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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
That John Bunyan had read at least the first book of Spenser's Faerie Queene, and had transformed certain adventures of the Red Cross Knight into the adventures of his own hero in Pilgrim's Progress, is a statement which has been frequently made. And, indeed, the idea has much reason on its side. The parallel between a series of incidents in Spenser's first book and a series in Pilgrim's Progress is fully as close as many another which has been held sufficient to establish a literary relationship. To Spenser's House of Holinesse, with its porter, its four grave damsels, its sober entertainment of the knight, corresponds Bunyan's House Beautiful. To the closing episode of the Red Cross Knight's sojourn at the House of Holinesse, his sight of the pilgrim's road and of Hierusalem from the near-by Mount of Contemplation, corresponds the view which Christian, from the top of the House Beautiful, has of the Delectable Mountains, from which, in the course of the story, he is to see the Celestial City itself. To the immediately succeeding conflict with the dragon, to the monster's fiery breath and horrid shrieks, to the hero's distress and eventual triumph, and particularly to the miraculous restoration of the wounded knight through the agency of the Tree of Life, corresponds Christian's battle with Apollyon, fought in the Valley of Humiliation, just after he has parted from the damsels of the House Beautiful. When to the parallel between these series of incidents in The Faerie Queene and in Pilgrim's Progress is added a certain similarity between the allegorical significances of these incidents, as well as a much more doubtful likeness between Spenser's Despair and the Giant Despair of Bunyan, some sort of relationship between the earlier and the later author appears evident enough.
1 Suggested by Johnson, Boswell's Life, ed. Hill, 1887, v. ii, p. 238; developed by L.A.H., The Poet and the Dreamer, Methodist Quarterly Review, v. xl (4th ser., v. viii), pp. 209 ff. (Apr., 1858); presented by Kötz as a Leipzig dissertation, Halle, 1899 (reprinted Anglia, v. xxii (1900), pp. 33 ff. See also Böhme, Spensers Literarisches Nachleben, Palaestra, bd. xciii, Berlin, 1911, pp. 113-15; Hurst, Trans. of the Royal Hist. Soc., v. iv, p. 422.
2 See Carpenter, Spenser's Cave of Despair, Mod. Lang. Notes, 12 (1897) : 257 ff. I discuss the episode in an article soon to be published in the J. of E. and G. Philol.
3 Bunyan's poetical masters, rather than Spenser, were Sternhold and Hopkins, Foxe, and the writers of godly ballads. No faerie touch is readily perceptible in Ebal and Gerizim and A Discourse of the House of God, Bunyan's contributions to the body of English poetry.
4 Mr. Badman, Works, ed. Stebbing, 4: 17.
5 Jerusalem Sinner Saved, Works, 2: 456.
6 Mr. Badman, Works, 4: 17.
7 Ibid, 4: 29.
8 Excellency of a Broken Heart, Works, 3: 364.
9 Bunyan denominated “the pride of a library,” of men who “secretly pride themselves to think it is known what a stock of books they have,” as one of the “closet sins” of imperfect Christians (Works, 3: 322). His own library in later years was described by a visitor (Reliquiae Hearnianae, ed. Bliss, London, 1869, 2:157) as consisting “. . . . only of a Bible and a parcel . . . . of books . . . . written by himself. . . . .” He confessed himself “. . . . empty of the language of the learned. . . . .” (Works, 1:283), and gloried that he could not, “. . .. with Pontius Pilate, speak Hebrew, Greek, and Latin” (Works, 1:152). His contemporaries (Works, 1:54, 131) unite with Charles Doe (appendix to Folio, 1692) in saying that Bunyan “. . . . had not school education to enoble him, as is apparent to all that knew him.”
10 See my article on Bunyan's Valley of the Shadow, Modern Philology, 27 (Aug. 1929):57, n. 3, for references to the popularity of romance in seventeenth-century, provincial England.
11 On the romantic background of Pilgrim's Progress see Professor Firth's introduction to the 1898 Methuen ed. of P. P., reprinted as Eng. Assn. Leaflets, No. 19, London, 1911; for the fusion of sources see my article on Bunyan's Valley of the Shadow, ut supra, passim.
