Bunyan was fervently in earnest; with 'his fingers in his ears, he ran on,' straight for his mark.

He tells us himself, in the conclusion to the first part, that he did not fear to raise a laugh; indeed, he feared nothing, and said anything; and he was greatly served in this by a certain rustic privilege of his style, which, like the talk of strong uneducated men, when it does not impress by its force, still charms by its simplicity.

The mere story and the allegorical design enjoyed perhaps his equal favour.

He believed in both with an energy of faith that was capable of moving mountains.

And we have to remark in him, not the parts where inspiration fails and is supplied by cold and merely decorative invention, but the parts where faith has grown to be credulity, and his characters become so real to him that he forgets the end of their creation.