Finally, in 1660, he was arrested under the new law which forbade dissenters to preach and was thrown into Bedford jail. He had then a wife and three children, the youngest a blind girl whom he loved more than the others. To provide for them he learned to make lace. The authorities were anxious to free Bunyan because his life had been without reproach and he had made many friends, but he refused to take the oath that he would not preach. For twelve years he remained in Bedford jail, and it is in these years that he conceived the plot of _Pilgrim's Progress_ and wrote most of the book, although it was three years after his release before the volume was finally in form for publication. Bunyan in a rhymed introduction to the book apologizes for the story form, which he feared would injure the work in the eyes of his Puritan neighbors, but the allegory proved a great success from the outset. No less than ten editions were issued in fourteen years. It made Bunyan one of the best known men of his time and it added greatly to his influence as a preacher. He wrote a number of other works, including a fine allegory, _The Holy War_, but none of these approached the _Pilgrim's Progress_ in popularity. When one takes up the _Pilgrim's Progress_ in these days it is always with something of the same feeling that the book inspired in childhood. Then it ranked with the _Arabian Nights_ as a thrilling story, though there were many tedious passages in which Christian debated religious topics with his companions. Still, despite these drawbacks, the book was a great story, full of the keenest human interest, with Christian struggling through dangers on every hand; with Giant Despair and Apollyon as real as the terrible genii of Arabian story, and with Great-heart a champion who more than matched the mysterious Black Knight in _Ivanhoe_. [Illustration (with text): THE Pilgrim's Progress FROM THIS WORLD TO That which is to come: Delivered under the Similitude of a DREAM Wherein is Discovered, The manner of his setting out, His Dangerous Journey; And safe Arrival at the Desired Countrey. _I have used Similitudes, Hos. 12. 10._ By _John Bunyan_. Licensed and Entred according to Order. _London_, Printed for _Nath. Ponder_ at the _Peacock_ in the _Poultrey_ near _Cornhil_, 1678. FACSIMILE OF THE TITLE PAGE OF THE FIRST EDITION OF "THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS"]