"Wouldst thou be in a dream, and yet not sleep?
Or wouldst thou in a moment laugh and weep?
Wouldst thou lose thyself and catch no harm,
And find thyself again, without a charm?
Wouldst read thyself, and read, thou knowst not what,
And yet know whether thou art blest or not
By reading the same lines? O then come hither!
And lay my book, thy head, and heart together."
Bunyan died of fever, in the house of a friend, at London, August 12th,
1688, in the sixty-first year of his age. Three of his four children
survived him; the blind daughter, for whom he expressed such
affectionate solicitude during his imprisonment, died before him. His
second wife, Elisabeth, who pleaded for him with so much dignity and
feeling before Judge Hale and other justices, died in 1692. In 1661 a
recumbent statue was placed on his tomb in Bunhill Fields, and thirteen
years later a noble statue was erected in his honor at Bedford. The
church at Elstow is enriched with memorial windows presenting scenes
from the 'Holy War' and the 'Pilgrim's Progress,' and the Bunyan
Meeting-House in Bedford has bronze doors presenting similar scenes.
The great allegory has been translated into almost every language and
dialect under the sun. The successive editions of it are almost
innumerable; and no other book save the Bible has had an equally large
circulation. The verdict of approval stamped upon it at first by the
common people, has been fully recognized and accepted by the learned and
cultivated.
[Illustration: Signature: Edwin P. Parker]