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The Bible in Spain; or, the journeys, adventures, and imprisonments of an Englishman, in an attempt to circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula by George Henry Borrow
page 23 of 743 (03%)
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 province is not
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