[86] There was a quasi charge of plagiarism against Bunyan at one time current, and particulars respecting it came to the light some sixty years ago in a correspondence of Robert Southey (who edited the Major edition of Pilgrim’s Progress) with George Offor, Esq., which appears in the Reminiscences of Joseph Cottle of Bristol. The allegation was, that Bunyan had taken hints for his allegory from an old Dutch book, Duyfkens ande Willemynkyns Pilgrimagee (with five cuts by Bolswert), published at Antwerp in the year 1627. Dr. Southey dismissed the allegation with disdain, after examination of the Dutch Pilgrimage; nor do recent editors appear to have counted the charge worthy of refutation.
[87] Thomas Fuller, b. 1608; d. 1661. The Worthies of England is his best-known book—a reservoir of anecdote and witty comments upon “men and manners.”
[88] Thomas Browne, b. 1605; d. 1682. Full collection of his works (with Johnson’s Life), Bohn, 1851. A very charming edition of the Religio Medici—so good in print—so full in notes—so convenient to the hand—is that of the “Golden Treasury Series,” Macmillan. Nor can I forbear reference to that keen, sympathetic essay on this writer which appears in Walter Pater’s Appreciations, Macmillan, 1889.
[89] William Temple, b. 1628; d. 1699. His works, mainly political writings, were published in two volumes folio, 1720; a later edition, 1731, including the Letters of Temple (edited, and as title-page says—published by Jonathan Swift), was dedicated to his Majesty William III.
[90] This old country home, very charming with its antique air, its mossy terraces, its giant cedars, is still held by a Sir Henry Dryden.
[91] Otway, b. 1631; d. 1685, son of a Sussex clergyman, was author of many poor plays, and of two—“The Orphan” and “Venice Preserved”—sure to live. With much native refinement and extraordinary pathetic power, he went to the bad; was crazed by hopeless love for an actress (Mrs. Barry) in his own plays; plunged thereafter into wildest dissipation, and died destitute and neglected.
[92] Shall I except his re-telling of the tale of Cymon and “Iphigene the Fair?”
[93] John Locke, b. 1632; d. 1704. The best edition of Locke’s works is said to be that by Bishop Law, four volumes, 4to, 1777. For Life, Fox Bourne (1876) is latest authority.
[94] This was a weak scion of the house, “born a shapeless lump, like anarchy,” as Dryden savagely says; but—by this very match—he became the father of the brilliant author of the Characteristics (1711).
[95] February 6, 1685.