The Bible in Spain | Page 9

"Yes, yes," said he with a sigh, "it is true; it is but too true." He then
was silent for a minute, and his better nature overcoming his angry
feelings, he produced a snuff-box and offered it to me. The snuff-box is
the olive-branch of the Portuguese, and he who wishes to be on good
terms with them must never refuse to dip his finger and thumb into it
when offered. I took therefore a huge pinch, though I detest the dust,
and we were soon on the best possible terms. He was eager to obtain

news, especially from Lisbon and Spain. I told him that the officers of
the troops at Lisbon had, the day before I left that place, gone in a body
to the queen and insisted upon her either receiving their swords or
dismissing her ministers; whereupon he rubbed his hands and said that
he was sure matters would not remain tranquil at Lisbon. On my saying,
however, that I thought the affairs of Don Carlos were on the decline
(this was shortly after the death of Zumalacarregui), he frowned, and
cried that it could not possibly be, for that God was too just to suffer it.
I felt for the poor man who had been driven out of his home in the
noble convent close by, and from a state of affluence and comfort
reduced in his old age to indigence and misery, for his present dwelling
scarcely seemed to contain an article of furniture. I tried twice or thrice
to induce him to converse about the school, but he either avoided the
subject or said shortly that he knew nothing about it. On my leaving
him, the boy came from his hiding-place and rejoined me; he said that
he had hidden himself through fear of his master's knowing that he had
brought me to him, for that he was unwilling that any stranger should
know that he was a schoolmaster.
I asked the boy whether he or his parents were acquainted with the
Scripture and ever read it; he did not, however, seem to understand me.
I must here observe that the boy was fifteen years of age, that he was in
many respects very intelligent, and had some knowledge of the Latin
language; nevertheless he knew not the Scripture even by name, and I
have no doubt, from what I subsequently observed, that at least
two-thirds of his countrymen are on that important point no wiser than
himself. At the doors of village inns, at the hearths of the rustics, in the
fields where they labour, at the stone fountains by the wayside where
they water their cattle, I have questioned the lower class of the children
of Portugal about the Scripture, the Bible, the Old and New Testament,
and in no one instance have they known what I was alluding to, or
could return me a rational answer, though on all other matters their
replies were sensible enough; indeed, nothing surprised me more than
the free and unembarrassed manner in which the Portuguese peasantry
sustain a conversation, and the purity of the language in which they
express their thoughts, and yet few of them can read or write; whereas
the peasantry of England, whose education is in general much superior,

are in their conversation coarse and dull almost to brutality, and
absurdly ungrammatical in their language, though the English tongue is
upon the whole more simple in its structure than the Portuguese.
On my return to Lisbon I found our friend -, who received me very
kindly. The next ten days were exceedingly rainy, which prevented me
from making any excursions into the country: during this time I saw
our friend frequently, and had long conversations with him concerning
the best means of distributing the gospel. He thought we could do no
better for the present than put part of our stock into the hands of the
booksellers of Lisbon, and at the same time employ colporteurs to
hawk the books about the streets, receiving a certain profit off every
copy they sold. This plan was agreed upon and forthwith put in practice,
and with some success. I had thought of sending colporteurs into the
neighbouring villages, but to this our friend objected. He thought the
attempt dangerous, as it was very possible that the rural priesthood,
who still possessed much influence in their own districts, and who were
for the most part decided enemies to the spread of the gospel, might
cause the men employed to be assassinated or ill-treated.
I determined, however, ere leaving Portugal, to establish depots of
Bibles in one or two of the provincial towns. I wished to visit the
Alemtejo, which I had heard was a very benighted region. The
Alemtejo means the province beyond the Tagus. This