his Pilgrim's Progress; and well says Mr. Southey, that none but those
who have acquired the ill habit of always reading critically, can feel
it as a clog upon the first. The first part is, indeed, one of those
delightfully simple and captivating tales which, as soon as finished,
we are not unwilling to begin again. Even the adult becomes himself
like the child who cannot be satisfied with the repetition of a
favourite tale, but harasses the story-telling aunt or nurse, to know
more of the incidents and characters. In this respect Bunyan has
contrived a contrast, which, far from exhausting his subject, opens
new sources of attraction, and adds to the original impression. The
pilgrimage of Christiana, her friend Mercy, and her children, commands
sympathy at least as powerful as that of Christian himself, and it
materially adds to the interest which we have taken in the progress of
the husband, to trace the effects produced by similar events in the
case of women and children.

"There is a pleasure," says the learned editor, "in travelling
with another companion the same ground--a pleasure of
reminiscence, neither inferior in kind nor degree to that
which is derived from a first impression. The characters are
judiciously marked: that of Mercy, particularly, is sketched
with an admirable grace and simplicity; nor do we read of any
with equal interest, excepting that of Ruth in Scripture, so
beautifully, on all occasions, does the Mercy of John Bunyan
unfold modest humility regarding her own merits, and tender
veneration for the matron Christiana."

"The distinctions between the first and second part of the
Pilgrim's Progress are such as circumstances render
appropriate; and as John Bunyan's strong mother wit enabled