FOOTNOTES:
[1] On the reverse of the title-page is the following singular advertisement:—'This author having published many books, which have gone off very well, there are certain ballad-sellers about Newgate, and on London Bridge, who have put the two first letters of this author's name, and his effigies, to their rhymes and ridiculous books, suggesting to the world as if they were his. Now know, that this author publisheth his name at large to all his books; and what you shall see otherwise, he disowns.'—Ed.
[2] 'Convert,' for 'be ye converted,' was a common mode of speech in Bunyan's time. It is so used in Holy Writ, Isaiah 6:10.—Ed.
[3] Armorial bearings as now worn by heralds embroidered on the tabard or coat.—Ed.
[4] A common custom when death takes place. The two great toes are tied together, to make the body look decent; and formerly the hands were placed with the palms together, as if in the attitude of prayer, and were kept in that posture by tying the thumbs together.—Ed.
[5] Without fail, or in spite of all hindrance.—Ed.
[6] Alluding to wrestlers. Some modes of throwing each other down are called fair, others foul or unfair.—Ed.
[7] Sincerity is the fountain and source of all real inquiries after truth, holiness, and heaven. It leads to personal examination of God's Word, which leads us from the complexity of human inventions to the simplicity of the gospel.—Ed
[8] The exact spelling of Bunyan is here followed; but whether he meant 'coped,' 'covered,' or 'cooped'—inclosed, or shut in—must be left to the reader's judgment. I prefer the latter.—Ed.
[9] Fit, convenient. 'Deft' is now obsolete.—Ed.
[10] Full of fear and dread. Bunyan, in his Holy War, brings his immense armies of doubters, under General Incredulity, from Hell-gate Hill.—Ed.
[11] Quick, nimble, active, powerful spirits. Wight is now obsolete, except in irony; see Imperial Dictionary.—Ed.
[12] See note on verse fifty of the Meditations on Heaven.—Ed.
[13] This is a common temptation. Job felt it, and murmured at having been born, Job 3:3, and 10:18, 19. Jeremiah passed through the same experience, Jeremiah 20:14, 15. Bunyan had the same bitter feelings, and wished himself a dog or toad; see Grace Abounding, No. 104. Colonel Gardener was similarly tried. How awful is the havoc that sin has made with human happiness.-Ed.
[14] The finest particles or atoms of matter—
'As thick, as numberless 'As the gay motes that people the sunbeams.'—Milton.—Ed.
[15] How does this remind us of the awfully impressive cries of the man in the iron cage—'O, eternity, eternity! how shall I grapple with the misery that I must meet with in eternity!' 'A thousand deaths live in him, he not dead.'—Ed.
[16] From the Saxon scendan, to violate, spoil, revile; see Imperial Dictionary.—Ed.
[17] Altered by poetical license from 'bran.' Chaucer, in one instance, spells it 'bren,' to rhyme with men.—Ed.
[18] This evidently refers to a coin value four-penny half-penny, and, like a cracked groat, not so much prized as good coin. In Turner's Remarkable Providences, folio, 1697, pages 28, is a very singular allusion to one of these coins:—'Christian, the wife of R. Green, of Brenham, Somersetshire, in 1663, made a covenant with the devil. He pricked the fourth finger off her right hand, between the middle and upper joint, and took two drops of her blood on his finger, giving her four-pence half-penny. He then vanished, leaving a smell of brimstone behind.'—Ed.
***
A Book for Boys and Girls Or, Temporal Things Spritualized.
by John Bunyan,
Licensed and entered according to order.
London: Printed for, and sold by, R. Tookey, at his Printing House in St. Christopher's Court, in Threadneedle Street, behind the Royal Exchange, 1701.
Advertisement by the Editor.
Some degree of mystery hangs over these Divine Emblems for children, and many years' diligent researches have not enabled me completely to solve it. That they were written by Bunyan, there cannot be the slightest doubt.
