-indomitable courage, lofty zeal, and an ardent love of liberty-had many weaknesses and follies. They affected a peculiarity in dress, manners, and conversation. They condemned the most innocent amusements, while their zeal was very often a cloak for their hypocrisy. Butler seized upon this weak side of the Puritan character, and made it the subject of his satire. The time selected for the publication of the poem was a fortunate one. With the Restoration had come a revulsion of popular feeling; the Puritans were everywhere the objects of popular dislike. It was natural then that Hudibras should be welcomed with delight. Though it was a burlesque, there was sufficient truth in it to make the satiric pictures recognizable. Every one could either point out, or at least remember, living prototypes of the various portraits. Much of the humour contained in the poem is no doubt lost to us, since we derive our knowledge of the Puritans only from books. Our ancestors "knew the pictures from the life; we judge of the life by contemplating the pictures. Still we enjoy the inexhaustible wit, the extensive learning, and the shrewd knowledge of men which it conveys. The chief defect in the poem is want of incident; the dialogues, though very witty, grow tiresome; we cannot conclude better than by quoting the words of Dr. Johnson :

"If inexhaustible wit could give perpetual pleasure, no eye would ever leave half-read the work of Butler; for what poet has ever brought so many remote images so happily together? It is scarcely possible to peruse a page without finding some association of images that was never found before. By the first paragraph the reader is amused, by the next he is delighted, and by a few more, strained to astonishment; but astonishment is a toilsome pleasure; he is soon weary of wandering, and longs to be diverted. Butler's treasures of knowledge appear proportioned to his expense: whatever topic employs his mind, he shows himself qualified to expand and illustrate it with all the accessaries that books can furnish: he is found not only to have travelled the beaten road, but the bye-paths of literature; not only to have taken general surveys, but to have examined particulars with minute inspection,'

JOHN BUNYAN.-1628-1688.

JOHN BUNYAN, the author of the Pilgrim's Progress, was born at Elstow, near Bedford, in the year 1628. His father, like his ancestors for some generations back, was a tinker, and John was brought up to the family occupation. But though of humble parentage, his education was not wholly neglected; his parents were careful to send him to school, where he was taught to read and write, though, as he himself confesses, he soon lost almost entirely what little he had learned. His boyhood, according to his own account, was godless and profane. He was a ringleader in all juvenile mischief, and was especially addicted to swearing. Athletic sports and pastimes he followed with passionate avidity; dancing and bellringing were his chief amusements, and he was especially fond of indulging in these pursuits on the Sabbath day. With all these faults, however, he was honest and temperate.

Before he attained the age of manhood, the Civil War had broken out, and Bunyan, either led by the love of adventure or driven by the pressure of poverty, joined the army. Whether he took the side of the king or the parliament is a matter of dispute. At the siege of Leicester he was ordered to a particular post, either of attack or defence, when a comrade volunteered to take his place. Bunyan consented, and his companion was shot dead by the enemy. This circumstance made a deep impression upon him, and he could not but regard it as a providential escape. Returning home shortly afterwards he married, though still young. His wife belonged to a pious family, and she brought with her-apparently her only marriage portion-two volumes of practical religion, which she induced her husband frequently to read with her.

Bunyan now began to attend church regularly, but he still spent the Sunday afternoons among his godless companions. Standing one day beside a neighbour's window,

and indulging, as was his custom, in profane language, the woman of the house, herself an ungodly creature, came out and rebuked him, telling him that "he was the ungodliest fellow for swearing that ever she heard in all her life, and that he made her tremble to hear him." Such a reproof from such a person set him seriously thinking about his course of life, and from that time he began to lay aside his evil practices.

And now commenced with Bunyan a period of severe mental and spiritual conflict. He was troubled with fearful dreams and visions; he believed at times that he had been so wicked that he never could be forgiven, and he felt tempted to plunge headlong into sin. The conflict lasted for about a year, and then his mind became somewhat composed through reading Luther's commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians. He gained still more help from the counsels of Mr. Gifford, a Baptist minister, of Bedford. Mr. Gifford had, in early life, been a major in the royal army, and of habits more than usually profligate even among cavaliers. He had, through the devotion of his wife, escaped from prison the night before the day fixed for his execution, for being concerned in a royalist plot. His religious career, therefore, eminently fitted him to understand the doubts and struggles of Bunyan, who, after a further period of spiritual conflict, became at length as eminent for his fervent piety as he had formerly been notorious for his profanity.

