Beyond dispute it is the first in rank of its class. Written by a plain uneducated man for plain uneducated people, it has ever found its way straight home to their hearts and imaginations. But it has not less delighted and instructed the most highly educated and intellectual.'

Dr. Southey in his memoir of Bunyan, attached to a rather recent edition of the " Pilgrim's Progress," remarks, "It is not known in what year this work was first published, no copy of the first edition having as yet been discovered: the second is in the British Museum; it is with additions, and its date is 1678; but as the book is known to have been written during Bunyan's imprisonment in 1672, it was probably published before his release, or, at the latest, immediately after it. The earliest with which Mr. Major has been able to supply me, either by means of his own diligent inquiries, or the kindness of his friends, is the eighth edition, printed for Nathaniel Ponder, at the Peacock, in the Poultry, near the church, in 1682; for whom also the ninth was published, in 1684; and the tenth, in 1685. All these, no doubt, were large impressions.

"One passage of considerable length was added after the second edition; the whole scene between Mr. By-Ends and his three friends, and their subsequent discourse with Christian and Faithful. The rapidity with which editions succeeded one another, and the demand for pictures to illustrate them, are not the only proofs of the popularity which the Pilgrim's Progress obtained before the second part was published. In the verses prefixed to that part, Bunyan complains of dishonest imitators.

'Some have of late to counterfeit

My Pilgrim, to their own, my title set;
Yea, others, half my name and title too,

Have stitched to their books, to make them do.'

"These interlopers may have very likely given Bunyan an additional inducement to prepare a second part himself. It appeared in 1684, with this notice on the back of the title-page:

I appoint Mr. Nathaniel Ponder, but no other, to print this book. John Bunyan, Jan. 1, 1684.' No additions or alterations were made in this part, though the author lived more than four years after its publication.

"If this work is not a well of English undefiled, it is a clear stream of current English, the vernacular speech of his age;

subservient to the royal designs. The real benefit, he saw, was intended for the Papists; but neither that consideration nor the suggestion that to accept the measure involved an admission of the King's claim to govern without a parliament, prevented him. from availing himself, so long as might be, of its advantages. The storm which he was among the foremost to apprehend, hung darkly over the land; but, though imminent, it was providentially averted, and the hypocritical indulgence of the fugitive King was followed by that Magna Charta of religious rights-the Toleration Act. He, however, had not the consolation of living to see the glorious calm which succeeded. On the 5th of November, 1688, William of Orange landed at Torbay; but, by that time, the greatest man in England, John Milton alone excepted, had been translated from earth to heaven."

The last act performed by Bunyan was a labour of love and charity. It so happened that a young man, a neighbour of his, had so sorely displeased his father, that he had threatened to disinherit him, or otherwise to deprive him of what he had to leave. Being much troubled in mind on that account, he implored Bunyan's intercession, for he thought that he was the very person to make way for his submission, and prepare his father's mind to receive him. Bunyan-desirous of preventing the double mischief of the father's dying without forgiving his son, and the evil result which would issue, namely, that of the son's being cut off from that property which his father had at first intended he should possess and willing, as he always was, to do anything that would tend to the glory of God, and the welfare of his fellow-men-ventured, as Offor says, "to win the blessings of the peace-maker." For this purpose he went on horseback to Reading in Berkshire, where he employed such well-grounded arguments and reasons in speaking against anger and passion, and in recommending reconciliation and love, that the father's heart was softened; he forgave his son, and the child was restored to the favour of his father. Here was a work of mercy! But, having succeeded on his errand, he was returning by way of London, when he was overtaken by excessive rains, and got so very wet, that after he had arrived at the house of his Christian friend Mr. Strudwick, on Snow Hill, he fell sick of a violent fever; and after ten days, he said, whilst struggling for breath, "Weep not for me, but for yourselves. I go to the father of our Lord

Jesus Christ, who will, no doubt, through the mediation of His blessed Son, receive me, though a sinner; where I hope we ere long shall meet, to sing the new song, and remain everlastingly happy, world without end. Amen." These were Bunyan's last words; as soon as he had uttered them, the Pilgrim's Progress was ended, and we believe that his soul was received into the "New Jerusalem."

He died at the house of the above-mentioned Mr. Strudwick, a grocer, at the sign of the Star, on Snow Hill: his remains were interred in that friend's vault in Bunhill Fields. His monument bears the following inscription:

The Pilgrim's Progress now is finished,
And death has laid him in his earthly bed."

The date of Bunyan's death is somewhat uncertain. It is stated in the life appended to his "Grace Abounding," (1692), that he died on the 12th of August, 1688; and it is very probable, as the inscription, evidently (from what Offor says), was not engraved upon his tomb until many years after his funeral, that that date was copied from this life. We learn from Offor that "in the memoir appended to the third part of the 'Pilgrim,' also in 1692, the date is August 17." But Charles Doe, one of John Bunyan's personal friends, in the "Struggler," likewise dated 1692, says that he "died at London, August 31, 1688." This appears to be universally thought correct, for we find it copied in all the portraits of this illustrious writer.

Bunyan at his death, had ministered at Bedford thirty-two years, during which time he suffered twelve years imprisonment, in Bedford jail-that foul dungeon, the discovery of whose abominations, a century afterwards, first started the celebrated John Howard, generally known as The Philanthropist,' in his "circumnavigation of charity." During a life of sixty years he wrote no less than sixty books and pamplets, the names of which are as follows: