Bunyan

John, author of the “ Pilgrim’s Progre ,” was the son of a tinker, and was born in the village of Elstow, near Bedford, England, in 1628. After receiving a scanty education. he for some time led a wandering life. During the civil war he served as a soldier, most probably in the afmy of the Parliament; and his laind now Secame impre ed with a: deep sense of religion. This reformation in his life was powerfully a isted by the piety of his wife, whom he married in 1648 or 1649, and who ditd some seven years later. He joined a Nonconformist aed in Bedford, and at length in 1657 formally undertook the office of a public teacher among them. Acting in defiance of the severe laws enacted against di enters from the Established Church, Bunyan was arrested on Nov. 12, 1660, and committed for trial to the county jail. He was indicted at the quarter-se ions earl in 1661, and after an irregular trial was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, which was to be followed by banishment if he persisted in his. determination to repeat his offense. He could not be induced to moderate his zeal, and consequently though not banished, he lay in prison almost continuously till 1672, and was again imprisoned in 1675 for six monihs.