POETRY. The following was handed to us for publication, by a crazy man, who, for a few days streets. past, has been perambulating our Whether he is the author, or not, of the lines, we cannot tell; it is our impression, however, that worse poetry has been written by many who pass for sane persons.-Sentinel. Spring. Delightful Queen Of beauteous mien ! Thy charms are bright, Thine is the rose Its odors to the air; Which stately blooms, A trophy for the fair. In valleys low, Pure as the snow, And flow'rets fair, Of beauty rare, In sorrow's breast, Thou check'st the rising sigh; Of beauty's beaming eye. Thy sceptre sway, Thy crown of garlands fair; Of many a gem, Triumphant shalt thou wear. Eastport, May, 1815. New England. O, that I once more might tread For many a sun hath passed away In sweet New England. Ho ho ho ho! the summer's come! In bland New England. I fain would see the village spires, Of blithe New England. I'd leave the city's pride and dust, Of chaste New England. Oh come the day, when I again I long to be among thy dells, My dear New England. 'Twould be above most earthly goods, My loved New England. But sweeter still, as sinks the sun, THE AMERICAN PENNY MAGAZINE AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER, Edited by Theodore Dwight, Jr. Is published weekly, at the office of the New York Express, No. 112 Broadway, at 3 cents a number, (16 pages large octavo,) or, to subscribers receiving it by mail, and paying in advance, $1 a year. The postage is one cent a number for all parts of the State, or within 100 miles of the city, and one and a half cents for greater distances. Persons forwarding the money for five copies, will receive a sixth gratis. Editors known to have published this advertisement, with an editorist notice of the work, will be supplied with it for one year. By the quantity, $2 a hundred. The work will form a volume of 832 pages annually. Postmasters are authorized to remit money with out charge. NO MONEY IN ADVANCE Except to the Editor or Publishers! We particularly request the public to remember that no prson is authorized to receive money in advance for this paper, except the Editor or Publishers BUNYAN'S BIRTH-PLACE, AT ELSTOW. THIS engraving is copied from an old print, and gives a view of the house in which John Bunyan was born, as it was before the alterations which since have been made in it. It is now described as "somewhat modernized, by recent repairs." Several other memorials of him have been preserved, beside his works-the most valuable and enduring of them all, and those from which the others derive their interest. His Pulpit Bible is in possession of the family of the late Mr. Whitbread, member of parliament, whose admiration of Bunyan's works led him to use great exertions for the preservation of everything relating to him. His copy of the "Book of the Martyrs," in three volumes folio, has been recovered; his Vestry Chair, his walking stick (called the Pilgrim's staff), and one of the pulpits in which he used to preach, are all preserved. This extraordinary writer was born in this humble cottage, in the village of Elstow, near Bedford, in England, in the year 1628. Probably most of his readers, (and how many millions have they been!) associate his birth, as well as his early life, with the latter place, because it is so frequently mentioned as his residence. Indeed there is but the short distance of a mile between the two, and the latter is a large town, of much greater consequence and notoriety.. Of his family and childhood little is known, beyond what he tells us: "My descent," he says, "was of a low and inconsiderable generation, my father's house being of that rank that is meanest and most despised of all the families in the land." His father, it appears, was a tinker; but not so poor as to be an itinerant, for he had a fixed habitation; and his character is said to have been respectable for honesty. The son, however, early fell into bad company, and became a little reprobate; yet, as he tells us, he was often stung, by the reproofs of his conscience, almost to desperation. After a long and painful struggle, between bad inclinations, bad habits, and evil examples, on the one side, and the occasional instructions and reproofs which he met with on the other, his character became wonderfully changed, and he devoted the remainder of his life to the then dangerous, as well as arduous task of a dissenting preacher. Many details of his mental sufferings during that period of darkness are given by himself, in his own simple but forcible style; and probably no person, of any age, ever read them without being deeply impressed. The secret of the almost unequalled popularity of his writings is, that he has depicted, in simple language and in detail, mental exercises much like those which every person has experienced. We have only room enough to allude to that portion of his life, and to refer the reader to Bunyan's Autobiography, and the various works relating to him. Southey has published a large book, comprizing