9, 1672. This primitive place of worship, in which Bunyan preached
regularly till his death, was pulled down in 1707, when a "three-ridged
meeting-house" was erected in its place. This in its turn gave way, in
1849, to the existing more seemly chapel, to which the present Duke of
Bedford, in 1876, presented a pair of noble bronze doors bearing scenes,
in high relief, from "The Pilgrim's Progress," the work of Mr. Frederick
Thrupp. In the vestry are preserved Bunyan's chair, and other relics of
the man who has made the name of Bedford famous to the whole civilized
world.




CHAPTER VII.


Mr. Green has observed that Bunyan "found compensation for the narrow
bounds of his prison in the wonderful activity of his pen. Tracts,
controversial treatises, poems, meditations, his 'Grace Abounding,' and
his 'Holy War,' followed each other in quick succession." Bunyan's
literary fertility in the earlier half of his imprisonment was indeed
amazing. Even if, as seems almost certain, we have been hitherto in
error in assigning the First Part of "The Pilgrim's Progress" to this
period, while the "Holy War" certainly belongs to a later, the works
which had their birth in Bedford Gaol during the first six years of his
confinement, are of themselves sufficient to make the reputation of any
ordinary writer. As has been already remarked, for some unexplained
cause, Bunyan's gifts as an author were much more sparingly called into
exercise during the second half of his captivity. Only two works appear
to have been written between 1666 and his release in 1672.