People who know me not, may be disposed to call me rash;
but I am far from being so, as I never adopt a venturous course
when any other is open to me. I am not, however, a person to be
terrified by any danger, when I see that braving it is the only way
to achieve an object.
The booksellers were unwilling to sell my work; I was compelled to
establish a shop of my own. Every shop in Madrid has a name. What
name could I give it but the true one? I was not ashamed of my
cause or my colours. I hoisted them, and fought beneath them not
without success.
The priestly party in Madrid, in the meantime, spared no effort to
vilify me. They started a publication called The Friend of the
Christian Religion, in which a stupid but furious attack upon me
appeared, which I, however, treated with the contempt it deserved.
But not satisfied with this, they endeavoured to incite the
populace against me, by telling them that I was a sorcerer, and a
companion of Gypsies and witches, and their agents even called me
so in the streets. That I was an associate of Gypsies and fortune-
tellers I do not deny.
