casting their shadow before. What most extraordinary men are these reporters of newspapers in general— I mean English newspapers! Surely, if there be any class of individuals who are entitled to the appellation of cosmopolites, it is these. The activity, energy, and

courage which they occasionally display in the pursuit of information, are truly remarkable. I saw them during the three days at Paris, mingled with canaille and gamins behind the barriers, whilst the mitraille was flying in all directions, and the desperate cuirassiers were dashing their fierce horses against these seemingly feeble bulwarks. There stood they, dotting down their observations in their pocket-books, as unconcernedly as if reporting the proceedings of a reform meeting in Covent Garden or Finsbury Square; whilst in Spain, several of them accompanied the Carlist aud Christino guerillas in some of their most desperate raids and expeditions, exposing themselves to the danger of hostile bullets, the inclemency of winter, and the fierce heat of the summer sun.'

Shortly after the revolution of La Granja, Mr Borrow returned to England, for the purpose of consulting with his friends, and for planning the opening of a Biblical campaign in Spain. He lost no time in returning to the scene of his labours, and, having landed at Cadiz, proceeded through Seville and Cordova to Madrid. He had received intimation from the proper Spanish minister, that though a formal licence could not be given to print the Bible, yet his operations would not be interfered with by the government; and acting upon this tacit permission, an edition of the New Testament, consisting of 5000 copies, was speedily published. As soon as this was accomplished, the indefatigable agent resolved to put into execution a plan on which he had mused off Cape Finisterre in the tempest, in the cut-throat passes of the Morena, and on the plains of La Mancha, as he jogged along with his smuggler guide. 'I had determined,' says he, 'after depositing a certain number of copies in the shops of the booksellers of Madrid, to ride

forth, Testament in hand, and endeavour to circulate the Word of God amongst the Spaniards not only of the towns, but of the villages; amongst the children not only of the plains, but of the hills and mountains. I intended to visit Old Castile, and to traverse the whole of Galicia and the Asturias-to establish Scripture depôts in the principal towns, and to visit the people in secret and secluded spots-to talk to them of Christ, to explain to them the nature of His book, and to place that book in the hands of those whom I should deem capable of deriving benefit from it. I was aware that such a journey would be attended with considerable danger, and very possibly the fate of St Stephen might overtake me; but does the man deserve the name of a follower of Christ, who would shrink from danger of any kind in the cause of him whom he calls his Master?' Into the details of this journey, which occupied a considerable portion of the year 1837, our limits forbid us to enter. It abounds in strange and deeply-interesting adventures and hairbreadth escapes, not merely from the banditti, by whom the roads were infested, but especially from the partisans of Don Carlos, who were at that time ravaging the country with fire and sword. At Finisterre, Mr Borrow was mistaken for the redoubtable Don Carlos himself, or at the very least one of his partisans, and narrowly escaped being shot, by the orders of a stupid, ill-tempered alcaid. The results of the journey, however, were on the whole propitious, as regarded the great object which the missionary had in view. He succeeded in securing the friendly interest and co-operation of the booksellers of Salamanca, Leon, Compostella, and the other towns through which he passed, and, moreover, disposed of a considerable number of Testaments with his own hands to private individuals of the lower classes. On his return to Madrid, he took the bold step of establishing a shop for the sale of Testaments; and to call public attention to it, he resorted to the English practice of covering the sides of the streets with coloured placards, no doubt to the great surprise of the Spaniards; and, besides this,

inserted an account of it in all the journals and periodicals. These proceedings, of course, caused a great sensation in Madrid, and excited no little indignation and alarm among the priests and their partisans; and their fury was so much increased by the publication of the Gospel in the Spanish, Gipsy, and Biscayan languages, that they procured from the governor a peremptory order prohibiting the further sale of the New Testament in Madrid. Mr Borrow was even threatened with assassination unless he would discontinue selling his 'Jewish books,' and shortly after, on some frivolous charge, was committed to prison. This last step, however, was taken in such an illegal manner, that the authorities were glad to release him, after making a humiliating apology for the violence to which he had been subjected. Mr Borrow's sketches of the prison and its robber inmates are among the most interesting portions of his work. Snow-white linen, it seems, constitutes the principal feature in the robber foppery of Spain. But it is only the higher classes among them-in other words, the most hardened and desperate villains—who can indulge in this luxury.