'Manner and matter, too, are all his own.'[1]
But no book, under the title of Divine Emblems, is mentioned in any catalogue or advertisements of Bunyan's works, published during his life; nor in those more complete lists printed by his personal friends, immediately after his death. In all these lists, as well as in many advertisement, both before, and shortly after Mr. Bunyan's death, a little book for children is constantly introduced, which, judging from the title, must have been similar to, if not the same as, these Emblems; but the Editor has not been able to discover a copy of the first edition, although every inquiry has been made for it, both in the United Kingdom and America. It was advertised in 1688, as Country Rhymes for Children, upon seventy-four things.[2] It is also advertised, in the same year, as A Book for Boys and Girls, or Country Rhymes for Children, price 6d.[3] In 1692, it is included in Charles Doe's catalogue table of all Mr. Bunyan's books, appended to The Struggler for their preservation, No. 36; Meditations on seventy-four things, published in 1685, and not reprinted during the author's life. In Charles Doe's second catalogue of all Mr. Bunyan's books, appended to the first edition of the Heavenly Footman, March 1698, it is No. 37. A Book for Boys and Girls, or Country Rhymes for Children, in verse, on seventy-four things. This catalogue describes every work, word for word, as it is in the several title pages. In 1707 it had reached a third edition, and was 'ornamented with cuts';[4] and the title is altered to A Book for Boys and Girls, or Temporal Things Spiritualized, with cuts. In 1720, it was advertised, 'price, bound, 6d.'[5] In Keach's Glorious Lover, it is advertised by Marshall, in 12mo. price 1s. In 1724, it assumed its present title, and from that time was repeatedly advertised as Divine Emblems, or Temporal Things Spiritualized, fitted for the use of boys and girls, adorned with cuts.
By indefatigable exertions, my excellent friend and brother collector of old English bibles, James Dix, Esq., Bristol, has just discovered and presented to me the second edition of this very rare little volume, in fine preservation, from which it appears, that in 1701, the title page was altered from Country Rhymes and Meditations, to A Book for Boys and Girls, or Temporal Things Spiritualized. It has no cuts, but, with that exception, it contains exactly the same subjects as the subsequent editions published under the more popular title of Divine Emblems.
The only difficulty that remains is to discover seventy-four meditations in the forty-nine Emblems. This may be readily done, if the subjects of meditation are drawn out. Thus, the first emblem contains meditations on two things, the Barren Fig-tree, and God's Vineyard. So the second has a meditation on the Lark and the Fowler, and another on the comparison between the Fowler and Satan. Upon this plan, the volume contains exactly seventy-four meditations.
Under the title of Divine Emblems, it has passed through a multitude of editions, and many thousand copies have been circulated. It was patronized in those early efforts of the Religious Tract Society, which have been so abundantly blessed in introducing wholesome food to the young, instead of the absurd romances which formerly poisoned the infant and youthful mind.
Among these numerous editions, two deserve special notice. The first of these was published in 1757, 'on a curious paper, and good letter, with new cuts.' It has a singular preface, signed J. D., addressed 'to the great Boys, in folio, and the little ones in coats.' The first eight pages are occupied with a dissertation on the origin of language, perhaps arising from a line in the dialogue between a sinner and spider, 'My name entailed is to my creation.' In this preface, he learnedly attempts to prove that language was the gift of God by revelation, and not a gradual acquirement of man as his wants multiplied. The other remarkable edition was published about 1790.[6] It is, both the text and cuts, printed from copperplate engravings, very handsomely executed. This is an honour conferred upon very few authors;[7] nor was it ever conferred upon one more worthy the highest veneration of man than is the immortal allegorist.
The number of editions which have been printed of these little engaging poems, is a proof of the high estimation in which they have been held for nearly one hundred and seventy years; and the great rarity of the early copies shows the eager interest with which they have been read by children until utterly destroyed.
The cuts were at first exceedingly coarse and rude, but were much improved in the more modern copies. Those to Mason's edition are handsome. The engraver has dressed all his actors in the costume of the time of George the Third; the women with hooped petticoats and high head dresses; clergymen with five or six tier wigs; men with cocked hats and queues; and female servants with mob caps. That to Emblem Fifteen, upon the sacraments, is peculiarly droll; the artist, forgetting that the author was a Baptist, represents a baby brought to the font to be christened! and two persons kneeling before the body of our Lord!