Bunyan was admitted a member of the Baptist congregation at Bedford, in 1653, and within two years he was invited to engage in the work of the ministry. After some time he consented to officiate in public. His preaching attracted general attention, and great numbers flocked to hear him. The interest excited by his preaching gave great offence to "the doctors and priests of the country," and within a year from the commencement of his labours, Bunyan was indicted to appear at the Bedford Assizes. This time he escaped without punishment; but he was again indicted shortly after the Restoration, and this time he was convicted of being "a common upholder

of several unlawful meetings and conventicles, to the great disturbance and distraction of the good subjects of this kingdom." He might have escaped punishment if he would have engaged not to preach again, but Bunyan was too sincere in his purpose, and too deeply impressed with the reality of his work, to enter into any such engagement; he was therefore sent to prison. At the coronation of Charles II. in 1661, a proclamation was issued allowing convicts twelve months in which to apply for a pardon, and there is no doubt that at this time Bunyan might have obtained his release had he felt it consistent with his duty to accept it with the conditions attached, but he could not. His wife, however, having travelled to London with a petition, appeared several times before the judges to plead her husband's cause. This she did with so much modesty and judgment that the heart of the upright Justice Hale was touched, though his fellow-justices remained unmoved. "I am sorry, woman," said the kindly judge, "that I can do thee no good."

Bunyan remained in prison twelve years and a half; but from the first he had the goodwill of the gaoler, who allowed him a certain degree of liberty. He was permitted to preach to his fellow-prisoners, most of whom had been placed in confinement for attending conventicles. He had the full use of the prison "library," which consisted of the Bible and Foxe's Book of Martyrs, and he was allowed writing materials. But he was obliged to do something for his family; for he had four children depending on him, one of whom was blind. So he set himself to work for them as best he might, and earned a little money by making tagged bootlaces. During this period Bunyan wrote several works, including his Grace Abounding an autobiography-and The Holy War; but the work which has for ever rendered his imprisonment memorable is the Pilgrim's Progress, of which the first part-though not published until six years after his release-was unquestionably written in his "den,” in Bedford gaol,

During the later years of his confinement, Bunyan was allowed to go into the town as often as he pleased, and sometimes to remain with his family all night. A remarkable incident connected with this indulgence is related. Bunyan on one occasion had received the usual liberty to stay out during the night, but at a late hour he fell irresistably impressed with the propriety of returning to prison. He arrived after the keeper had shut up for the night, much to that official's surprise. But his impatience at being disturbed was changed to thankfulness, when shortly afterwards a messenger came from a neighbouring magistrate to see whether the prisoners were safe. "You may go out now when you will," said the gaoler to Bunyan, "for you know when to come in again better than I can tell you." On another occasion Bunyan was allowed to make a journey to London, but this nearly cost the gaoler his place. In the last year of his imprisonment he was elected pastor of the Baptist church, over which Mr. Gifford had presided, and he was able to attend regularly to his ministerial duties. He obtained his full release through the intervention of the Quakers, and his name is included in the general pardon passed by the king in council, on behalf of the prisoners of that persuasion, dated Sep. 13, 1672.

After his release, his popularity as a preacher rapidly spread. The chapel in which he preached at Bedford was greatly enlarged, in order to accommodate the crowds who came to hear him. On his frequent visits to London, where he delivered week-day addresses, the large chapel in Southwark was invariably thronged with eager worshippers. He commenced the organization of branch meetings, and what might be termed preaching circuits; and he at length acquired such extended authority and influence, that he came to be known as Bishop Bunyan. His last illness was caused by exposure to the weather while engaged in bringing about the reconciliation of a son and his father. The youth, who had given some cause of offence, had been disinherited, and Bunyan made a journey to Reading to intercede for him. His mission

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