He Was A
Native Of The Morea, But Had Been Upwards Of Thirty-Five Years In
Spain, So That He
Had almost entirely lost his native language.
Nevertheless, his attachment to his own country was so strong that
he considered
Whatever was not Greek as utterly barbarous and bad.
Though entirely destitute of education, he had, by his strength of
character, and by a kind of rude eloquence which he possessed,
obtained such a mastery over the minds of the labouring classes of
Seville, that they assented to almost everything he said,
notwithstanding the shocks which their prejudices were continually
receiving. So that, although he was a foreigner, he could at any
time have become the Massaniello of Seville. A more honest
creature I never saw, and I soon found that if I employed him,
notwithstanding his eccentricities, I might entertain perfect
confidence that his actions would be no disparagement to the book
he vended.
We were continually pressed for Bibles, which of course we could
not supply. Testaments were held in comparatively little esteem.
I had by this time made the discovery of a fact which it would have
been well had I been aware of three years before; but we live and
learn. I mean the inexpediency of printing Testaments, and
Testaments alone, for Catholic countries. The reason is plain:
the Catholic, unused to Scripture reading, finds a thousand things
which he cannot possibly understand in the New Testament, the
foundation of which is the Old. "Search the Scriptures, for they
bear witness of me," may well be applied to this point.
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