Where he his banner over us displays,
And gives us light to see our works and ways."

Again in the art of childlike interest and simplicity he can write such
lines as these--

OF THE CHILD WITH THE BIRD ON THE BUSH

"My little bird, how canst thou sit
And sing amidst so many thorns?
Let me but hold upon thee get,
My love with honour thee adorns.

'Tis true it is sunshine to-day,
To-morrow birds will have a storm;
My pretty one, come thou away,
My bosom then shall keep thee warm.

My father's palace shall be thine,
Yea, in it thou shalt sit and sing;
My little bird, if thou'lt be mine,
The whole year round shall be thy spring.

I'll keep thee safe from cat and cur,
No manner o' harm shall come to thee:
Yea, I will be thy succourer,
My bosom shall thy cabin be."

The last line might have been written by Ben Jonson, and the description
of sunrise in the former poem might almost have been from Chaucer's pen.

Yet the finest poetry of all is the prose allegory of the _Pilgrim's
Progress_. English prose had taken many centuries to form, in the
moulding hands of Chaucer, Malory, and Bacon. It had come at last to
Bunyan with all its flexibility and force ready to his hand. He wrote
with virgin purity, utterly free from mannerisms and affectations; and,
without knowing himself for a writer of fine English, produced it.

The material of the allegory also is supplied from ancient sources. One
curious paragraph in Bunyan's treatise entitled _Sighs from Hell_, gives
us a broad hint of this. "The Scriptures, thought I then, what are they?
A dead letter, a little ink and paper, of three or four shillings price.
Alack! what is Scripture? Give me a ballad, a news-book, _George on
Horseback_ or _Bevis of Southampton_. Give me some book that teaches
curious Arts, that tells old Fables." In _The Plain Man's Pathway to
Heaven_ there is a longer list of such romances as these, including
_Ellen of Rummin_, and many others. As has been already stated, these
tales of ancient folklore would come into his hands either by recitation
or in the form of chap-books. The chap-book literature of Old England
was most voluminous and interesting. It consisted of romances and songs,
sold at country fairs and elsewhere, and the passing reference which we
have quoted proves conclusively, what we might have known without any
proof, that B