“Au contraire, mon maitre,” replied the Greek, “I had just engaged myself at the house of the Duke of Frias, from whom I was to receive ten dollars per month more than I shall accept from your worship; but on hearing that you were without a domestic, I forthwith told the Duke, though it was late at night, that he would not suit me, and here I am.”

“I shall not receive you in this manner,” said I; “return to the Duke, apologize for your behaviour, request your dismission in a regular way; and then if his grace is willing to part with you, as will most probably be the case, I shall be happy to avail myself of your services.”

It is reasonable to expect that after having been subjected to an imprisonment which my enemies themselves admitted to be unjust, I should in future experience more liberal treatment at their hands than that which they had hitherto adopted towards me.  The sole object of my ambition at this time was to procure toleration for the sale of the Gospel in this unhappy and distracted kingdom, and to have attained this end I would not only have consented to twenty such imprisonments in succession, as that which I had undergone, but would gladly have sacrificed life itself.  I soon perceived, however, that I was likely to gain nothing by my incarceration; on the contrary, I had become an object of personal dislike to the government since the termination of this affair, which it was probable I had never been before; their pride and vanity were humbled by the concessions which they had been obliged to make in order to avoid a rupture with England.  This dislike they were now determined to gratify, by thwarting my views as much as possible.  I had an interview with Ofalia on the subject uppermost in my mind:  I found him morose and snappish.  “It will be for your interest to be still,” said he; “beware! you have already thrown the whole corte into confusion; beware, I repeat; another time you may not escape so easily.”  “Perhaps not,” I replied, “and perhaps I do not wish it; it is a pleasant thing to be persecuted for the Gospel’s sake.  I now take the liberty of inquiring whether, if I attempt to circulate the word of God, I am to be interrupted.”  “Of course,” exclaimed Ofalia; “the church forbids such circulation.”  “I shall make the attempt, however,” I exclaimed.  “Do you mean what you say?” demanded Ofalia, arching his eyebrows and elongating his mouth.  “Yes,” I continued, “I shall make the attempt in every village in Spain to which I can penetrate.”

Throughout my residence in Spain the clergy were the party from which I experienced the strongest opposition; and it was at their instigation that the government originally adopted those measures which prevented any extensive circulation of the sacred volume through the land.  I shall not detain the course of my narrative with reflections as to the state of a church, which, though it pretends to be founded on Scripture, would yet keep the light of Scripture from all mankind,