Faithful passed through it, and principally for the reason that a great multitude of Pilgrims who had set out on the pilgrimage had concluded, finding the air of the city much improved, and that by reason of the increase of refinement and knowledge among the inhabitants, the city itself was very profitable and pleasant to dwell in, to remain there for an indefinite season, and many of them for the residue of their lives. This began by some of them being allured to take part in the purchase and sale of the merchandise of the place, till at length a great part of the business came to be transacted by those who at first came to the place in the character of strangers and travellers to the Celestial City. They formed partnership with the natives and original owners of Vanity Fair, so that now no small part of the French Row, the German Row, and especially the English Row was carried on under the profession of those who had thus settled in the place as Pilgrims.

In process of time they had also appointed as Lord Mayor of the place a professor of the religion of the Pilgrims, My Lord Know-the-World, whose grand entertain.ments and dinners, together with his courtly and affable manners, did much to render the name of the Pilgrims respectable, and to put the whole place on good terms with them. Nay, it was a pleasant thing to the citizens, that they could have so many of the Pilgrims to stay with them, still preserving the profession of their pilgrimage; insomuch that at length it became fashionable among many of the native inha

bitants of the city to take the same name and profession without having ever once set out on their travels towards the Celestial City. And I observed that what aided this greatly was a certain thing that had got in vogue, which I was told was considered by many as involving the whole essence of the pilgrimage, and securing all its benefits without the necessity of encountering its perils or labors, and which they called baptismal regeneration. There was also in the court end of the town a very large cathedral, builded of hewn stone, on which they had sculptured the image of the twelve apostles, and over the gate of it had engraven in large capitals these words, No church without a bishop. I was told that it was in this building chiefly that the ceremony which they called baptismal regeneration was performed; and it was observable that most of those who entered this building and underwent the ceremonies there enacted, considered themselves safe for the Celestial City, although they had not Christian's roll, and never went a step beyond Vanity Fair.

There was also no small part of the court end of the city where the houses had crosses upon them; which I was told would prevent the growth of any such burden on the shoulders, as Christian had borne with so much difficulty. There were also in various parts of the city places of worship erected, called Chapels of Ease, where the music was so fine, and the seats were so softly and beautifully prepared, and all the ceremonies were so pleasant, that most of the inhabitants became church going people. In some of these

places I was told that great care was taken to smooth down the rough places in the gospel, and that no alarms were ever suffered to be given to the consciences of the people who came there, and also that all those fiends, by which Christian had been so much vexed and alarmed, were considered as only imaginary beings, even Apollyon himself, and that the hell which had frightened so many Pilgrims was regarded as a mere creation of the fancy.

Moreover, Mr. Legality, from the town of Carnal Policy, had established a colony in this place, and, by the aid of Mr. Worldly Wiseman, had gained no small number of the Pilgrims, who had concluded to settle in Vanity Fair. I also observed that the Pilgrims had thrived greatly in their business, and that their houses were among the most tasteful and costly buildings in the better parts of the city. When they first began to stop in Vanity Fair, they were of very small means, and of an humble exterior; but by degrees they acquired property, and moved up into the more airy and fashionable parts of the place, where they thought it important to make the name and profession of Pilgrim respectable in the eyes of the inhabitants. Some of them had great share in the various stocks in Vanity Fair, and were appointed directors and presidents of its banks, and had built themselves fine houses, and kept up large establishments, such as formerly none but the native men of Vanity Fair could build or reside in.

There was one Mr. Genteel, who at first came into the place very dusty and poor from his pil

grimage, (his name then being Rustic,) and had resolved only to remain long enough in Vanity Fair to better his circumstances a little, and then to set out again, but who had such a tide of worldly prosperity upon him, that he became very rich, put up one of the finest houses in the place, changed his name, and concluded to remain there indefinitely. There was another man, Mr. WorldlyConformity, who followed this rich Pilgrim's example, and they two, together with some others in the same neighborhood, as Mr. LukeWarm, Mr. Yielding, Mr. Indifferent, Mr. Expedient, and their families, constituted some of the most fashionable society in the region. They were not outdone by any of the merchants or professional gentlemen or nobility of Vanity Fair in the costliness of their entertainments, and the richness of their style of living.

It is true that in some cases these professed Pilgrims were found to have gone beyond their means, and to have built houses and supported this expensive mode of life at the expense of other people; but this did not prevent others from similar extravagance; and at length the world's people, as the original inhabitants at Vanity Fair were called, and the population of the Pilgrims, could not at all be distinguished, the Pilgrims having ceased to be a peculiar people, and engaging in the the same amusements and pursuits as were generally deemed reputable. The Pilgrims being so prosperous and well-esteemed, you may readily suppose there were very few new comers but were persuaded to settle down in the

same way, very few indeed, who, like Christian and Faithful, of old, went strait through Vanity Fair, and would not be turned aside from their pilgrimage. Some who staid in the town retained the recollection of their pilgrim life a longer and some a shorter time than others, and some would be ever and anon preparing to set out again; but there were certain persons of influence in the place, as Mr. Self-Indulgence, Mr. Love-of-Ease, Mr. Creature-Comfort, Mr. Indolence, my Lord Procrastinate, and my Lord Time-Serving, who, with fair speeches, did generally contrive to detain them, even to the day of their death. So that it was rare that any of those, who stopped and became entangled in the cares and pleasures of life and business in Vanity Fair, ever again set out on pilgrimage. I have heard, however, that many of them, when they came to die, were found in great gloom and distress, and could get no peace whatever, crying out continually, O that I had never ceased to be a Pilgrim.

There were some that had very grand country seats, and spent their time in farming and gardening in the summer, and were very busy at the Fair in large business operations in the winter. Some of these men were accustomed to give considerable sums to certain benevolent societies that were in the place, and also they would, as occasion offered, preside at their meetings, and give them countenance by their names. Nor was there any want of such societies now in Vanity Fair, for many persons seemed to think that the patronizing of such societies rendered it unnecessary for them