h he believes
were transmuted in Bunyan's imagination into the House Beautiful, The
Delectable Mountains, Vanity Fair and so on through nearly all the
scenes of Christian's journey.

The House Beautiful he identifies with Houghton House in the manor of
Dame Ellen's Bury. This is one of the most interesting of the country
houses of England, because of its connection with Sir Philip Sidney's
sister, Mary Sidney. After the death of her husband, Lord Pembroke,
James I. presented her with the royal manor of Dame Ellen's Bury, and
under the guidance of Inigo Jones, it is generally supposed, Houghton
House was built. It is in ruins now and covered with ivy. Trees have
grown within the ruins themselves. Still it is one of the most beautiful
spots in Bedfordshire. "In Bunyan's time," Mr. Foster writes, "we may
suppose the northern slope of Houghton Park was a series of terraces
rising one above another, and laid out in the stiff garden fashion of
the time. A flight of steps, or maybe a steep path, would lead from one
terrace to the next, and gradually the view over the plain of Bedford
would reveal itself to the traveler as he mounted higher and higher."

From Houghton House there is a view of the Chiltern Hills. Mr. Foster is
of the opinion that Bunyan had this view in mind when he described
Christian as looking from the roof of the House Beautiful southwards
towards the Delectable Mountains. He writes, "One of the main roads to
London from Bedford, and the one, moreover, which passes through Elstow,
crosses the hills only a little more than a mile east of Houghton House,
and Bunyan, in his frequent journeys to London, no doubt often passed
along this road. All in this direction was, therefore, to him familiar
ground. Many a pleasant walk or ride came back to him through memory, as
he took pen in hand to describe Hill Difficulty with its steep path and
its arbor, and the House Beautiful with its guest-chamber, its large
upper room looking eastward, its study and its armory.

"Many a time did Bunyan, as he journeyed, look southwards to the blue
Chilterns, and when the time came he placed together all that he had
seen, as the frame in which he should set his way-faring pilgrim."

Pleasant as it would be to follow with Mr. Foster his journey through
the real scenes of the "Pilgrim's Progress," our main interest at
present is to observe how Browning's facile imagination has presented
the conversion, through the impression made u