12 Oral discourses and conversations should also be included. In Grace Abounding (ed. Brown, Cambridge, 1907, p. 16) Bunyan records his first introduction to a Puritan conversation, and to the metaphors which later became objectified in Christian's combat with Apollyon: “I came where there were three or four poor women sitting at a door, in the Sun, talking about the things of God. . . Their talk was about a new birth, the work of God on their hearts, also how they were Convinced of their miserable state by nature. . . . . Moreover, they reasoned of the suggestions and temptations of Satan in particular; and told to each other by which they had been afflicted, and how they were born up under his assaults. . . . .” Compare Baxter, The Character of a Sound Confirmed Christian, Practical Works, London, 1707, 2:983 : “His ordinary discourse is about . . . the Corruption and Deceitfulness of the Heart; the methods of the Tempter; the Danger of particular temptations; and the Means of our escape. . . ,” etc., etc.
13 The allegorical scheme of Pilgrim's Progress was amply prepared for in the century preceding its publication by a host of devotional tracts, of which the following have titles sufficiently suggestive: M. G., The Pilgrim's Pass to the New Jerusalem, London, 1659; John Welles, The Soul's Progresse to the Celestial Canaan, London, 1639; Christopher Lover, The Holy Pilgrime, 1618; David Lindsey, The Godly Mans Iourney to Heauen, London, 1625; Leonard Wright, The Pilgrimage to Paradise, London, 1591; etc., etc. The following passage from the epistle prefixed to John Downame's The Christian Warfare, London, 4th ed., 1634, is in effect an outline of Pilgrim's Progress: “. . . . the Christian in the Scriptures is compared to a Pilgrime or Trauailer, and his life to a tedious and painful pilgrimage; in which he meeteth with few friends and many dangers, finding in all places harsh usage and hard entertainment, and running many hazards by reason of Theeues and Robbers that lie in his way. . . . . The Deuill (with whole legions of infernall spirits) goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking to devoure him, and casts continually against him his fiery darts of tentation which would mortally pierce and wound him, if they were not quenched and beaten backe with the shield of faith.” There can be but little doubt that Bunyan, like John Harvard (of whose library it is the only remaining book), knew Downame's work well; it is full of passages that recall P. P.
14 Worckes, 3 pts., London, 1560, pt. 2, f. 156.
15 In A Treatise tending unto a declaration, whether a man bee in the estate of damnation, or in the estate of grace. . ., London, 1591, f. 107.
16 London, 1562—in Godlie Meditations, ed. Parker Society, Writings of John Bradford, Cambridge, 1848, v. i, p. 210 f.
17 London, 1567.
18 London, 1585.
19 Works, ed. Wynter, Oxford, 1863, 7: 211
20 The parallel is perhaps closest between Perkins' dialogue and Bunyan's : Bunyan's Apollyon: “By this I perceive that thou art one of my subjects. . . . . How is it then that thou hast run away from thy King?”—Perkins' Satan: “Vile hellhound, thou art my slaue and my vassal, why then shakest thou off my yoke?” Bunyan's Apollyon: “Consider again when thou art in cold blood, what thou art like to meet with in the way that thou goest. Thou knowest that for the most part, his Servants come to an ill end . . . How many of them have been put to shameful deaths!” — Perkin's Satan: “After these thy manifold afflictions, thou must suffer death, which is most terrible, and a very entrance into hell.” Bunyan's Apollyon: “Thou has already been unfaithful in thy service to him, and how dost thou think to receive wages of him?” —Perkins' Satan: “But thou firebrand of hell fire and childe of perdition, looke for no mercie at Gods hands, because thou art a most grieuous sinner.” Bunyan's Christian: “All this is true, and much more, which thou has left out; but the Prince whom I serve and honour is merciful, and ready to forgive...” —Perkins' Christian: “But Gods mercie farre exceedeth al these my sinnes; and I cannot be so infinite in sinning, as God is infinite in mercy, and pardoning.”