all that he was able to glean concerning this distinguished author, which would have been more interesting and valuable if he had felt more like him. We have perused with pleasure his Life, by Stephen B. Wickens," published at "The Methodist Book Concern" in this city, a small but well written and comprehensive volume, adapted to Sabbath Schools and family libraries, which contains, in a short compass, a large part of those facts which an admirer of Bunyan would be most likely to desire, after reading his common writings. The preface of this book remarks, that the work which has supplied the ground work of all subsequent lives of its author" is that entitled "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners," to which a brief "Continuation" was added, in editions published after his death, attributed to Charles Doe, a contemporary Baptist preacher. An old memoir of him, preserved in the British Museum, is supposed to have been written by a clergyman of the English church. It is entitled "An Account of Bunyan's Life and Actions, with his Elegy, printed in 1692." Extracts from this by Mr. Philip, Southey's illustrations of Bunyan's literary character, and Mr. Ivimey's additions to his biographical sketches, are the principal sources of further information. To comprise the substance of all these in a brief form, has been the object of Mr. Wickens; and we avail ourselves of his labors, by making a few such extracts from his book, as are most appropriate to our magazine. Bedford is a flourishing town, lying in a rich valley, on the banks of the Ouse, about fifty miles from London. It is a place of great antiquity, and has been the theatre of important events. More than a thousand years have passed away since the first building was erected on its site. It has been the scene of Saxon and Danish warfare; and its strong castle (demolished centuries ago) wit nessed many a bloody siege. But although we are accustomed to associate the town of Bedford with the name of Bunyan, he was not a native of that place, but of Elstow, a small village about a mile distant, where he was born in the year 1628. Elstow (originally Helenstowe) is a place of very ancient date. It was noted as the site of an abbey of Benedictine nuns, founded in the time of William the Conqueror, by his niece. The Church of St. Mary, at Helenstowe, was dedicated to the holy Trinity, and St. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, from whom the village appears to have taken name, for Dugdale calls it Helenstow, i. e. Helenæ statio.' The tower is entirely detached from the church. The belfry is furnished with a ring of five bells, bearing severally these inscriptions : God save our King. 1631. Praise the Lord. 1602. Christopher Graie made me. 1655. VBCDEFG ABCDE чSTVW Be yt knowne to all that doth me see That Newcombe of Leicester made mee. 1604. In 1821, Elstow contained 102 houses and 548 inhabitants. Gent. Mag. vol. xcvi. pt. 2, pp. 105-7. Even in my childhood," he says, "the Lord did scare and affrighten me with fearful dreams, and did terrify me with fearful visions. These things, when I was but a child, but nine or ten years old, did so distress my soul, that then, in the midst of my many sports and childish vanities, amidst my vain companions, I was often much cast down and afflicted in my mind therewith, yet I could not let go my sins." "Once he dreamed he saw the face of the heavens, as it were, all on fire, the firmament cracking and shivering as with the noise of mighty thunders, and an archangel flew in the midst of heaven sounding a trumpet, and a glorious throne was seated in the east, whereon sat one in brightness like the morning star; upon which he, thinking it was the end of the world, fell upon his knees, and, with uplifted hands towards heaven, cried, 'O Lord God, have mercy upon me! what shall I do! the day of judgment is come, and I am not prepared when immediately he heard a voice behind him, exceeding loud, saying, Repent;' and upon this he awoke, and found it but a dream." It was Bunyan's lot to fall upon troublous times. The civil war between Charles I. and the parliament broke out about the period of his life at which we have now arrived-just as he was growing up to manhood. A youth of his bold and reckless character could not be expected to remain an idle spectator of this exciting struggle: and accordingly we find that he enlisted as a soldier, and joined the parliamentary forces, when he was only seventeen years of age. "When I was a soldier," says he, "I, with others, were drawn out to go to such a place to besiege it; but when I was just ready to go, one of the company desired to go in my room; to which, when I had consented, he took my place; and coming to the siege, as he stood sentinel, he was shot in the head with a musket bullet, and died." The sole portion, besides herself, which Bunyan's wife brought to her husband was two books, "The Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven," and "The Practice of Piety," which she inhered from her