Various interesting incidents are mentioned by Mr Borrow, to shew the desire which the people manifested to obtain possession of the Scriptures. One night,' says he, as I was bathing myself and my horse in the Tagus, a knot of people gathered on the bank, crying: "Come out of the water, Englishman, and give us books; we have got our money in our hands." The poor creatures then held out their hands, filled with small copper coins of the value of a farthing; but, unfortunately, I had no Testaments to give them. Antonio, however, who was at a short distance, having exhibited one, it was instantly torn from his hands by the people, and a scuffle ensued to obtain possession of it. It very frequently occurred that the poor labourers in the neighbourhood, being eager to obtain Testaments, and having no money to offer us in exchange, brought various articles to our habitation as equivalents; for example, rabbits, fruit, and barley; and I made a point never to disappoint them, as such articles

were of utility either for our own consumption or that of the horses.'

A poor old schoolmaster expended all the money he possessed in purchasing a dozen Testaments for his scholars. 'An old peasant is reading in the portico. Eighty-four years have passed over his head, and he is almost entirely deaf; nevertheless, he is reading aloud the second of Matthew; three days since, he bespoke a Testament, but not being able to raise the money, he has not redeemed it till the present moment. He has just brought thirty farthings. Our limited space prevents us from entering further into these enthusiastic proceedings. We regret to say that sudden illness compelled Mr Borrow to return to Madrid, and afterwards to visit England for change of scene and air. On the last day of the year 1838, Mr Borrow again visited Spain for the third time, and resumed his labours, with considerable success, among the villages to the east of Madrid; but he soon found that his proceedings had caused so much alarm amongst the heads of the clergy, that they had made a formal complaint to the government, who immediately sent orders to all the alcaids of the villages in New Castile to seize the New Testament wherever it might be exposed for sale. Undiscouraged by this blow, Mr Borrow determined to change the scene of action, and abandoning the rural districts, to offer the sacred volume in Madrid from house to house. This plan he forthwith put into execution, and with such success, that, in less than fifteen days, nearly six hundred copies had been sold in the streets and alleys of the capital; and many of these books found their way into the best houses in Madrid. One of the most zealous agents in the propagation of the Bible was an ecclesiastic. He never walked out without carrying one beneath his gown, which he offered to the first person he met whom he thought likely to purchase. The circulation of these volumes has produced a powerful effect on the minds of the Spanish people; indeed, their influence is already beginning to be felt. Mr Borrow informs us that, in two churches of Madrid, the New

Testament was regularly expounded every Sunday evening by the respective curates, to about twenty children who attended, and who were all provided with copies of the Scriptures. By the middle of April, Mr Borrow had sold as many Testaments as he thought Madrid would bear. Every copy of the Bible was by this time disposed of; and with the remaining copies of the Testament, he betook himself to Seville, where he succeeded in circulating about two hundred. Finding, however, that the authorities still continued to thwart his exertions, he determined to repair for a few months to the coast of Barbary, for the purpose of distributing copies of the Scriptures amongst the Christians whom he hoped to meet with there. He accordingly sailed from Cadiz to Gibraltar, and thence to Tangier, where his narrative abruptly terminates. The extracts we have given will enable our readers to form some idea of the nature of this work, which has been pronounced on high authority to be 'about the most extraordinary one that has appeared in our own, or, indeed, in any other language for a very long time past. We have confined our notice of Mr Borrow's book almost entirely to the events connected with the main object which he had in view in visiting Spain; but some of his episodical narrations are among the most remarkable and interesting portions of the work.

LAVALETTE.

COUNT LAVALETTE, in early life, was an attached friend of the Bourbon dynasty, but the exciting events of the Revolution having opened up to him the prospect of an ambitious career, he became one of the most intrepid soldiers and supporters of the French Republic. During the latter years of the reign of Napoleon, he held the chief place in the post establishment, from which he retired on the introduction of the Bourbons. He was