21 The war between the flesh and the spirit had been allegorized into a physical combat between Christian and Satan long before P. P., was written. “In every temptation,” said Wm. Bridge (A Lifting-up for the Downcast (1648), Works, London, 1845, 2: 148), “a poor soul goes into the field with Satan, and fights a duel.” In this fight, the chief weapons of Satan were the fiery darts of temptation (see Hall, Fiery Darts Quenched, before cited, and Balm of Giliad, Works, as above, 7: 115), while the Christian was armed and weaponed in the manner suggested in Ephesians 6. Gurnall's Christian in Compleat Armour, London, 1658, devotes three volumes to these accouterments and their use; see also Robert Jenison, The Christian's Apparelling by Christ, London, 1625. The title-page of Downame's Christian Warfare illustrates this combat pictorially : Satan, very horrible, is hurling darts; the Christian, fully armed, is catching them coolly on his shield. The engraving could serve with perfect aptness as a frontispiece for P. P. The combat, as developed by Downame, Perkins, and others, proceeded regularly by five stages: resistance, discomfiture, recovery, victory (though wounded), and the healing of wounds; Bunyan's narrative follows this order.
22 One section in Downame, op. cit. p. 61 f., consists of Consolations for those who are vnwilling foyled in the spirituall conflict, and declares that “. . . there was neuer any that liued, who haue not been foiled by Satan, and wounded by sinne.” See Gurnall, op. cit., 3: 13 : “Temptations may trouble, but cannot hurt, except their darts enter the will, and leave a wound there. . .” So Christian is “wounded in his understanding, faith, and conversation.” Another section from Downame, p. 62, develops the thesis “That the Lord suffereth us to fall for the manifestation of his owne power. . . and for our humiliation.” The valley where Bunyan's combat is fought is called Humiliation. It seems to have been connected in Bunyan's mind with the wilderness where Christ strove with Satan.
23 When the Christian is indisposed by the bent of his heart to pray, says Gurnall, op. cit., 3: 195, then “. . . is the time for the Devil to set upon thee, when this Weapon is out of thy hand.” Almost all who discuss the Christian combat stress the importance of never letting the sword of the Spirit slip from the hand. “Downame, op. cit., has an interesting section on How the Christian being foiled by Sathans tentations may be raised againe. Bunyan's hero worsts Apollyon as soon as he has recovered his sword; so Perkins, The Combate Betweene Christ and the Divell Expounded, Works, Cambridge, 1612-13, 3:384, says that ”. . . . the written word of God, rightly wielded by the hand of faith, is the most sufficient weapon for the repelling of Satan and the vanquishing of him; . . . . it serues not onely for our defence, but also to wound Satan, and to put him to flight. . . . . “ See Richard Capel, Tentations, 6th ed. London, 1659, p. 98; ”. . . . we must be able to fence with this weapon of proof, and then the divel will be gone, this two-edged sword will make him run.“
25 London, 1577.
26 Wm, Perkins, cc. 40-43 of A Golden Chaine, London, 1591.
27 From the French of P. Viret, London, 1583.
28 John Gibson, London, 1599.
29 Trans. Joshua Sylvester, from the Latin of George Goodwin, in Nepenthes, by Wm. Barclay, Edinburgh, 1614.
30 London, 1622.
31 Paul Baine, London, 1620.
32 Warton, Observations, 2d ed., London, 1762, 1:17.
33 Milan, 1886, c. 10, s. 52, etc. Escaping from the palace of Alcina, the personification of sinful pleasure, Ruggiero is escorted by Melissa to the house of Logistilla, the spirit of righteousness. There he is greeted by four damsels—Andronica, Fronesia, Dicilla, and Sofrosina—who minister to his needs. Harrington's note (ed. 1634, p. 80) is “Logestilla's castle, the ornaments therof, the herbs of the garden, all these figure the true magnificance, glory, comfort, and utility of virtue. The foure Ladies sent to resue Rogero, are the foure Cardinall vertues, which being well united together, are able to overthrow whole navies of vicious pleasures.”
