APPENDIX. 



7. JOHN BUNYAN AND THE GIPSIES* 



A WORK by myself, entitled Con- 

 tributions to Natural History 

 and Papers on Other Subjects, now in 

 the hands of Edinburgh publishers, 

 from stereotype plates sent from this 

 side, was set up before I saw Notes 

 and Queries of the nth July last, 

 which contains an article from Mr. 

 Dudley Gary Elwes, on the parent- 

 age of John Bunyan. In that arti- 

 cle Mr. Elwes writes : 



" As I was (by the courtesy of the 

 vicar of the parish), inspecting the reg- 

 ter of Wootton parish, Co. Bedfordshire, 

 I came across the following entries, 

 which evidently allude to some of John 

 Bunyan's ancestors, as Wootton is not so 

 very far from Elstow about five miles 

 and they may, perhaps, eventually lead 

 to the discovery of who were his par- 

 ents ; they also do away with the sup- 

 position of those who think that John 

 Bunyan may have had Gipsy blood in 

 his veins." 



And he gives a list of seven bap- 

 tisms, four marriages, and five buri- 

 als of people of the names of Bun- 

 nion and Bunion, between the years 

 1581 and 1645. 



In Notes and Queries for roth 

 October, 1874, D. C. E. gives a list 

 of many baptisms, marriages, and 

 burials, principally under the name 

 of Bonyon, from Chalgrave register, 

 Co. Beds., between the years 1559 

 and 1629. And in John Camden 

 Hotten's Original list of Emigrants, 

 etc., to the American Plantations, 



*This article on " John Bunyan and 

 the Gipsies," was sent to Notes and Que- 

 ries, on the 3d March, 1875, and printed 

 on the 27th. I have thought it advisable 

 to insert it here, in its original form. 



(1874), we find " John, son of John 

 and Mary Bunnyon, bap. 16 Octo- 

 ber, 1679," taken from the register 

 of Christ Church, Barbadoes. 



In the Sunday Magazine, for Jan- 

 uary, 1875, I find the following: 



" The Rev. John Brown, of Bunyan 

 meeting, has gone with great care into 

 many of the old registers connected with 

 the meeting and the parish, and has 

 contrived to throw a good deal of light 

 on several points regarding the ' Great 

 Dreamer.' First of all, he finds that 

 the idea of Bunyan being of Gipsy race, 

 is totally discountenanced, which suppo- 

 sition might have been encouraged by 

 the fact of Bunyan's trade being that 

 of a tinker or travelling brazier, in which 

 many Gipsies were engaged. He has 

 discovered that though the name of 

 Bunyan has now died out from Bedford- 

 shire, it is of great antiquity, and was 

 pretty common there under various forms 

 of spelling. It was borne by people of 

 good position." 



And the writer quotes from The 

 Book of the Bunyan Festival, as fol- 

 lows : 



" In the original accounts of the real 

 and personal estates of delinquents 

 seized by the Parliament of England, 

 between the years 1642 and 1648, the 

 rent of Sir George Bynnion, delinquent, 

 in the parish of Eaton-Socon, Bedford- 

 shire, is returned at ^223, us. 4d. 

 From the same account it appears that 

 the land of Mr. Foster, delinquent, in 

 the parish of Stretly, was let by the year 

 to John Bunnyon, tenant, at a rent of 

 ^30. It is perhaps worthy of notice, 

 that the farm of this John Bunnyon was 

 not far from that village of Samsell, 

 where our John Bunyan was appre- 

 hended for preaching. Were they kins- 

 men, and had the tinker been on a visit 



