"No life, my honest scholar, no life so happy and so pleasant as the life of a wellgoverned angler; for when the lawyer is swallowed up with business, and the statesman is preventing or contriving plots, then we sit on cowslip-banks, hear the birds sing, and possess ourselves in as much quietness as these silent silver streams, which we now see glide so quietly by us. Indeed, my good scholar, we may say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries: 'Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did;' and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation, than angling."

John
Bunyan

John Bunyan did not write his Pilgrim's Progress until after the Restoration, but he is so entirely Puritan in sentiment and expression that he should be placed with Milton and his congeners.

That the profane and dissolute son of a country tinker, with little education and no taste for books, should become a great preacher is remarkable; that he should have the courage to fight with Cromwell against the king and then possess the endurance to live for twelve years in jail; and that under such surveillance he should be able to write a book more widely read than any other

1

Vi ses your vanqusic fes before you Teil vortine be you of man Army Verein ye have great poe this And pracy i jour areng in a strong eni Zaur imt adventure, na such I pray, And henceforth ever vist that like succeed.

may.

Then mounted ie on as Steede again And with the Lady backyard sought to we That path he kept with beaten was

plaine,

Ne ever would to any byway bend.

But still did fcilow one to the end.

The which at last out the wood t

brought.

So forward on his way with God to fre He passed forth, and new adventure sou Long way he travelled before he heard aught

At length they chast to meet upon

way

An aged Sire, in long blacke weedes yclad,
His feete all bare, his beard all hoarie gra
And by his belt his bocke he hanging had :
Sober he seemde, and very sagely sad,
And to the ground his eyes were lowly bes
Simple in shew, and voide of malice bad;
And all the way he prayed as he went,

242

t Despair; neither could so much as see Doubting were within sight of the gto; also here met them ants thereof; for in this es commonly walked, behe borders of heaven. In contract between the Bride was renewed; yea, here, rejoiceth over the bride, rejoice over them.'

Here

of corn and wine: for in et with abundance of what or in all their pilgrimage. oices from out of the City,

'Say ye to the daughters thy salvation cometh! Bewith him!' (Isaiah 62:11e inhabitants of the country holy people, the redeemed ught out,' etc.

walked in this land, they had

than in parts more remote om to which they were bound; Par to the City they had yet a iew thereof. It was built of cious stones; also the streets paved with gold; so that, by

excepting the bible, is enough to make the man one of the few great characters of a nation. Yet such is John Bunyan's career. His Pilgrim's Progress, the culmination of English prose allegory, is written in a style that is simple, clear and dramatic, and the allegorical characters are so truly painted by his vivid imagination that they become real flesh and blood persons. It is evident from the vitality of his characters and the nervous vigor of his style that Bunyan's message came from his heart, that he was writing of the terrible anxiety and the awful soul-crises through which he had passed in his own stormy career. One quotation is subjoined:

The Land of Beulab-The Fords of the River-At Home

Now I saw in my dream that by this time the pilgrims got over the Enchanted Ground; and, entering into the country of Beulah, whose air was very sweet and pleasant, the way lying directly through it, they solaced themselves there for a season. Yea, here they heard continually 'the singing of birds,' and saw every day 'the flowers' appear in the earth, and heard 'the voice of the turtle' in the land. In this country the sun shineth night and day; wherefore this was beyond the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and also out

of the reach of Giant Despair; neither could they from this place so much as see Doubting Castle. Here they were within sight of the City they were going to; also here met them some of the inhabitants thereof; for in this land the shining ones commonly walked, because it was upon the borders of heaven. In this land also the contract between the Bride and the Bridegroom was renewed; yea, here, 'as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so doth their God rejoice over them.' Here they had no want of corn and wine: for in this place they met with abundance of what they had sought for in all their pilgrimage. Here they heard voices from out of the City, loud voices, saying, 'Say ye to the daughters of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh! Behold, his reward is with him!' (Isaiah 62:1112). Here all the inhabitants of the country called them 'the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, sought out,' etc.

Now, as they walked in this land, they had more rejoicing than in parts more remote from the kingdom to which they were bound; and drawing near to the City they had yet a more perfect view thereof. It was built of pearls and precious stones; also the streets thereof were paved with gold; so that, by