Having an extensive acquaintance amongst the lower orders, I selected eight intelligent individuals to co-operate with me, amongst whom were five women.  All these I supplied with Testaments, and then sent them forth to all the parishes in Madrid.  The result of their efforts more than answered my expectations.  In less than fifteen days after my return from Naval Carnero, nearly six hundred copies of the life and words of Him of Nazareth had been sold in the streets and alleys of Madrid; a fact which I hope I may be permitted to mention with gladness and with decent triumph in the Lord.

One of the richest streets is the Calle Montera, where reside the principal merchants and shopkeepers of Madrid.  It is, in fact, the street of commerce, in which respect, and in being a favourite promenade, it corresponds with the far-famed “Nefsky” of Saint Petersburg.  Every house in this street was supplied with its Testament, and the same might be said with respect to the Puerto del Sol.  Nay, in some instances, every individual in the house, man and child, man-servant and maid-servant, was furnished with a copy.  My Greek, Antonio, made wonderful exertions in this quarter; and it is but justice to say that, but for his instrumentality, on many occasions, I might have been by no means able to give so favourable an account of the spread of “the Bible in Spain.”  There was a time when I was in the habit of saying “dark Madrid,” an expression which, I thank God, I could now drop.  It were scarcely just to call a city, “dark,” in which thirteen hundred Testaments at least were in circulation, and in daily use.

It was now that I turned to account a supply of Bibles which I had received from Barcelona, in sheets, at the commencement of the preceding year.  The demand for the entire Scriptures was great; indeed far greater than I could answer, as the books were disposed of faster than they could be bound by the man whom I employed for that purpose.  Eight-and-twenty copies were bespoken and paid for before delivery.  Many of these Bibles found their way into the best houses in Madrid.  The Marquis of—­had a large family, but every individual of it, old and young, was in possession of a Bible, and likewise a Testament, which, strange to say, were recommended by the chaplain of the house.  One of my 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.  Another excellent assistant was an elderly gentleman of Navarre, enormously rich, who was continually purchasing copies on his own account, which he, as I was told, sent into his native province, for distribution amongst his friends and the poor.

On a certain night I had retired to rest rather more early than usual, being slightly indisposed.  I soon fell asleep, and had continued so for some hours, when I was suddenly aroused by the opening of the door of the small apartment in which I lay.  I started up, and beheld Maria Diaz, with a lamp in her hand, enter the room.  I observed that her features, which were in general peculiarly calm and placid, wore a somewhat startled expression.  “What is the hour, and what brings you here?” I demanded.