Note 86 — Chapter V

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.