father-and which she frequently enticed her husband to read. Upon a day," says he, "the good providence of God called me to Bedford to work at my calling; and in one of the streets of that town I came where there were three or four poor women sitting at a door, in the sun, talking about the things of God; and being now willing to hear their discourse, I drew near to hear what they said, (for I was now a brisk talker,) but I may say I heard but understood not, for they were far above-out of my reach. Their talk was about a new birth, the work of God in their hearts, as also how they were convinced of their miserable state by nature. They talked how God had visited their souls with his love in the Lord Jesus, and with what words and promises they had been refreshed, comforted, and supported against the temptations of the devil. Moreover, they reasoned of the suggestions and temptations of Satan in particular; and told to each other by what means they had been afflicted, and how they were borne up under his assaults. They also discoursed of their own wretchedness of heart, and of their unbelief; and did contemn, slight, and abhor their own righteousness as filthy, and insufficient to do them any good. "And methought they spake as if joy did make them speak; they spake with such pleasantness of Scripture language, and with such appearance of grace in all they said, that they were to me as if they had found a new world; as if they were people that dwelt alone, and were not to be reckoned among their neighbors." Bunyan began from this time to seek the company of those pious women. He could not, he tells us, stay away; and the more he went among them, the more he questioned his own state, and the more his heart was softened "under the conviction of what by Scripture they asserted." After Bunyan had suffered some years of anxious perplexity respecting his spiritual state, he imparted his feelings and perplexities to the poor women, already mentioned, at Bedford; and they, when they had heard his story, referred the case to Mr. Gifford, their minister. Subsequently to this, Bunyan felt a desire to learn "the experience of some ancient godly man, who had lived hundreds of years before;" and soon after, an old copy of Luther's Commentary on the Galatians fell into his hands. It was so old, and had been so much used, that it was ready to drop to pieces if he "did but turn it over." So highly did he value the work, that, speaking of it many years after, he says, "I do prefer this book of Martin Luther upon the Galatians above all the books that ever I have seen, (excepting the Holy Bible,) as the most fit for a wounded conscience." In 1675, he joined Mr. Gifford's church, and soon after began to speak a little in public, and was appointed, with seven others, to visit neighboring places and address religious meetings. Bunyan continued freely to preach the gospel, without any serious interruption, for upwards of four years, when a great change took place in the nation, in consequence of the death of Cromwell, and the restoration of the royal family. Previously to Charles' being recalled to England, he was visited in Holland by some eminent divines, whom he deceived by an affectation of sanctity, and encouraged by promises of liberality in ecclesiastical matters, so that the expectations of the people were highly raised in prospect of his return. Sir Matthew Hale, who was then chief justice, had proposed that, before the king should be recalled, some restrictions should be placed upon his authority, by which he should be prevented from infringing the civil or religious liberties of the people; but the confidence of the parliament was such that this advice was overruled, and Charles was permitted to assume the government without any other restraint than "a few oaths, which he swallowed without scruple, and afterwards broke without remorse." After the king was settled on the throne, he threw off the mask, and gave the lie to his former professions. The high-churchmen soon had it all their own way. Episcopacy was again established by law, and no other form of religion tolerated; and the old penal laws against dissenters were restored and enforced, and new ones enacted. In the persecution which followed, Bunyan had the honor of being one of the earliest victims. Bunyan had engaged, in compliance with a request he had received, to preach at a place called Samsell, in Bedfordshire, on the twelfth of November; and this being known, a justice, named Wingate, issued a warrant to apprehend him, and placed a strong watch about the house in which the meeting was to be held. The rigor of Bunyan's confinement appears to have continued about seven years. In the early part of his imprisonment, as the reader will remember, he was, through the kindness of his jailer, permitted to be often at large, so that he frequently attended the private meetings of the society at Bedford. He was there in July, 1661, but from that time to August, 1668, his name is not found on their minutes, nor is it known that