Bedford is now at least rich in memorials of its illustrious citizen and prisoner for conscience' sake. The Bunyan Statue, presented by the Duke of Bedford, was erected in 1874, and is one of the noblest and most characteristic out-of-door monuments in England. It has indeed been suggested that Bunyan might more appropriately have been represented in the attitude of writing than in that of preaching; but it should be remembered that the latter was the work he chose and loved, and that his greatest works were penned during the period of enforced silence. It is therefore with a fine appropriateness that he is represented as standing, as if in the presence of some vast congregation, the Bible in his hand, his eyes uplifted to heaven, while upon the pedestal are carved his own words, expressive of his own highest ideal. "THROUGH BEDFORDSHIRE BY RAIL. "Far behind we leave the clangour of the smoky northern town; Now' we hurry through a country all brown-green and sweet grey-brown: Landscapes gently undulating where light shadows softly pass, Quiet rivers silent flowing through the rarely-trodden grass. Here and there a few sheep grazing 'neath the hedgerow poplars tall. Here and there a brown-thatched homestead or a rustic cottage small; As we rush on road or iron through the fields on either hand, In the autumn twilight gravely smiles John Bunyan's land. More than all the fells and mountains we have passed upon our way, More than e'en that giant city we shall greet ere close of day, Touches us the tender beauty, soft, harmonious, simple, quaint, Of these fields and winding bye-lanes where yet linger, sweet and faint, Echoes of long-vanished ages, rustic homes one might have seen In the old days when John Bunyan played at cat on Elstow Green, Meadows still as when he wandered seeking God; while on each hand, Gravely smiling in the twilight, lay John Bunyan's land. Tender as the closing music of the Mighty Dreamer's lay, Lies the country gently round us, all brown-green and soft brown-grey. Tender are our thoughts towards it, as we ponder o'er the book That has travelled through the wide world from this homely, rural nook. Tenderly we name John Bunyan, martyr, poet, hero, saint, Faithful pastor, strong and loving, like his Bedford, simple, quaint. Ah! the happy tears half blind us as we gaze on either hand O'er the gravely smiling beauty of John Bunyan's land."--Lizzie Aldridge. [Illustration: 0102]