New-York tribune., 1880-06-13
THE RECORD OF FIFTY YEARS
"REMINISCENCES OF A JOURNALIST.
BY CHARLES T. CoNGboN.
YYVII


XVIII.
BUNHILL AND BEACONSFIELD.
tHR pIssENTERs "CAMPo sANTO "-T0MBs OF
JOHN BUNYAN AND DR. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
or THE oRHoou--GUILDHALL-THE BAN
QUIET TO ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS rIsH oRATORY.
Most Americans in London, with native
instinct, find Lombard-street and Leadenhall-
street and Gresham street the very heart
from which the great financial system OF the
British Empire receives its pusatlons Ihey
may there gaze upon the curious spectacle when
the mad pursuit of wealth presents, and
indulge in those fine philosophical reflections,
which, alas! never reconcile us to what carlyle
calls "a flaccid purse which will not fling against
the wind" AS 1 saw the perspiring citizens
rushing about btd se @S 4e@ons @een
character of its OwD, and the great Puritan
diyines preached sermons three hours long, or
longer, to the Puritan and Anabaptlst and lnde;
eallants OF the court to misIead the city wives,
or to borrow of too cOnfdlng husbands.
Wycherly found his unfragrant inspiration
here, and so did COngreVe, and Vanbrugh;;
Whoever would know how honest men and
women may be maligned and mlsrepresente9
to provoke the laughter Of glitterlng and
shallow -pated fools, must read the COMEDY OF
the Restoration. ~.
OF the Plague, of how these narrow and crooked
streets were ravaged by both, naturally re-
membered Daniel De Foe, and then, by swift
sequence Bunhill Burying Ground, where the
ashes of that busy schemer and thoroughly
typical Englishman rest. 1t was little enough
to repay the author of Robinson CrusOe," this
pilgrimage which l proposed to make TO MS
tomb; while there. were other the Ill interesting ing
Southey, believe, who called, BunhIl the
Campo SantO of the DisSenters." 1t is the very
place which my cOuntrymen, VINO know why
they have. country, and such county, Iy,
should seek with reverent minds and tender
gratitude. Starting from the Bank, stroed
through Moorgate-street by FinsbuIy Square
aud Moorgate Station till came to the Artillery
Ground, where that celebrated train band cap
tain, John Gilpin, doubtless Wore bis trusty
sword, a" when he did exercise" Maybe many
o valiant citizen marched up and down here on
drill days, who had made the sneerlng cavalier
skip at Marston Moor and at the "GroWmng
mercy" of Worcester. The Bunhill Fields
Burying Ground is close by the Barracks ana
il has q wonderful history of its OWN. Whle
the plague was raging in London, Lere was the
place to which cart loads OF cOrpseS. :" "nOdGlng
to the death carts rolling" were brought i!ere
the victims of the pestilence were thrown into
the great pit prepared for them, while In the
neighbOring ale houses the jewellers watched
the arrival OF each venlcle win lts ghasty
freight, and sought to drown their appIehen-
sions in drunken pOtatiOns. Before this, guam
titles of bones had been brought here from the
charnel house of st. Pauls, and the name, before
its popular corruption, was B0ne-Hlll. Alter
the plague it was leased by the Dissenters, who
objected to the church service at 6urlals, and
for two hundred years it was used by them for
place of interment. Burlals ceased here by
virtue of an act of Parliament, III 1871, ana ~
deed, it was quite time. 1t is still under the
control of the city of London, and serves as
kind of park for the nelghborhoOd: 1t ls
wretchedly kept, or was when L saw 1t; Loaf
ers and courtesans were lOlling on the tOmbs,
swearing aud smoking; and crowd OF wicked
little London boys chated the beadle at the
gate, and rendered bis life one long misery,
because he would not let them In. ! c0nversed
Al: ,hO lind Of iUnr
and he seemed little ashamed of the squalOr
of the surroundings, and OF the conduct OF the
youth who resented their exclusion by throwing
stones at the representative Of the wOrshipful
corporation. -
I was informed by the beadle, that the city
of London, which has now entire control Of this
interesting spot, was about to put 1t III good
order, and would then take measures to keep
1t 30. 1t was quite tlmei l have never seen
any place of the kind worse cared for. Many
Of the monuments are defaced; many are IN
sore need of repair and could not help Won
derng whether the rich bankers and grOcers
and gOldsmiths buried here, some of them with
uncOmmonly handsome memorials, we're
without family representatives to care for their
graves, and keep them from defe ment and
dilapidatiOn Many Of the stones are badly
mutilated and no attempt was made to make
the ground and the paths through it trim. But
it was the best-gorged cemetery which have
ever seen. Though there are only four acres of
it, there have been Inferred here, as the regis,
ters show, since 1913, not less than $4,000
bodies. The arithmetical reader may calculate
for himself how much space this would give TO
each cadaver. Picking my way, and trying
with the old reverence of bOyhOOd not TO tread
sacregiOusy upon any grave, found myself
by the modern monument to the memory OF the
author of "The Pilgrims Progress" Alter all
his trOublesj after that weary imprisonment OF
more than twelve years in Bedford Jail after
fifteen remaining years of his life spent in
preaching to the English Baptists, BuDyan
came up to London to die in the house. of a
friendly grocer; and he was mutually buried in
Bunhill. Did he know what wonderful book
he had written in his prison cell during the
intervals snatched from lace makngf Yes;
think he did. Such work as his, as Shake
speare's, as Burns's, does not come OF uncOn-
scious inspiration; and one who feels that he is
fitted to guide the progress OF the soul to
God" and has really done so, might surely
anticipate the verdict: "Well done, thou good
of eternal truth which would win him such rich
reward. The very imagination which informs
and ELIMINATES the work must have made the
life of the tinker of ElstOw great and dignified.
He had not passed through the glOOms without
an assured hope of the gOTies. book like
the Progress" written out of the depths of his
SOUL could never. have seemed to him trivial.
Not far from the reSting-place of Bunyan Is
the spot where John Wesley beside her grave
preached the funeral sermon of his mother
Susannah Wesley, "befOre an innumerable
company of people" But | passed on
familiar to the whole Christian world, whose
simple verses have been lisped, morning and
evening, for much more than century by one
generation after another of children, aud whose
noble hymns every Sunday are sung IN thou
sand sanctuaries. l thought as / read the
name of Isaac Watts what pleasant life was
his. Always feeble i'll body, small OF stature,
fond of retirement and of books, pastor of a
London church which became much attached to
him, at thirty eight years of age he went to the
comfortable home of q London alderman, Sir
Thomas Abney, and, having an assistant,
preached to his people sOnly when he saw fit.
In the pleasant mansion he was Cared for,
and coddled as if he hau been an ailing child.
He read books and he wrote tbem-a treatise on
HLOgic," and another on "The Improvement
of Mind; manuals on astronomy and geOg-