(In mysteries men soon do lose their way;) And also turn it right, if thou wouldst know My riddle, and wouldst with my heifer plough; It lies there in the window. Fare thee well, My next may be to ring thy passing-bell. JOHN BUNYAN. AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER. SOME say the ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ is not mine, Insinuating as if I would shine In name and fame by the worth of another, Like some made rich by robbing of their brother. Or that so fond I am of being sire, I’ll father bastards; or, if need require, I’ll tell a lie in print to get applause. I scorn it: John such dirt-heap never was, Since God converted him. Let this suffice To show why I my ‘Pilgrim’ patronize. It came from mine own heart, so to my head, And thence into my fingers trickled; Then to my pen, from whence immediately On paper I did dribble it daintily. Manner and matter, too, was all mine own, Nor was it unto any mortal known Till I had done it; nor did any then By books, by wits, by tongues, or hand, or pen, Add five words to it, or write half a line Thereof: the whole, and every whit is mine. Also for THIS, thine eye is now upon, The matter in this manner came from none But the same heart, and head, fingers, and pen, As did the other. Witness all good men; For none in all the world, without a lie, Can say that this is mine, excepting I I write not this of my ostentation, Nor ‘cause I seek of men their commendation; I do it to keep them from such surmise, As tempt them will my name to scandalize. Witness my name, if anagram’d to thee, The letters make—‘Nu hony in a B.’ JOHN BUNYAN. A RELATION OF THE HOLY WAR. IN my travels, as I walked through many regions and countries, it was my chance to happen into that famous continent of Universe. A very large and spacious country it is: it lieth between the two poles, and just amidst the four points of the heavens. It is a place well watered, and richly adorned with hills and valleys, bravely situate, and for the most part, at least where I was, very fruitful, also well peopled, and a very sweet air. The people are not all of one complexion, nor yet of one language, mode, or way of religion, but differ as much as, it is said, do the planets themselves. Some are right, and some are wrong, even as it happeneth to be in lesser regions.