Hobgoblin nor foul fiend
Can daunt his spirit,
He knows he at the end
Shall life inherit.
Then fancies fly away
He'll fear not what men say,
He'll labour night and day
To be a Pilgrim."

All readers of "The Pilgrim's Progress" and "The Holy War" are familiar
with the long metrical compositions giving the history of these works by
which they are prefaced and the latter work is closed. No more
characteristic examples of Bunyan's muse can be found. They show his
excellent command of his native tongue in racy vernacular, homely but
never vulgar, and his power of expressing his meaning "with sharp defined
outlines and without the waste of a word."

Take this account of his perplexity, when the First Part of his
"Pilgrim's Progress" was finished, whether it should be given to the
world or no, and the characteristic decision with which he settled the
question for himself:--

"Well, when I had then put mine ends together,
I show'd them others that I might see whether
They would condemn them, or them justify;
And some said Let them live; some, Let them die.
Some said, John, print it; others said, Not so;
Some said it might do good; others said No.
Now was I in a strait, and did not see