beings, certainly forming the most extraordinary vital mass to be
found in the entire world." {169a} In the upper classes he had
little interest. He mixed but little with them, and what he saw did
not impress him favourably. It was the Spaniard of the lower orders
that attracted him. He regarded this class as composed not of common
beings, but of extraordinary men. He admired their spirit of proud
independence, and forgave them their ignorance. His first
impressions of Spain had been unfavourable because, as a stranger, he
had been victimised by the amiable citizens, who were merely doing as
their fathers had done before them. Once, however, he got to know
them, he regarded with more indulgence their constitutional
dishonesty towards the stranger, a weakness they possessed in common
with the gypsies, and hailed them as "extraordinary men." Borrow's
impulsiveness frequently led him to ill-considered and hasty
conclusions, which, however, he never hesitated to correct, if he saw
need for correction.

The disappointment he experienced as regards Madrid and the Spaniards
is not difficult to understand. He arrived quite friendless and
without letters of introduction, to find the city given over to the
dissensions and strifes of the supporters of Isabel II. and Don
Carlos. His journey had been undertaken in "the hope of obtaining
permission from the Government to print the New Testament in the
Castilian language, without the notes insisted on by the Spanish
clergy, for circulation in Spain," and there seemed small chance of
those responsible for the direction of affairs listening to the
application of a foreigner for permission to print the unannotated
Scriptures. For one thing, any acquiescence in such a suggestion
would draw forth from the priesthood bitter reproaches and, most
probably, active and serious opposition. It is only natural that