread like
wildfire through Madrid, and every person was passionately eager to
possess a copy; indeed, several grandees of Spain sent messages
with similar requests, all of which I however denied. I instantly
resolved to take advantage of this overture on the part of Count
Ofalia, and to call on him myself. I therefore caused a copy of
the Gospel to be handsomely bound, and proceeding to the palace,
was instantly admitted to him. He was a dusky, diminutive person,
between fifty and sixty years of age, with false hair and teeth,
but exceedingly gentlemanly manners. He received me with great
affability, and thanked me for my present; but on my proceeding to
speak of the New Testament, he told me that the subject was
surrounded with difficulties, and that the great body of the clergy
had taken up the matter against me; he conjured me, however, to be
patient and peaceable, in which case he said he would endeavour to
devise some plan to satisfy me. Amongst other things, he observed
that the bishops hated a sectarian more than an Atheist. Whereupon
I replied, that, like the Pharisees of old, they cared more for the
gold of the temple than the temple itself. Throughout the whole of
our interview he evidently laboured under great fear, and was
continually looking behind and around him, seemingly in dread of
being overheard, which brought to my mind an expression of a friend
of mine, that if there be any truth in metempsychosis, the soul of
Count Ofalia must have originally belonged to a mouse. We parted
in kindness, and I went away, wondering by what strange chance this
poor man had become prime minister of a country like Spain.
CHAPTER XXXIX
The Two Gospels - The Alguazil - The Warrant - The Good Maria - The
Arrest - Sent to Prison - Reflections - The Reception - The Prison
Room - Redress Demanded.
At length the Gospel of Saint Luke in the Gypsy language was in a
state of readiness. I therefore deposited a certain number of
copies in the despacho, and announced them for sale. The Basque,
which was by this time also printed, was likewise advertised. For
this last work there was little demand.
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