sympathized with my own enthusiasm: whereas many will laugh at me. Be it so. More will forgive me, and posterity will thank me, for " gathering up the fragments" with zest as well as zeal.

Bunyan's cottage is still, substantially, at Elstow, although somewhat modernized. The gable wall does not seem to have been much altered, when the side walls were rebuilt. Accordingly, the old woman who now occupies the cottage shows the place where Bunyan's forge was, and attests the identity of the chimney-piece where his chair stood. This chair she knew long and well, from having nursed in it a very old man, who was the owner of whatever remained of Bunyan's furniture. It was, she says, very heavy and roomy; and she thinks that it is now in the Polehill family, in the neighbourhood. Indeed, she almost believes that one of that family was chaired in it, when he was elected a member of Parliament. Bunyan's other chair is in the possession of the Whitbread family, as is also his pulpit Bible.

Amongst Bunyan's furniture, which her old master inherit. ed, she recollects some book-shelves, " black as coal, and highly polished ;" and a remarkable chest, which she could never find another name for, but "Noah's Ark," it was "so strange and roomy." She waxes quite eloquent, as she describes this ark; and especially when she tells how often the old floor gave way beneath her feet up-stairs, before she could "bring her mind to let the cottage be pulled down." Almost the only thing she now has to doat upon, is the main beam of the old building and that she has cut so many chips from, in order to gratify visitors, that even I was afraid to tempt her to cut one for me. I left, indeed, with a very small one; but her husband sent a larger to me, by Miss Hillyard.

These are the chief traditions and relics of Bunyan, at Elstow. His seat in the church is still pointed out; and the bell-tower, where he rang and trembled, is still perfect; and the green, where he played at bat, retains all its dimensions and verdure; but besides these things, I saw nothing unaltered, save the moon which shone upon them. Not a tree, nor a hedge, could be identified with Bunyan's early sports, or sub. sequent sorrows. The villagers, however, are all alive to the distinction he gave to Elstow.

The chief relic of him (for his house is just pulled down) in Bedford, is his Church Book; and that is nearly perfect, except on one leaf, from which a specimen of Bunyan's writing

has been ripped off by some person. Next in curiosity to this book, and to the deed now transferred to it, is an ancient cabinet, of small size, but of exquisite workmanship, which Mr. White, the bookseller, purchased for the chapel, from the widow of a Baptist minister in the neighbourhood. It was long the property of a very old lady, usually called Madam Bithray, who was related to Bunyan. She gave it to the Rev. Mr. Voley, as a relic of the Pilgrim. The Pilgrim's staff also is in the possession of one of Mr. Voley's sons, who, it is said, would not part with it for any money. No wonder !

son.

There is, in the Baptist Library at Bristol, a Concordance of Bunyan's, although not the Concordance which he had in priIt is Dr. Owen's edition of Vavasor Powell's Pocket Concordance, and was most likely Bunyan's companion in his itineracies as a home missionary. The autographs it contains are unquestionably Bunyan's. His copy of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, so long in the possession of the Wontner and Parnell family, in London, was sold by auction some years ago, at a high price; but to whom, I cannot tell. The public have, however, in Dr. Southey's, and in Mr. Ivimey's Life of Bun. yan, fac-similes of what he wrote under some of the prints in Foxe. I have not copied these, because I have presented better, although fewer. The signature of his deed is only a fair specimen of his usual handwriting. His spelling, however, seems to have been bad at all times. Here is a specimen of it in 1662:

"Hear is John hus, that you may see,
Uesed indeed with all crulity;

But now leet us follow, and look one him,
Where he is full feeld indeed to the brim."

It was not much better twenty years afterwards. The printers must, therefore, have taken great pains; for even their first editions of some of his books are very correct. This is, no doubt, one of the reasons why his publishers opposd Doe's folio edition. They had expended not a little money in bringing out the separate books. Not upon the paper, however; for it seems to have been the very worst they could obtain.

Amongst the few relics in my own possession is a shilling of Charles II., 1663, which was dug up in Bunyan's garden, and seems to have been presented by him, as a new coin, to his second wife. It has her initials, E. B. scratched upon it, in letters very like Bunyan's.

What I value most in my little Museum, is a piece of Bunyan's original Pulpit, obtained for me from a Home Missionary, by my friends, the Rev. Mr. Holland, and Mr. Paul, Banker, of St. Ives, in Huntingdonshire. The public will be almost reconciled to the breaking of this pulpit, when I inform them that "HOWARD, the Philanthropist, gave thirty pounds for it, and a new pulpit which cost him forty pounds.” "At the same time, the benevolent Samuel Whitbread, Esq. gave towards the other improvements of Bunyan's Chapel 1267., part of which was expended upon the Chandaliers."-Kilpin and White's Notes. Both Howard and Whitbread had pews in the Chapel, which still remain. Howard built also a small house, which is still perfect, by the side of the Chapel yard, for his accommodation on Sabbath." In 1796, S. Whitbread, Esq. left 500l in the 3 per cents, as a bread-fund for ever to the poor of the congregation. His celebrated son raised the fund to 9807., the sum which 500l. purchased in his time; and since then, the present representative of the family has renewed the bond, and pays the interest 291. 8s. annually."-Notes. Thus the loss of the old Pulpit lead to the gain of the Poor, as well as to the improvement of the Chapel. What Howard did with it, I do not know. Mr. Hill. yard has, however, a small Table, which was made from it; on which he places occasionally Bunyan's Cup. That cup is a beautiful curiosity, and of exquisite workmanship. It seems, from the splendour of the colours, and the chasteness of both the form and ornaments, to be of foreign manufacture. It will hold about a pint; and tradition says, that Bunyan's broth was brought to chapel in it, for his Sunday's dinner in the vestry.