34 As a writer in the Eclectic Magazine (26:9) points out, Bunyan was unfamiliar in actual experience with castles situated on precipitous heights: “We have often puzzled our brains to conceive, especially in Bedfordshire, and looking at hills which you were tempted to kick out of your road. . . how Bunyan . . . . has yet sketched an outline of scenery in the ‘Pilgrim’ so free, so varied, so bold and so studded with lofty hills.” The mansion of the Hillersdons, often referred to as Bunyan's model for the House Beautiful, is situated on level ground. In the romances, however, the castles crown high mountains, up which the adventurer must struggle, like Christian, “upon his hands and his knees, because of the steepness of the place.” See Huon of Burdeux, ed. Lee, E.E.T.S., pp. 373, 380, 418—the steep ascent to the Adamant Castle, guarded by a dragon; Amadis (1664), pt. v, c. 4; Palmerin of England (1639), bk. i, c. 27—castles placed on “an unmeasurable height” and reached with great difficulty; Palmerin d'Oliva (1637), pt. i, c. 16—the hero, like Christian, is overtaken by night before he reaches the top; Romans of Partenay, E.E.T.S., orig. ser. 22, pp. 199 ff.; Torrent of Portugal, ed. Halliwell, 1842, p. 10 f.; Ford's Montelion (1700, orig. ed. before 1616), cc. 5, 10, 11 (these two last reflect following incidents in P. P.; see below); Palmerin of England, pt. ii., c. 12—where the hero at the top of the hill is, like Christian, received by four damsels.
35 When Christian has scrambled up the hill, “he entered into a very narrow passage” and “espied two Lions in the way,” blocking the only approach to the castle. The porter informs Christian that the lions are placed there for “trial of faith”—that they are chained and will do him no harm if he passes boldly between them. Episodes from three romances parallel this incident most remarkably : (1) Torrent of Portugal, ed. Halliwell, pp. 10 ff—the hero finds the entrance to the castle guarded by a lion and a lioness, whose appearance so daunts him that he does not dare to proceed until a lady comes from the castle, takes him by the hand, and leads him between them; (2) Ford's Montelion, as above, cc. 5, 10, 11—two lions defend a narrow drawbridge before “a most stately Palace” occupied by damsels, terrify the hero by their roars, but fawn at his feet when he passes between them; (3) Malory's Morte d'Arthur, ed. Sommer, 1889, bk. xvii, c. 14—Lancelot finds two lions keeping the entrance to the Grail castle, draws his sword to force his way, hears a voice telling him that faith is of more avail than steel, and passes between them without harm. These romances were available in several editions during Bunyan's youth. See also Valentine and Orson, 1571, cc. 30, 45, 47; Don Belianis, 1598, pt. i, c. 2; pt. iii, c. 38; Palmerin d' Oliva, 1637, pt. ii, c. 41; Primaleon of Greece, 1619, bk. i, cc. 15, 16, 18; bk. ii, c. 4; Don Flores of Greece, 3d ed., 1664, c. 9; Palmendos, 1589, cc. 3, 20, 24; The Mirrour of Knighthood, pt. i. (n. d.), c. 44; pt. ii (1599), c. 62; pt. vi (1598), cc. 17, 19; pt. vii (1598), c. 3; pt. viii (1599), cc. 15, 25; pt. ix (1601), cc. 4,16.
36 This detail occurs also in connection with the later adventure in the Valley of the Shadow, and is discussed in my article on that episode; see above, n. 10. Numerous parallels clearly show that suspense was frequently created by the romance writers in this manner.
37 Nowhere in the houses and inns of Bedfordshire could Bunyan have experienced hospitality so dignified, so stately. Compare to the sequence of events in Christian's entertainment this passage from The Mirrour of Knighthood, pt. ii, c. 15: “. . . the Gentlewoman went vuto the Knight of the Sunne, and tooke him by the hand and lead him vp into the castle, whereas he was serued and banketted, with Comfits, and diuers sorts of fruits & other things, till such time as supper was made readie, so they sat downe and were serued with diuers kindes of meats, in as ample manner as could be. . . And in all this while there appeared not in the castle one Knight, but Gentlewomen and householde seruants. . . And in talking of this and other things wherein they most delighted, they passed the time away till it was time to goe to take their rest, then ther came two Gentlewomen with two siluer candlesticks, and candles therein, whereby the Knight of the Sun perceiued that it was time for his departure to bed, and taking leaue of that faire gentlewoman, hee went with the other two, who brought him vnto a chamber which was very faire and richly hanged, in the which was a rich bed, wherefore he greatly maruayled at the honour which they did vnto him.” The conversation at the table between Christian and the damsels is of the absent Lord of the Hill and his great deeds; so in Don Belianis, c. 18, the supper conversation is of the Knight of the Golden Image and his prowess; see also Orlando Furioso, trans. Harington, 1634, c. 17, s. 16 ff.