during that whole period he was ever allowed to pass the threshold of the prison. The strictness of Bunyan's confinement appears to have been considerably abated during the last four years of its continuance; for, in 1669, 1670, and 1671, he was regularly present at the church meetings, as appears from the records, which also contain three appointments for him to visit disorderly members, in 1668. In the eleventh year of his imprisonment, he was elected one of the pastors of the congregation at Bedford. The precise period of Bunyan's liberation is uncertain. He was arrested in November, 1660, and from all accounts he appears to have lain in prison a little more than twelve years: his release then probably took place somewhere in the early part of 1773. His deliverance is attributed, by all cotemporary writers, to the interference of Dr. Barlow, bishop of Lincoln. Soon after his enlargement, his congregagation built him a church. The ground on which it stood was bought by subscription on the 11th of August, 1672. The original agreement for the ground is still preserved. It is between J. Ruffhead, shoemaker, and John Bunyan, brazier, both of Bedford, for £50, lawful money."-Philip. It appears, too, that from the period of his release he paid an annual visit to London, and preached among the congregations of the nonconformists. His usual place of preaching, when in London, was a meeting-house in Zoar-street, Southwark, which, however, so great was his reputation, would not contain half the people that came to hear him, if but a day's notice was given. His language is always plain and vigorous, free from everything like art or affectation. "His style," observes Dr. Southey, "is a It homespun, not a manufactured one. is a clear stream of current English-the vernacular of his age; sometimes, indeed, in its rusticity and coarseness, but always in its plainness and strength. To this natural style Bunyan is in some degree beholden for his general popularity. His language is everywhere level to the most ignorant reader, and to the meanest capacity: there is a homely reality about it; a nursery tale is not more intelligible, in its manner of relation, to a child." A striking charcteristic of his discourses, and indeed of all his writings, is his wonderful command of Scripture phraseology. He had an extraordinary acquaintance with the letter of the Bible, and an admirable facility in its use and application. Not a doctrine, warning, or exhortation, but at every turn he could illustrate or "clench it with a text." It is not improbable that the substance of several of his works was written during his imprisonment, as the first part of the "Pil grim's Progress" is well known to have been, though it was not published until 1677. Of the first edition of the Pilgrim, which appeared in 1677, no copy is now known to be extant. A copy of the second is in the British Museum; it is "with additions," and was printed for Nath. Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultney, near Cornhill, 1678." The fourth edition, also "with additions," was published in 1679, and the fifth in 1680. The earliest edition Dr. Southey was able to procure was the eighth, printed in 1682. Bunyan's published writings amount to above sixty. From Cist's (Cincinnati) Advertiser. One of the most remarkable pioneer fights in the history of the West, was that waged by Captain James Estill, and seventeen of his associates, on the 22d of March, 1782, with a party of Wyandot Indians, twenty-five in number. Sixty-three years have now elapsed since; yet one of the actors in that sanguinary struggle, Rev. Joseph Proctor, of Estill county, Kentucky, survived to the 2d of December last, dying in the full enjoyment of his faculties, in the 90th of his year His wife, the partner age. of his early privations and toils, and nearly as old as himself, deceased six months viously. pre On the 19th March, 1782, Indian rafts, without a single person on them, were seen floating down the Kentucky river, past Boonsborough. Intelligence of this fact was immediately despatched by Col. Logan to Capt. Estill, at his station, fifteen miles from Boonsborough, and near the present site of Richmond, Kentucky, together with a force of fifteen men, who were directed to march from Lincoln county to Estill's assistance, instructing Capt. Estill, if the Indians had not appeared there, to scour the country with a reconnoitering party, as it could not be known at what point the attack would be made. Estill lost not a moment in collecting a force to go in search of the savages, not doubting from his knowledge of the Indian character, that they designed an immediate blow at his or some of the neighboring stations. From his own and the nearest stations, he raised twenty-five men. Joseph. Proctor was of the number. Whilst Capt. Estill and his men were on this expedition, the Indians suddenly appeared around his station at the dawn of day, on the 20th of March, killed and scalped Miss Innes, daughter of Capt. Innes, and took Munk, a slave of |