Should He Return From The Land Of
The Corahai At The End Of A Hundred Years, And Should Find Me
Alive, And Should Say, I Am Hungry, Little Wife, Go Forth And Steal
Or Tell Bahi, I Must Do It, For He Is The Rom And I The Romi."
On my return to Madrid, I found the despacho still open:
Various
Testaments had been sold, though the number was by no means
considerable: the work had to labour under great disadvantage,
from the ignorance of the people at large with respect to its tenor
and contents. It was no wonder, then, that little interest was
felt respecting it. To call, however, public attention to the
despacho, I printed three thousand advertisements on paper, yellow,
blue, and crimson, with which I almost covered the sides of the
streets, and besides this, inserted an account of it in all the
journals and periodicals; the consequence was, that in a short time
almost every person in Madrid was aware of its existence. Such
exertions in London or Paris would probably have ensured the sale
of the entire edition of the New Testament within a few days. In
Madrid, however, the result was not quite so flattering; for after
the establishment had been open an entire month, the copies
disposed of barely amounted to one hundred.
These proceedings of mine did not fail to cause a great sensation:
the priests and their partisans were teeming with malice and fury,
which, for some time, however, they thought proper to exhibit only
in words; it being their opinion that I was favoured by the
ambassador and by the British government; but there was no attempt,
however atrocious, that might not be expected from their malignity;
and were it right and seemly for me, the most insignificant of
worms, to make such a comparison, I might say, like Paul at
Ephesus, I was fighting with wild beasts.
On the last day of the year 1837, my servant Antonio thus addressed
me: "Mon maitre, it is necessary that I leave you for a time.
Ever since we have returned from our journeys, I have become
unsettled and dissatisfied with the house, the furniture, and with
Donna Marequita. I have therefore engaged myself as cook in the
house of the Count of -, where I am to receive four dollars per
month less than what your worship gives me. I am fond of change,
though it be for the worse. Adieu, mon maitre, may you be as well
served as you deserve; should you chance, however, to have any
pressing need de mes soins, send for me without hesitation, and I
will at once give my new master warning, if I am still with him,
and come to you."
Thus was I deprived for a time of the services of Antonio. I
continued for a few days without a domestic, at the end of which
time I hired a certain Cantabrian or Basque, a native of the
village of Hernani, in Guipuscoa, who was strongly recommended to
me.
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