There is one fact in the history of Bunyan's Chapel, which illustrates the progress of public opinion. In 1806, the Magistrates allowed the County Hall to be licensed as a place of worship for the Rev. S. Hillyard and his Congrega tion, whilst the Chapel was shut up for repairs. Such was the influence of Bunyan's fame; of Howard's and Whitbread's example; and of the character of the Pastor and his flock! This fact speaks volumes, as well as redeems the character of Bedford.

The traditions about Bunyan's Prison are somewhat con tradictory. Some of them place him in the Town Jail, and others in the County Jail; and he may have been in both. The traditions in favour of the former, which stood on the old

Bridge, are, however, the most numerous and consistent. Grose has preserved drawings of that Jail, which show at a glance that it is large enough to contain many prisoners, and strong enough to keep them. Bunyan's Prison Thoughts, also, agree best with the scenery from the Bridge. In like manner, it is well known to many that the late venerable and Reverend Mr. Bull of Newport Pagnell, the friend of Cowper and Newton, always paused as he crossed the Bridge, to pay homage to the memory of John Bunyan. Mr. Kilpin of Bedford was with Mr. Bull on one of these occasions, and well remembers his solemn pause, and his sublime exclamations. I have, therefore, leaned to the traditions which run in the best channels, in placing Bunyan in the Bridge-Jail.

Mr. Bull, and many of his contemporaries, always believed that the original of Bunyan's Slough of Despond, was a bog on the road from Bedford to Newport Pagnell. This may be true; but I know some who find it in Stowe's description of old Moorfields. The fact is, any part of the Bedford Level, in Bunyan's time, would have furnished him with an emblem of David's "fearful pit, and miry clay." It is more difficult to find out the originals of the Delectable Mountains and the Hill Difficulty, in any of the scenery of Bunyan's circuits.

I have been unable to identify the spot in the lilied Ouse, where Bunyan was baptized. It may have been the wellknown spot, where his successors administered baptism, until a Baptistry was introduced into his Chapel. The old Table over that Baptistry is an extraordinary piece of furniture, which for size and strength might have been the banquet-table of a Baronial Hall. It is evidently older than even the original Chapel.

There is a Tablet in the wall of the burying ground, to the memory of Hannah Bunyan, a great grand-child of Bunyan's, who died in 1770, aged 76 years. I could not find out where either his first or second wife was buried. His Elizabeth died in 1691, just as Doe had published his Folio; and thus "soon followed her faithful Pilgrim," says a contemporary, “to dwell in the Celestial City in the presence of her King and her husband for ever." His son, Thomas, was a preacher at that time; but he never acquired any notoriety, although he was much respected. Bunyan's blind MARY; for whom he feared so much, and whom he loved so deeply, died some years before himself. Nothing is known of John, Joseph, Sarah, or Elizabeth, unless we suppose that Cristiana's children sym

bolize his own family: which is highly probable. Mr. Ivimey thinks that Bunyan intended a Third Part of the Pilgrim's Progress, to embrace their history. He founds this conjecture upon a passage at the end of the Second Part. Bunyan says there, that " Cristiana's children are yet alive, and so would be for the increase of the Church in the place where they were. This proves that he thought well of them, on the whole. There seems, however, to have been some doubts in his mind, as to their decision: for he adds, "I may give an account of what I am now silent about. Meantime, I bid my readers, Adieu!"

None of Bunyan's descendants are now known in England. Thirty years ago, I knew some Antiburgher Ministers in Scotland of the same name; one of whom was not unlike the best portraits of Bunyan: but as there were no Baptists amongst the Scotch Bunyan's then, and none of any name in that quarter of the country until then, it is not likely that the family sprung from the Pilgrim. Of the spots consecrated by Bunyan's memory, is the "dell in the dark wood near Hitchin,' where he often preached at midnight; and the chimney-corner of a cottage, where he found shelter. A thousand people, it is said, have assembled there to hear him. The venerable Mr. Geard, A. M. of Hitchin, told me, that Bunyan was once at a conference of Ministers there, when Paul's groans of the creation were discussed, (Rom. viii. 19;) but he would only say with Luther, "The Scriptures are wiser than I. The meaning of this Scripture, I could never find out." Mr. Ivimey says, justly, "what a reproof to conceited and dogmatical interpreters!" Bunyan could reprove even Biblical Critics. Charles Doe says, "A scholar overtook him near Cambridge, and asked him, how dare you preach, seeing you have not the Original, (Scriptures,) being no scholar? Then, said Mr. Bunyan, have you the original? Yes, said the scholar. Nay but, said Mr. Bunyan, have you the very self-same copies that were written by the Penmen of the Scriptures? No, said the scholar; but we have true copies of them. How do you know that? said Mr. Bunyan. How, said the scholar why, we believe what we have is a true copy of the original. Then said Mr. Bunyan, so do I believe our English Bible to be a true copy of the original. So, away rid the scholar!" Doe's Circular.

Doe adds, "I once asked him his opinion on a common religious point, and offered my opinion for the general of it: