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|SOME of the most characteristic excursions through the gently
undulating rural scenery which distinguishes so large a portion of the
south midland district of England may be made along the towing-paths of
the canals. The notion may appear unromantic; the pathway is artificial,
yet it has now become rusticated and fringed with various verdure; some
of the associations of the canal are anything but attractive--but upon
the whole the charm is great. A wide, level path, driven straight across
smiling valleys and by the side of hills, here and there skirting a fair
park, and occasionally bringing some broad open landscape into
sudden view, with the gleam and coolness of still waters ever at the
traveller's side, affords him a succession of pictures which perhaps the
"strong climber of the mountain's side" may disdain, but which to many
will be all the more delightful, because they can be enjoyed with no
more fatigue than that of a leisurely, health-giving stroll.
It was by such a walk as this through some of the pleasantest parts
of Hertfordshire that we first made our way to Berkhampstead--the
birthplace of William Cowper, turning from the canal bank to the
embowered fragments of the castle, and through the quiet little town to
the "public way,"--the pretty rural bye-road where the "gardener Robin"
drew his little master to school:
"Delighted with the bauble coach, and wrapped
In scarlet mantle warm, and velvet capped,"
while the fond mother watched her darling from the "nursery window," the
memory of which one pathetic poem has made immortal.
In a well-known sentence, Lord Macaulay affirms in reference to the
seventeenth century, "We are not afraid to say, that though there were
many clever men in England during the latter half of that century, there
were only two minds which possessed the imaginative faculty in a very
eminent degree. One of these minds produced the _Paradise Lost_; the
other, the _Pilgrim's Progress_." Similarly, with regard to the brilliant
literary period which began towards the close of the eighteenth century,
"we are not afraid to say," that although there were many poets in
England of no mean order, there were but two to whom it was given to
view nature simply and sincerely, so as adequately to express "the
delight of man in the works of God." One of these poets produced the
_Task_, the other the _Exclusion_.
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When Macaulay wrote, the place of Bunyan in literature was still held
a little doubtful; the place of Cowper among poets is not wholly
unquestioned now. Some are impatient of his simplicity, others scorn his
piety, many cannot escape, as they read, from the shadow of the darkness
in which he wrote. But we cannot doubt that, when the coming reaction
from feverishness and heathenism in poetry shall have set in, the name
of Cowper will win increasing honour; men will search for themselves
into the source of those bright phrases, happy allusions, "jewels five
words long, that on the stretched forefinger of all time sparkle for
ever," for which the world is often unconsciously indebted to his
poems; while his incomparable letters will remain as the finest and
most brilliant specimens of an art which penny-postage, telegrams, and
post-cards have rendered almost extinct in England.
No one at any rate will wonder now that we should turn awhile from more
outwardly striking or enchanting scenes to the ground made classic and
sacred to the English Christian by the memories of Bunyan and Cowper. We
may associate their names, not only from their brotherhood in faith and
teaching, but from the coincidence which identifies their respective
homes with one and the same river, and blends their memories with the
fair still landscapes through which it steals.
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The Ouse, most meandering of English streams, waters a country almost
perfectly level throughout, though here and there fringed by the
undulations of the receding Chilterns;--with a picturesqueness derived
from rich meadows, broad pastures with flowery hedgerows, and tall
stately trees; while in many places the still river expands into a
miniature lake, with water lilies floating upon its bosom. Among scenes
like these the great dreamer passed his youth, in his village home at
Elstow; often visiting the neighbouring town of Bedford, where we may
picture him as leaning in many a musing fit over the old Ouse Bridge, on
which the town prison then stood. How little, did John Bunyan then think
what those prison walls would become to him and to the world! The bridge
is gone, the town has become a thriving modern bustling place; only the
river remains, and the country walk to Elstow is little changed. There
is the cottage which tradition identifies with Bunyan: with the church
and the belfry, so memorable in the record of his experiences, the
village green on which in his thoughtless youth he used to play at
"tip-cat:" there is nothing more to see, but it is impossible to pace
through those homely ways without remembering how once the place was
luminous to his awe-stricken spirit with "the light that never was on
sea or shore," and the landscape on which his inward eye was fixed was
that which was closed in by the great white throne.
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It is remarkable that there is in Bunyan's writings so little of
local colouring. His fields, hills and valleys are not of earth. The
"wilderness of this world" through which he wandered was something quite
apart from the Bedfordshire flats, although indeed "the den" on which
he lighted is but too truthful a representation of the prison on the old
Ouse Bridge. Even where familiar scenes may have supplied the groundwork
of the picture, incidental touches show that his soul was beyond
them. His hillsides are covered with "vineyards;" the meadows by the
riverside are fair with "lilies;" the fruits in the orchard have mystic
healing virtue. The scenery of Palestine rather than of Bedfordshire is
present to his view, and his well-loved Bible has contributed as much
to his descriptions as any reminiscences of his excursions around his
native place. *
* It has recently been argued, with some plausibility, that
Bunyan may have derived some of his pictures of scenery from
his preaching excursions to the Surrey hills and the Sussex
Weald (see pp. 33-35), where he would often cross the track
of "the Canterbury pilgrims." "It is said that he frequently
selected the hilly districts of South Surrey as his hiding-
place; two houses, one on Quarry Hill, Guildford, and the
other known as Horn Hatch, on Shalford Common, being pointed
out as among those he occupied.".... "The struggles of the
pedestrian through the Shalford swamp might have given
Bunyan the original idea of the _Slough of Despond_; the
Surrey Hills he loved so well might be called the
_Delectable Mountains_; St. Martha's Hill would answer
perfectly his description of the _Hill Difficulty_; the Vale
of Albury, amid the picturesque scenery of which he passed
so many days of true humiliation, might be considered the
_Valley of Humiliation_; and lastly, the name _Doubting
Castle_ actually exists to this day, near the Pilgrims' Way,
being approached, as its namesake was supposed lo be, by a
path near Box Hill. It is right, however, to state that the
antiquity of the last name quoted is not verified."--Notes
on the Pilgrims' Way in West Surrey; by Captain E. Renouard
James, R.E. Stanford, 1871.
But it was after all in no earthly walks or haunts of men that he found
the prototypes of his immortal pictures. They are idealised experiences,
and from the Wicket gate to the Land of Beulah they all represent what
he had seen and felt only in his soul.* No doubt the people are in
many cases less abstract. A very remarkable edition of the _Pilgrim's
Progress_, published some years ago by an artist of rare promise, since
deceased, portrayed the personages of the allegory in the very guise
in which Bunyan must often have met their originals up and down in
Bedfordshire. Such faces may be seen to-day. We ourselves thought we saw
Mr. Honesty, in a brown coat, looking at some bullocks in the Bedford
market-place. Ignorance tried to entice us into a theological discussion
at the little country-side inn where we rested for the night: the next
morning, as we passed along, Mercy was knitting at a farmhouse door,
while young Mr. Brisk, driving by in his gig, made her an elaborate bow,
of which we were glad to see she took the slightest possible notice.
* The impression made upon a passing traveller through
Bunyan's Country is well expressed in some verses entitled
Bedford is now at least rich in memorials of its illustrious citizen and
prisoner for conscience' sake. The Bunyan Statue, presented by the Duke
of Bedford, was erected in 1874, and is one of the noblest and most
characteristic out-of-door monuments in England. It has indeed been
suggested that Bunyan might more appropriately have been represented
in the attitude of writing than in that of preaching; but it should be
remembered that the latter was the work he chose and loved, and that
his greatest works were penned during the period of enforced silence.
It is therefore with a fine appropriateness that he is represented as
standing, as if in the presence of some vast congregation, the Bible
in his hand, his eyes uplifted to heaven, while upon the pedestal are
carved his own words, expressive of his own highest ideal.
"THROUGH BEDFORDSHIRE BY RAIL.
"Far behind we leave the clangour of the smoky northern town;
Now' we hurry through a country all brown-green and sweet grey-brown:
Landscapes gently undulating where light shadows softly pass,
Quiet rivers silent flowing through the rarely-trodden grass.
Here and there a few sheep grazing 'neath the hedgerow poplars tall.
Here and there a brown-thatched homestead or a rustic cottage small;
As we rush on road or iron through the fields on either hand,
In the autumn twilight gravely smiles John Bunyan's land.
More than all the fells and mountains we have passed upon our way,
More than e'en that giant city we shall greet ere close of day,
Touches us the tender beauty, soft, harmonious, simple, quaint,
Of these fields and winding bye-lanes where yet linger, sweet and faint,
Echoes of long-vanished ages, rustic homes one might have seen
In the old days when John Bunyan played at cat on Elstow Green,
Meadows still as when he wandered seeking God; while on each hand,
Gravely smiling in the twilight, lay John Bunyan's land.
Tender as the closing music of the Mighty Dreamer's lay,
Lies the country gently round us, all brown-green and soft brown-grey.
Tender are our thoughts towards it, as we ponder o'er the book
That has travelled through the wide world from this homely, rural nook.
Tenderly we name John Bunyan, martyr, poet, hero, saint,
Faithful pastor, strong and loving, like his Bedford, simple, quaint.
Ah! the happy tears half blind us as we gaze on either hand
O'er the gravely smiling beauty of John Bunyan's land."--Lizzie Aldridge.
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No visitor to Bedford will neglect the rapidly accumulating Bunyan
Museum, comprising not only some simple relics of his lifetime, as
his staff, jug, and the like, with books bearing his autograph--his
priceless Bible and Foxes Martyrs--but the various editions of his
works, and in particular a collection of the illustrations of the
_Pilgrim's Progress_, from the first rude designs to the latest products
of artistic skill. These are stored with reverent care, in connexion
with the place of worship occupied by the Christian Church to which he
ministered, and now known as Bunyan Meeting. To this edifice, likewise,
a pair of massive bronze gates have been contributed by the Duke of
Bedford, with panels illustrative of scenes from the allegory.
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Altogether, if we have found in the neighbourhood of Bedford no
Delectable Mountains, nor Valley of Humiliation, nor Land of Beulah,
we have at least seen much pleasant English scenery, a fertile,
well-cultivated country, and in the very absence of more outwardly
exciting prospects, have had the more "leisure of thought" to dwell in
the ideal world which Bunyan has made as familiar to us as our own home.
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From Bedford to Olney the distance by rail is between ten and eleven
miles; by "the sinuous Ouse" probably between thirty and forty.
Few travellers, therefore, will care to ascend by the river banks, and
the frequent shallows preclude the thought of a boating excursion, which
otherwise would by its leisurely length be some preparation for our
exchange of the associations of the seventeenth century for those of the
eighteenth. One hundred and three years separated the birthday of Bunyan
from that of Cowper.
The interval marks the greatest advance that had ever been made in the
history of English thought and freedom. But in the essentials of faith
and teaching the two men were one; nor in some of their experiences were
they very dissimilar. Both were sensitive, conscientious, and often in
the midst of their holiest longings after God were most terror-stricken
by thoughts of the wrath to come. Some pages of Bunyan's Autobiography
may compare in their passionate anxiety with the annals of Cowper's
despair. The great dreamer soon escaped from Doubting Castle to the
Delectable Mountains; but for the poet, the dungeon bars remained
unloosed until the final summons came to the everlasting hills. *
* "From the moment of Cowper's death, till the coffin was
closed," writes his friend and relative Mr. Johnson, "the
expression with which his countenance had settled was that
of calmness and composure, mingled, as it were, with _holy
surprise."--Southey's Life._
The sensitiveness of Cowper to external influences was so great, as to
raise the doubt whether other scenes and a different atmosphere might
not have prevented many of his sorrows.
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On the death of his father, when the poet had reached the age of
twenty-five, he touchingly and expressively tells us that it had never
till then occurred to him "that a parson has no fee-simple in the house
and glebe he occupies. There was," he says, "neither tree, nor gate, nor
stile in all that country to which I did not feel a relation, and the
house itself I preferred to a palace." To Huntingdon, where he first
made acquaintance with the Ouse, and became an inmate with the Unwins,
he clung very lovingly, although he does not rate the charms of the
neighbourhood very highly. "My lot is cast in a country where we have
neither woods nor commons nor pleasant prospects: all flat and insipid;
in the summer adorned only winter covered with a flood." But it was at
Olney that Cowper found such scenery as he could appreciate and love.
"He does not," in the words of Sir James Mackintosh, "describe the
most beautiful scenes in nature; he discovers what is most beautiful in
ordinary scenes."
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In fact, Cowper saw very few beautiful scenes, but his poetical eye, and
his moral heart, detected beauty in the sandy flats of Buckinghamshire."
The walk, especially, from the quiet little town to the village of
Weston Underwood, he has made classic among English scenes by the
description in the first book of the _Task_.
Leaving Olney, where, in truth, there is not much to detain us, save the
poet's home--the same in outward aspect, at least, as during the twenty
years spent by him within its walls,--and the summer-house in the garden
where he sat and wrote, while Mrs. Unwin knitted, and Puss, Tiny, and
Bess sported upon the grass--we may climb the little eminence above the
river, and with an admiration like that of the poet ninety years ago,
"dwell upon the scene." "Here is the "distant plough slow moving," and
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"Here Ouse, slow winding through a level plain
Of spacious meads, with cattle sprinkled o'er,
Conducts the eye along his sinuous course Delighted.
There, fast rooted in their bank,
Stand, never overlooked, our favourite elms.
