As different as grief is from joy, as torment from rest, as terror from peace; so different is the state of sinners from that of saints in the world to come.

Chandler & Wilson.

It will occur, I think, to every considerate reader, that all this could hardly have been said by Bunyan, during the short and sharp illness which terminated his life. He was, indeed, both calm and collected throughout; but still, his fever was "violent," and it proved fatal in "ten days." I am compelled, therefore, to regard most of these Sayings, as his occasional remarks during the whole period of his "sweating distemper;" which lasted, Doe says, "some weeks." True; these were "weeks of going about:" but Strudwick's house was evidently Bunyan's home; and thus his Sayings would be marked from the first by a family who loved him, when they saw him sinking under unnatural and severe perspirations. It required but little knowledge, and implied no weakness, to regard a distemper of this kind, even in a robust frame, as the forerunner of a speedy death. Thus the Strudwicks would begin to treasure up Bunyan's Sayings, from the day they saw that he was no longer a healthy man.

CHAPTER XLVI.

TRADITIONS AND RELICS OF BUNYAN.

Ir is not because I have now but little room left, that this chapter is short; but because I am jealous of whatever seems apocryphal, in the case of Bunyan. Perhaps, too much so: for I have rejected not a few stories, which were brought under my notice, during my tours of inquiry. The fact is, I have felt deeply the responsibilities of my position; because when my collections are restored to their several owners, this volume must be the chief guide of future Biographers; and I would not, willingly, mislead them, nor tempt them into fruitless. researches. There are, however, some Traditions, which claim credence; and others which are worth clearing up, in the case of John Bunyan. His tomb in Bunhill Fields, is one of the latter. There is more uncertainty rests upon that, than I can account for. The public take for granted, because a panel of that Tomb bears his name, and the date of his death, that the author of the Pilgrim's Progress is underneath. He was interred, however, at first, in the back part of that Ground; now known as "Baptist Corner." Baptist Corner." The tradition (and I think the probability) is, that his friend Mr. Strudwick had "given commandment concerning his bones," that they should be transferred to the present vault, whenever an interment took place in it. Strudwick's own funeral was the first, in 1695; and, from the elegance of the Tomb, he seems to have intended it rather for Bunyan than for himself. It does not say, however, that Bunyan is underneath: and I know persons of respectability, who affirm that he is not there. One gentleman

assures me that the coffin was shown to him in another vault, in quite another quarter of the Ground. My friend, Joshua Wilson, Esq., was told, twenty years ago, that Bunyan was not buried in Strudwick's vault. In like manner, some of the Undertakers, who have interred in that vault, more than doubt the tradition, and regard the Tomb as a Cenotaph. On the other hand, the nephew of the late Chaplain of Bunhill Fields, informs me that his uncle invited him to see Bunyan's Coffin in Strudwick's vault; and the son of the late Manager of the Graves, always understood his father to mean, when he said "that Bunyan was not buried there." that it was not his original grave.

Such is the conflicting evidence, in regard to this question. The probability is, however, that Bunyan's remains are in the vault of his friend Strudwick. On no other supposition can I account for his name being upon the side-panel of the Tomb. Still, there are difficulties, surrounding this supposition. The lowermost coffin in Strudwick's vault is of lead; and thus it is most likely his own. Besides, it is allowed that the coffin immediately above it is not a leaden one. Now as Bunyan was, if not the Chaplain of Sir John Shorter, the Lord Mayor of London, yet his acknowledged "Teacher," as Dr. Southey has proved from Ellis's Correspondence, vol. ii., p. 161; and as there was an elegy on his death published under Civic Authority, a copy of which is in the possession of John Wilks, Esq.; he was evidently popular enough to obtain a leaden coffin when he died. But there are not two at the bottom of Strudwick's vault. This is acknowledged by those who have seen it, in the course of the present century. This fact bears equally hard, however, upon the coffin in the other vault: for if it be not lead, it could not have lasted till now, so as to be identified. Besides, there is no vault so old as 1688, in the "Baptist Cor ner" of Bunhill Fields.

I do not willingly disturb the public associations with Bunyan's tomb. Indeed, I regret that my own have been disturbed. It is, however, my duty to state opinion as it now stands; that, in the event of any future discovery, it may be known that we were neither ignorant of, nor indifferent to any thing connected with the memory of John Bunyan. For the sake of foreigners, I would add, that his ostensible Tomb is 25 E. 26 W. 26 N. 27 S., in Bunhill Fields, according to the present ground-plan. The inscription, so far as it regards him, has been repaired by the present Curator of the Cemetery, Mr. Upton, at his own expense.

I have spent much time in fruitless endeavors to trace out the descendants of Mr. Strudwick, in order to discover, if possible, some of Bunyan's private Letters. Charles Doe says, that his Letters were "many:" I shall not, therefore, believe soon, that they are all lost. Let others, however, help me in my researches.

I gossip away on the subject of Bunyan, as if every one 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 neighborhood. 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 inherited, 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 upstairs, 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 rung and trembled, is 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 subsequent 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, in 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 a widow of a Baptist Minister in the neighborhood. It was long the property of a