38 Cf. Johnson's Seven Champions, 1696 (orig. ed. 1596) pt. i., c. 6, where the hero is taken by a damsel “to over-view the Rarities of the Castle;” ibid., pt. ii, c. 4, where the host exhibits to the Champions “the Curiosities of his Habitation;” Mirrour of Knighthood, pt. ii. c. 26; pt. vi, c. 3. In both episodes from Johnson an armory, as in the House Beautiful, is included among the rooms exhibited; in the episodes from the Mirrour of Knighthood the heroes are shown rooms in which, by pictures and inscriptions, the fame of great knights is preserved. Such rooms correspond to the library of the House Beautiful, where are histories which record the deeds of Christian heroes as well as prophecies of deeds to come; so in Amadis, pt. vi (1652) c. 54, knights are led by their host“ ”. . . to see the excellencie of the house and the Library. . .,“ which contains the books of Medea and other prophecies as well as the registers of all the noble knights in the world. These Halls of Fame are very common in romance : see Mirrour of Knighthood, pt. ii, c. 36; pt. iii, cc. 7, 27; Moderatus, 1595, c. 11; Seven Champions, pt. ii, c. 21; Arthur of Little Britain (trans. Berners, ed. Utterson, 1814) c. 43; Palmerin of England, pt. i, c. 12; etc. To the ”Engines“ of the House Beautiful the most interesting parallel is the ”House of the Ensignes“ (spelled ”Engnes“ in the chapter heading) in Palmerin of England, pt. i, c. 40, which contains, like Bunyan's chamber, the relics of many famous warriors in days gone by.
39 Since Christian, immediately upon leaving the House Beautiful, fights his battle with Apollyon in the valley below, it is appropriate that the damsels should have furnished him with armor. The ladies of romance frequently perform such an office for heroes who, having been entertained in their palaces, are about to enter upon a desperate adventure: cf. Don Belianis, pt. i, cc. 2, 10; Gerileon, 1583, cc. 6, 8; Don Flores, c. 5; Mirrour of Knighthood, pt. i, c. 31; Palladine of England, 2d ed., c. 28; Blanchardyn and Eglantine, c. 19; Seven Champions, pt. i, c. 1; pt. ii, c. 5. These episodes contain other details that are reminiscent of Christian's entertainment. The fact that Christian's combat is fought in the valley below the castle where he has been entertained is paralleled in Johnson's Tom a Lincoln (Thoms, Early Eng. Prose Romances, 1907, p. 644, pt. i, c. 6) and elsewhere. Frequently the hero sallies out to fight a battle in behalf of the damsels at whose hands he has received armor : see Palmerim d'Oliva, pt. i, cc. 22, 53; Sir Degore (Utterson, Select Pieces, London, 1825, p. 142 ff.).
40 Note that Bunyan, unlike Spenser, did not give his hero a view of the road which he was later to follow. From the Delectable Mountains, Christian can see the splendor of the city only by means of a perspective glass.
41 Deut. 34:1; Exodus 19; Ezek. 40:2; Rev. 21:10. See also Acts 7:2; Pet. 1: 9; Isaiah 33:17; Luke 9:28 ff. Bunyan in his sermons refers to these passages (1:130a, 149a, 284a, 284; 2 :143b, 148a, 153b, 211b, 278b, 503a; 3 :154b). Spenser (F.Q. 8:10:53-4) compares the mountain to Sinai, the Mount of Olives, and Parnassus.
