found this readiness much cooled. It was true that on inquiry he found
he might do it; but the times were critical, and he had many enemies. It
would be safer for him not to take the initiative. Let them apply to the
Lord Chancellor, and get him to issue an order for him to release Bunyan
on the customary bond. Then he would do what Owen asked. It was vain to
tell Barlow that the way he suggested was chargeable, and Bunyan poor.
Vain also to remind him that there was no point to be strained. He had
satisfied himself that he might do the thing legally. It was hoped he
would remember his promise. But the bishop would not budge from the
position he had taken up. They had his ultimatum; with that they must be
content. If Bunyan was to be liberated, his friends must accept Barlow's
terms. "This at last was done, and the poor man was released. But
little thanks to the bishop."

This short six months' imprisonment assumes additional importance from
the probability, first suggested by Dr. Brown, which the recovery of its
date renders almost a certainty, that it was during this period that
Bunyan began, if he did not complete, the first part of "The Pilgrim's
Progress." We know from Bunyan's own words that the book was begun in
gaol, and its composition has been hitherto unhesitatingly assigned to
his twelve years' confinement. Dr. Brown was, we believe, the first to
call this in question. Bunyan's imprisonment, we know, ended in 1672.
The first edition of "The Pilgrim's Progress" did not appear till 1678.
If written during his earlier imprisonment, six years must have elapsed
between its writing and its publication. But it was not Bunyan's way to
keep his works in manuscript so long after their completion. His books
were commonly put in the printers' hands as soon as they were finished.
There are no sufficient reasons--though some have been suggested--for his
making an exception to this general habit in the case of "The Pilgrim's
Progress." Besides we should certainly conclude, from the poetical