Litchfield enquirer., 1854-07-27


 a wo'k of which Mr. Macaulay thus stri. kingly relates both the history and chars ac:er :--
 Before he left his prison he had be> gun the book which has made his name immortal. The history of that book is remarkable. The author was. as he tells us, writing treatise. in which he had oc casion to speak of the stages of the Chris> tian progress. He compared that pro, gress as many others have compared it, to pilgrimage. Soon his quick wit dis- solved innumerable points of similarity which had escaped his predecessors Images came crowding on his mind fast. CT than he could put them into words, quagmires and pits. steep hills, dark and horrible glens, soft wales, sunny pastures, a gloomy castle, of which the court yard was strewn with the skulls and bones of murdered prisoners. town all hustle and splendor. like London on the Lord May or's day, and the narrow path, straight as rule could make it. running on up hill, and down hill. through city and through wilderness, to the Black River and Shining Gate. He had found out. as most people would have said, by ac cideht, as he would. doubtless have said, by the guidance of Providence, where his powers lay. He had no suspicion, in> deed, that he was producing master piece. He could not guess what place his a|legory would occupy in English lit. erature for of English literature he knew nothing. Those who suppose him to have studied the Fai'y Queen might easily be confuted. if this were the proper place for detailed examination of the passa- ges in which two allegories have been thought to resemble each other. The only work of fiction with which he could compare his Pilgrim was his old fayori,e the legend of Sir Bevis of Southampton. He would have thought it sin to bor- row any time from the serious business of his life, from his expositions, his contro> versies. and his lace tags, for the purpose of amusing himself, with what he consi> dered merely as trife. It was only, he assures us, at spare moments that he re, turned to the House Beautiful, the De- lectable Mountains, and the Enchanted Ground. He had no assistance. Mo- body but himself saw line until tbe whole was complete. He then consult ed his pious friends. Some wers pleased; others were much scandalised. It was a vain story. mere romance, about giants. and lions, and goblins, and war riors, sometimes figling with monsters. and sometimes regaled by fair ladies in stately palaces. The loose. alheistical wits at Wills might write such stuff to divert the painted Jezebels of the court; but did it become minister of the Goss pelto copy the evil passions of the world? There had been time when the cant of suchfools would have made Bunyan mis- erable. But that time was passed. and his mind was now in firm and healthy state. He saw that in employing fiction to make truth clear and goodness attrac- tive. he was only following the example which every Christian ought to propose to himself and he determined to print. The :" Pilgrims Progress" stole silent y into the world. Not single copy of the first edition is known to be in exis- tence. The year of publication has not been ascertained. IL is probable that, during some months. ele little volume circulated only among poor and obscure sectaries. But soon-the irresistible charm of book which g,atiied the imagination of the reader with all tke action and scenery of fairy tale, which exercised his ingenuity by setting him to discover a mnltitude of curious analogies, which interested his feelings for human beings. frail like himself, and struggling with temptMions from within and from with out. which every moment drew a smile from him by some stroke of quaint yet simply pleasantly, and nevertheless left on hts mind sentiment of reverence for God and of sympathy for man, began 10 produce it's effect. In puritanical circles from which plays and novels were strict lg excluded, that effect was such as no work of genius, though 1t were superior to the Had. to Don Quixote, or to o hel 10, can ever produce. on a mind accus toned to indulge in literary luxury. In l6IS came forth second edition with addit ons; and then the demand became immense h the four following years the book was reprinted six times. The eighth edition which. contains the last im- pIovemenfs made by the author, was published in 1882, the ninth in 1884, the tenth in 1885. The help of the en- grayer had early been called in; and tens of thousands of children looked with tei> TOT and delight on ex, ecable copper plate which represented Christian thrusting his sword into Apollyonsor writbing in the grasp of Giant Despair. In Scotland, and in some of the colonies, the pilgrim was even more popular than in his native country. Bunyan has told us. with very par donable vanity, that in New England his dream was the daily subject of the conversation of thousands, and was tho't