42 A chapter heading (c. 2) of Joseph Symonds' The Fixed Eye, or the Mindful Heart, London, 1653.
43 Some passages from 17th-century religious literature come remarkably close to Bunyan's description. Cf. Wm. Gurnall, The Christian in Compleat Armour, as above, pt. iii, p. 246 : “When the Soul stands upon this Pisgah of Meditation, looking by an eye of faith through the perspective of the promise, upon all the great and precious things laid up by a faithful God for him; It is easy to despise the Worlds love and wrath when there, but alas it is hard for us to get up thither, who are so short-breath'd, and soon tyred with a few steps up this Mount of God. . . Who will lift me up to this high, holy Hill of Meditation.. ?” Note that Gurnall's figure contains the perspective glass through which Christian viewed the Celestial City. Vaughan, in his Ascension Hymn, uses the same figure. See also Gurnall, pt. iii, pp. 141, 333, where he couples the conception with the figure of a pilgrimage.
44 Trans. Lord Berners, ed. Utterson (from Redborne's (?)1520 ed.), London, 1814, c. 100. Note that Christian sees the city from the top of the Hill called Clear, and that in Beulah Land “the reflection of the Sun upon the City (for the City was pure Gold) was so extremely glorious, that they could not, as yet, with open eyes behold it.”
45 Ed. Lee, E.E.T.S., pp. 587, 596. Macarthur, J. of E. and G. Philol., 4: 236 ff, cites this passage as a source for the episode in Spenser.
46 Don Belianis, pt. i. c. 46.
47 Seven Champions, pt. i, c. 16. This episode is in connection with the hero's entertainment by a queen and a bevy of damsels, and with the conquest of a Dark Valley. See also ibid., c. 11; pt. ii, c. 5, where St. George climbs another mountain and discovers another royal city; and Montelion, cc. 10, 11, where the hero “. . . . ascended a high mountain, whose lofty top discover'd to his eye the fair Turrets of the Enchanted Tower, which glitter'd as if it had been framed of massy Gold, which drove him into Admiration. . .”
48 A section on “How the Pilgrim had a fair sight of the heavenly Jerusalem,” in Simon Patrick's Parable of the Pilgrim, published thirteen years before Pilgrim's Progress, is closer to Bunyan's account than is Spenser's. Bunyan's allegory is, however, like Patrick's in no other detail; and Bunyan may well have written as independently of Patrick as of Spenser.
49 The word occurs three times in the narrative of the battle; in Worldly Wiseman's prophecy and in the rhyme appended to an early cut the word also appears; in the Second Part (ed. Brown, p. 402), Apollyon is called a serpent; everywhere else he is called a fiend. Note that in the Bible (Is. 51:9: Rev. 12:9) and in romance (Sir Degore, ed. Utterson, p. 129; Guy of Warwick, ed. Schleich, 1. 5949; Arthur of Little Britain, ed. Utterson, c. 47; etc.) the terms dragon and fiend are confused.
50 For dragon-fights which are closer to the Apollyon combat than is Spenser's narrative, see Tom a Lincoln, as above, pt. i, c. 6; Amadis, pt. v, c. 1; Don Belianis, pt. i, c. 18; Valentine and Orson, c. 45; Mirrour of Knighthood, pt. ii, c. 4; pt. v., c. 13. In these narratives the sequence of events is in general that which Bunyan's story follows: The dragon blows out smoke, rushes on the hero, and overturns him; he recovers his footing, deals the beast a mortal blow, and dispatches her. Apollyon's roaring is abundantly paralleled in the romances, and so is Christian's prayer of thanksgiving at the end of the battle: see Mirrour of Knighthood, pt. ii, c. 62; pt.. iii, c. 14; pt. v, c. 13; Don Belianis, pt. i, cc. 2, 4-18; Primaleon, bk. ii, cc. 32, 33; Palmerin of England, pt. i. c. 32; Guy of Warwick, ed. Schleich, 1. 7272 f; etc. Bunyan's phrase “hidious to behold” is one often used to describe romantic dragons.
