" Well, Dr.
Johnson would not have given a farthing for ME, as I am quite
contented with the present length of these masterpieces. What books
do YOU wish longer? I wish Homer had written a continuation of the
Odyssey, and told us what Odysseus did among the far-off men who
never tasted salt nor heard of the sea. A land epic after the sea
epic, how good it would have been--from Homer! But it would have
taxed the imagination of Dante to continue the adventures of
Christian and his wife after they had once crossed the river and
reached the city.
John Bunyan has been more fortunate than most authors in one of his
biographies.
His life has been written by the Rev. Dr. Brown, who is now minister
of his old congregation at Bedford; and an excellent life it is.
Dr. Brown is neither Roundhead nor Cavalier; for though he is, of
course, on Bunyan's side, he does not throw stones at the beautiful
Church of England.
Probably most of us are on Bunyan's side now. It might be a good
thing that we should all dwell together in religious unity, but
history shows that people cannot be bribed into brotherhood. They
tried to bully Bunyan; they arrested and imprisoned him--unfairly
even in law, according to Dr. Brown, not unfairly, Mr. Froude
thinks--and he would not be bullied.
What was much more extraordinary, he would not be embittered. In
spite of all, he still called Charles II.
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