To the Rev.A.Brandram (ENDORSED:recd.Feb.4,1839)MADRID,No.16CALLE SANTIAGO,25JANUARY,1839.
REVD.AND DEAR SIR,-My last letter was from Seville,in which Igave you an account of my proceedings in that place,at the same time stating that I was about to repair to Madrid with the courier.
After travelling four days and nights we arrived,without having experienced the slightest accident;though it is but just to observe,and always with gratitude to the Almighty,that the next courier was stopped.
A singular accident befell me immediately after my arrival.On entering the arch of the POSADA,called La Reyna,where I intended to put up,I found myself encircled in a person's arms,and on turning round in amazement beheld my Greek servant Antonio;he was haggard and ill-dressed,and his eyes seemed starting from their sockets.As soon as we were alone he informed me that since my departure he had undergone great misery and destitution,having during the whole period been unable to obtain a master in need of his services,so that he was brought nearly to the verge of desperation;but that on the night immediately preceding my arrival he had a dream in which he saw me,mounted on a black horse,ride up to the gate of the POSADA,and that on that account he had been waiting there during the greatest part of the day.I do not pretend to offer any opinion concerning this narrative,which is beyond the reach of my philosophy,and shall content myself with observing that only two individuals in Madrid,one of them Lord Clarendon (late Sir George Villiers),were aware of my arrival in Spain.I was very glad to receive him again into my service,as notwithstanding his faults,and he has many,he has in many instances proved of no slight assistance to me in my wanderings and Biblical labours,as indeed I have informed you on previous occasions.
I was soon settled in my former lodgings,when one of my first cares was to pay a visit to Lord Clarendon.I need not dilate on the particulars of our interview;suffice it to say,that he received me with more than usual kindness,and assured me that Imight invariably rely upon him,if I should ever chance to be in need of his assistance and protection.I told him that it was not our intention to take any steps towards preventing the civil or ecclesiastical authorities of Toledo from destroying the Testaments seized at Ocana;and he smiled when I added that the only wish we ventured to express concerning the matter was that,in the event of these books,which contain the Word of God,being committed to the flames,the said authorities,civil or ecclesiastic,would commit the act with all the publicity possible.