51 Job 41:15-26; Rev. 9:17; 13:2. The phrase “feet like a bear”, added in the 2d ed., also comes from Rev. 13:2, and “spake like a dragon” from Rev. 13:11. See also Dan. 7:4; 2 Sam. 22:9; Ezek. 29:4. The name of the monster comes from Rev. 9:11. Bunyan, however, had no biblical authority for the phrase “he had wings like a dragon”; for the dragons of the Bible are properly jackels or serpents. In combining these scattered biblical phrases Bunyan created a monster of the sort dear to romancers. A dragon of Valentine and Orson, c. 45, was “winged like a Fowl”, had “skin covered with red scales”, “the feet of a Lion”, and cast out of her mouth smoke like fire; the Endriagus of Amadis, bk. iii, c. 10, is a composite of bear, lion, and man; the Fauno of the Mirrour of Knighthood, pt. iii, c. 14, is lion, bull, man, and elephant; the Patagon of Primaleon, bk. ii, cc. 32, 33, had “...the face of a Dogge, great eares, which hang down upon his shoulders, his teeth sharpe and big, standing out of his mouth very much; his feete are like a Harts, and he ronneth very lightly. . .” Compare Bunyan's monster in the Second Part (ed. Brown, p. 154) that “was like unto no one Beast upon the Earth.”
52 The flitings of romance are too common to require illustration.
53 Malory's description of Gareth's battle with the Knight of the Red Laundes (Morte d'Arthur, ed. Sommer, bk. viii, c. 17) is like Bunyan's in that Gareth loses his sword, is crushed to the ground, regains his feet, recovers his sword, and ends the battle victoriously. For the lost sword, see The Knight of the Swanne, ed. Thoms, p. 758. For the dart-throwing see Bevis of Hampton, E.E.T.S., p. 931; Palmerin d'Oliva, pt. i, c. 26; Guy of Warwick, Caius MS., E.E.T.S., 1. 10286 ff. The wrestling and throwing is common; see especially Orson's fight with Valentine, V. and O., c. 13. Bunyan's phrase “This sore Combat lasted for above half a day” is a familiar one to readers of the romances; a number of other phrases which Bunyan uses show that the romances as well as the Bible influenced his style.
54 See Wells, Spenser's Dragon, Mod. Lang. Notes, 41: 143 ff, for a discussion of Spenser's sources. Because he has considered only metrical romances—regarded as crude and old-fashioned by men of Spenser's class and age—Wells' conclusions are not wholly reliable.
55 Compare the Centaur of the Mirrour of Knighthood, pt. vii, c. 3, who roars, throws trees like darts, hurls his adversary to the ground and tumbles him up and down in an unusually violent fashion; the Brama, ibid, pt. ii, c. 62, a composite beast who breathes out fire and smoke—after he is slain, the victorious knight, like Christian, offers a prayer of thanksgiving; and the “terrible monster . . . of a very great & strange making,” ibid, pt. v, c. 18. The most interesting of these monsters is the griffin, in the struggle with which Huon loses his sword, and after vanquishing which he prays in thanksgiving and is healed of his wounds by the Water of Life. (Huon of Burdeux, ed. Lee, E.E.T.S., p. 432 ff).
56 Amadis, bk. iii., c. 10; Mirrour of Knighthood, pt. iii, c. 14. These similar incidents are in general parallel to Bunyan's narrative, and are especially interesting because of their sequels. Knights, visiting the scene of the battles in later years, find the marks of the struggles and monuments which perpetuate the renown of the victors; so in the Second Part of Pilgrim's Progress, the later band of pilgrims find similar marks of Christian's battle and a monument to his fame.
57 Reprinted from de Worde's ed. of 1518 by Graves, London, 1898, cc. 55, 56: a narrative of a long and dangerous combat, rather strikingly like Bunyan's in atmosphere and details. It ends with the miraculous healing of the hero's wounds, as does the episode in Pilgrim's Progress.
58 Rev. 2:7: “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life. . . ” (Note that Spenser's knight has not yet overcome when he eats of the tree—Bunyan has clung closer to the letter of the text); Rev. 22:2 and Ezek. 47 : 12, where the healing properties of the leaves are mentioned. The hand which comes bearing the leaves to Christian is taken from Ezek. 2:9. Every detail is biblical; yet the episode is not biblical, but romantic.
59 The idea of the leaves being used for healing is repeated in P.P. (Stock's facsimile ed., p. 177) and in the Holy War (Works, ed. Stebbing, 3:86a). The conception of relief after spiritual wounding is often symbolized by the wine and oil poured into the wounds of the traveller by the good Samaritan (Works, 3:241a, 340a, 507b) and sometimes by the serpent on the pole which healed the wounds of the Israelites in the wilderness (1:255b). In 1675 (2: 155b) Bunyan anticipated two details of Christian's battle by writing that grace “can help us when we are down; it can heal us when we are wounded.” And in writing the Holy City, 1665, Bunyan discussed the leaves of the tree at length (1 :335) in a way that implies the development of the conception some thirteen years before Pilgrim's Progress was published.
