How full of life and vigour his sketch of the beleaguerment and deliverance of “Mansoul,” as a picture of his own spiritual experience, in the introductory verses to “The Holy War"!—­

   “For my part I, myself, was in the town,
   Both when ’twas set up, and when pulling down;
   I saw Diabolus in possession,
   And Mansoul also under his oppression. 
   Yes, I was there when she crowned him for lord,
   And to him did submit with one accord. 
   When Mansoul trampled upon things divine,
   And wallowed in filth as doth a swine,
   When she betook herself unto her arms,
   Fought her Emmanuel, despised his charms: 
   Then I was there, and did rejoice to see
   Diabolus and Mansoul so agree. 
   I saw the prince’s armed men come down
   By troops, by thousands, to besiege the town,
   I saw the captains, heard the trumpets sound,
   And how his forces covered all the ground,
   Yea, how they set themselves in battle array,
   I shall remember to my dying day.”

Bunyan’s other essays in the domain of poetry need not detain us long.  The most considerable of these—­at least in bulk—­if it be really his, is a version of some portions of the Old and New Testaments:  the life of Joseph, the Book of Ruth, the history of Samson, the Book of Jonah, the Sermon on the Mount, and the General Epistle of St. James.  The attempt to do the English Bible into verse has been often made and never successfully:  in the nature of things success in such a task is impossible, nor can this attempt be regarded as happier than that of others.  Mr. Froude indeed, who undoubtingly accepts their genuineness, is of a different opinion.  He styles the “Book of Ruth” and the “History of Joseph” “beautiful idylls,” of such high excellence that, “if we found them in the collected works of a poet laureate, we should consider that a difficult task had been accomplished successfully.”  It would seem almost doubtful whether Mr. Froude can have read the compositions that he commends so largely, and so much beyond their merit.  The following specimen, taken haphazard, will show how thoroughly Bunyan or the rhymester, whoever he may be, has overcome what Mr. Froude regards as an almost insuperable difficulty, and has managed to “spoil completely the faultless prose of the English translation":—­

   “Ruth replied,
   Intreat me not to leave thee or return;
   For where thou goest I’ll go, where thou sojourn
   I’ll sojourn also—­and what people’s thine,
   And who thy God, the same shall both be mine. 
   Where thou shalt die, there will I die likewise,
   And I’ll be buried where thy body lies. 
   The Lord do so to me and more if I
   Do leave thee or forsake thee till I die.”