414 
John B liny an s Meeting House. 
Iiastily; let him weigh first, and then 
blame; and I would have him also bear 
mind iii that the most useful inven¬ 
tions and the happiest discoveries have 
met with the most obstinate opposition, 
and even ridicule, from men of the 
most enlightened understanding. 
Romsey , Oct. 1821. D. W. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
AVING seen your print of the 
house in which this celebrated 
character drew his first breath, near 
Bedford, I felt interested in obtaining 
some further account of him after he 
settled in London. 
From the life of John Bunyan, pre¬ 
fixed to Heptinshall’s edition of the 
Pilgrim's Progress, it appears that this 
celebrated personage preached at a 
meeting-house in Zoar-street, Gravel- 
lane, near Bank-side. Jn Manning 
and Bray’s History of Surry, it appears 
that Dr. Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, 
provided this meeting-house forBunyan 
to preach in ; a circumstance which 
derives no small confirmation from the 
well authenticated historical fact of 
the same prelate having before that 
period interposed successfully for the 
delivery of Bunyan from Bedford gaol, 
where he was imprisoned twelve years. 
This liberal and catholic spirit .in a 
bishop, is truly admirable, and the 
knowledge that the remains of this meet¬ 
ing house were considerable, lately in¬ 
duced a gentleman to visit Zoar-street to 
ascertain the truth of the report. This 
ancient building he had no difficulty in 
finding. The larger portion of it has 
been occupied about twenty years by 
a working mill-wright, the rubbish of 
whose dilapidated machinery reposes 
in silence with the dusty pew doors, 
and fractured wainscotting of the old 
meeting; part of the gallery yet re¬ 
mains with the same wooden pegs still 
sticking in its front, which once held 
the uncouth hats of those whom the 
gallant cavaliers of a former period, 
pointed out to public contempt, under 
the designation of Round heads and 
Puritans. All these have long since 
forgotten their mutual feuds and passed 
to their eternal account. The double 
doors of entrance to this building re¬ 
main in their pristine state, and a small 
portion of the edifice is employed for 
the instruction of children. The en¬ 
trance to this school formed the side 
entrance of the meeting, and the pre¬ 
sent door and architrave are the same 
[Dec. I, 
as have always been there. The front 
towards the street, is entirely devoid 
of interest, from the circumstance of 
the windows having been boarded up 
for the purposes of his trade. 
This place was so popular in Bun- 
yan’s time, that if only one day's no¬ 
tice was given, the meeting-house would 
not hold half the people that attended. 
Three thousand have been collected in 
this remote part of the town, and not 
less than twelve hundred at sevhn 
o’clock in a dark winter’s morning, 
even in the week days. 
After the death of Bunyan it Avas 
not always the fate of this place to be 
filled with characters equally sincere 
in their profession of religion. About the 
year 1766, the once celebrated Thomas 
Bradbury was the pastor of a congrega¬ 
tion that occupied this meeting. From 
some unseemly traits in the conduct of 
this gentleman towards a young man, 
who was his constant companion, he 
Avas accused of indulging some dis¬ 
graceful propensities, but though not 
legally convicted, he aa*rs frequently 
molested by the populace whilst preach¬ 
ing at this place ; and they at one time 
carried their resentment so far as to 
break in upon him, and being provided 
with a rope, some of the most daring 
attempted to ascend the pulpit stairs 
with the manifest intention of getting 
it round his neck, but in this they 
were frustrated by the united efforts of 
his friends. 
A Mr. Gunn, not the late Rca t . Al- 
phonsus Gunn, afterwards preached in 
this meeting in Zoar-street. He \A r as a 
man of warm passions, and having be¬ 
come attached to the wife of one of his 
hearers, probably from the fear of in¬ 
terruption in his pleasures, at length 
went away with the victim of his se¬ 
duction, and was never heard of after. 
W. H. Reed. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
NEWS FROM PARNASSUS. 
No. XII. 
nr^HE interesting little volume cal led 
JL “■ Nugae; or PoeticTrifles,” consist¬ 
ing of original poetry and translations, 
by F. A.B. Bonney, is evidently the pro¬ 
duction of a very young man of consider¬ 
able talent and extensive acquaintance 
with 5 the most approved models of Eng¬ 
lish composition, and it is principally 
for this reason that we are induced to 
notice i t. We are Avell aAvare of the im- 
portant influence of criticism upon the 
sensitive rnind of a youthful poet: and 