60 The figures used to symbolize spiritual relief by the Puritan writers were various: manna, a white stone, a cordial, a drop of the sweetness of heaven, the blood of Christ, and the Water of Life. Gurnall, op. cit., pt. iii, p. 33, compares it to “the Weapon Salve, that cures wounds at a distance”. John Jewell, Certain Sermons (1583), Works, ed. Parker Society, p. 1038, closes an account of the Christian's conflict with Satan with the words:“. . . so shall we, like faithful soldiers of our captain Christ, manfully . . . resist all the assaults and quench all the fiery darts of the wicked; then shall we eat of the fruit in the midst of paradise. . .” Gurnall, 3:177, says of the translated Bible: “God hath graciously ordained it, that the most useful and necessary Truths for afflicted Saints hang, as I may say, on the lower boughs of this Tree of Life, within the reach of a poor Christian. . .” See also Downame, op. cit., p. 61.
61 These parallels have been frequently cited in Spenser criticism. Bevis is restored, after his battle with the Cologne dragon, by falling into a fountain; Huon is healed of his wounds by water from the Fountain of Life in a garden where the Tree of Life is growing. St. George, in his battle with the Egyptian dragon (Seven Champions, pt. i, c. 2), is healed once by leaping under a magical orange tree, and again by eating one of the oranges. Johnson may here have profited by reading The Faerie Queene.
62 Cf. particularly Oliver of Castile, as above, cc. 55, 56 : the combat between Arthur and the marvelous beast, much like the Apollyon episode, closes with the miraculous healing of the hero's wounds by ointment and a root brought by an angel in the guise of a white knight. In Palmerin d'Oliva, 1637, pt. i, c. 16, three magical ladies heal the hero's wounds, sustained in a dragon-fight, with water brought from a fountain of life. Water from a river of Paradise heals wounds in the Morte Arthure, Thornton MS., E.E.T.S., p. 80, and the balm used for Christ's anointing in Ferumbras, E.E.T.S., ex. ser. 34, p. 20. A magic well serves a similar purpose in the Mirrour of Knighthood, pt. viii, c. 25, and leaves from a certain shrub in Oceander, c. 17. See also Gerileon, c. 11; Don Belianis, pt. i, cc. 9, 37; Don Flores, c. 4; Valentine and Orson, c. 21; The Four Sons of Aymon, E.E.T.S., ex. ser. 34, p. 277; Morte d'Arthur, bk. vi, c. 15; Palladine of England, c. 18; etc.
63 Yet Christian sees only the Delectable Mountains from the House Beautiful—the Celestial City much later.
64 Note, however, that in The Faerie Queene a journey of indefinite extent and duration intervenes between the entertainment and the battle.
65 Perkins, in his Order of the Causes of Salvation and Damnation, Works, as above, p. 91f, divides the process of spiritual trial into four parts: (1) the preparation—arming with spiritual armor; (2) the combat—Satan vs. Christian (3) the fall—“the souldier through infirmite fainteth, beeing subdued by the power of the enemie”; (4) the spiritual remedy. Bunyan's Map Shewing the Order and Causes of Salvation (Works, 4:421) gives the events in this order: “3. To the elect comes by the convenent effectual calling. 4. By which is given the Holy Ghost and the operations of it. 5. Which causeth sound convictions of sin. 6. Whereat the soul is cast down. 7. Which occasioneth Satan to tempt to despair. 8. Which driveth the soul to the promise.” This is also the order of events in Christ's temptation; see Perkins' Combate Between Christ and the Divell Expounded, as above, p. 6 : after the exaltation of the baptism came temptation in a wilderness place; after the devil was put to flight, came angels and ministered unto him. See Wm. Bridge, On Temptation, Works, 1:127 : “After our greatest enjoyments of God, usually follow the greatest temptations of Satan”. Converts were often warned that an attack by Satan would follow union with the church.
