"George Borrow Norvicensis."


The real object of this visit appears to have been his desire to
study more closely the Spanish gypsies. From Granada he proceeded to
Malaga. Neither place can be said to be on the direct road to
England; but the disturbed state of the country had to be taken into
consideration, and it was a question not of the shortest road but the
safest.

On his return to London, early in October, Borrow wrote a report
{184a} upon his labours, roughly sketching out his work since he left
Badajos. He repeated his view that the Papal See had lost its power
over Spain, and that the present moment was a peculiarly appropriate
one in which to spread the light of the Gospel over the Peninsula.
Forgetting the thievish propensities of the race, he wrote glowingly
of the Spaniards and their intellectual equipment, the clearness with
which they expressed themselves, and the elegance of their diction.
The mind of the Spaniard was a garden run to waste, and it was for
the British and Foreign Bible Society to cultivate it and purge it of
the rank and bitter weeds.

He foresaw no difficulty whatever in disposing of 5000 copies of the
New Testament in a short time in the capital and provincial towns, in
particular Cadiz and Seville where the people were more enlightened.
He was not so confident about the rural districts, where those who
assured him that they were acquainted with the New Testament said
that it contained hymns addressed to the Virgin which were written by
the Pope.