That screen the herdsman's solitary hut;
While far beyond, and overthwart the stream,
That, as with molten glass, inlays the vale,
The sloping land recedes into the clouds;
Displaying on its varied side the grace
Of hedgerow beauties numberless, square tower,
Tall spire, from which the sound of cheerful bells
Just undulates upon the listening ear;
Groves, heathes and smoking villages remote."
We are now at the upper corner of the Throckmorton Park. Pursuing our
way, we listen to the music of "nature inanimate," of rippling brook or
sighing wind, and of "nature animate," of "ten thousand warblers"
that so soothed the poet's soul. A dip in the walk from where the elms
enclose the upper park, and the chestnuts spread their shade, brings us
into a grassy dell where by "a rustic bridge" we cross to the opposite
slope, reascend to the "alcove," survey from the "speculative height"
the pasture with its "fleecy tenants," the "sunburnt hayfield," the
"woodland scene," the trees, each with its own hue, as so exquisitely
depicted by the poet, while Ouse in the distance "glitters in the sun."
At length the great avenue is reached.
"How airy and how light the graceful arch,
Yet awful as the consecrated roof
Re-echoing pious anthems! while beneath,
The chequered earth seems restless as a flood
Brushed by the wind.
So sportive is the light
Shot through the boughs, it dances as they dance,
Shadow and sunshine intermingling quick,
And darkening and enlightening, as the leaves
Play wanton, every moment, every spot.
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Such were the scenes dearest to Cowper, and dear to many still for
his sake. T rue, they are not unlike others. A thousand scenes are
as beautiful, and many an avenue up and down in English parks is of a
nobler stateliness. Yet may this be visited with a special delight, for
its own sake and for Cowper's. It is something to be able to look with
a poet's eye, to have his thoughts and words so familiar to memory as
to blend with the current of our own, as if spontaneously. We learn anew
how to observe, and our emotions become almost unconsciously ennobled
and refined.
It is characteristic of Cowper's mind that scenery of a loftier and
more exciting order had a disquieting effect upon him. Of his journey
to Eastham, in Sussex, to visit his friend Hayley, he writes: "I indeed
myself was a little daunted by the tremendous height of the Sussex
hills, in comparison with which all that I had seen elsewhere are dwarfs.
But I only was alarmed; Mrs. Unwin had no such sensations, but was
always cheerful from the beginning of our expedition to the end of it."
And again: "The charms of the place, uncommon as they are, have not in
the least alienated my affections from Weston. The genius of that
place, suits me better; it has an air of snug concealment, in which a
disposition like mine feels peculiarly gratified, whereas here, I
see from every window woods like forests, and hills like mountains--a
wildness, in short, that rather increases my natural melancholy." A
little while before, on Mr. Newton's return from the glories of Cheddar,
Cowper writes: "I would that I could see some of the mountains which you
have seen, especially because Dr. Johnson has pronounced that no man is
qualified to be a poet who has never seen a mountain. But mountains I
shall never see, unless perhaps in a dream, or unless there are such in
heaven. Nor those," the poor, heart-stricken poet makes haste to add,
"unless I receive twice as much mercy as ever yet was shown to any man."
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The last sentence prepares us for East Dereham, with its sad
associations. But even from these we need not shrink. The homely Norfolk
town brought to the troubled soul deliverance. Few, it may be, would
turn aside to visit the place for its own sake; but the remembrance of
the poet may well attract. The house in which he died has been replaced
by a Congregational Church bearing his name--twin brother, so to speak,
though with scarcely the same appropriateness, to Bunyan Chapel in
Bedford. But it is in the church where he lies buried, and in the tomb
raised to his memory, that the true interest lies. Never was death more
an angel of mercy than to this darkly-shadowed spirit. We all know the
words in which the most gifted of poetesses, at "Cowper's Grave," has
set the thoughts of many Christian hearts to words that deserve to be
immortal:
"Like a sick child that knoweth not his mother while she blesses,
And drops upon his burning brow the coolness of her kisses:
That turns his fevered eyes around--_My mother! where's my mother?_
As if such tender words and looks could come from any other!
The fever gone, with leaps of heart he sees her bending o'er him,
Her face all pale from watchful love, the unweary love she bore him!
Thus woke the poet from the dream his life's long fever gave him,
Beneath those deep pathetic eyes, which closed in death to save him!
Thus? oh, not thus! no type of earth could image that awaking,
Wherein he scarcely heard the chant of seraphs round him breaking,
Or felt the new immortal throb of soul from body parted,
But fell those eyes alone, and knew. My Saviour! not deserted!"
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