the
external. The book is thoroughly in Bunyan's vein, and in its homely
naturalness of imagery recalls the similitudes of the "Interpreter's
House," especially those expounded to Christiana and her boys. As in
that "house of imagery" things of the most common sort, the sweeping of a
room, the burning of a fire, the drinking of a chicken, a robin with a
spider in his mouth, are made the vehicle of religious teaching; so in
this "Book for Boys and Girls," a mole burrowing in the ground, a swallow
soaring in the air, the cuckoo which can do nothing but utter two notes,
a flaming and a blinking candle, or a pound of candles falling to the
ground, a boy chasing a butterfly, the cackling of a hen when she has
laid her egg, all, to his imaginative mind, set forth some spiritual
truth or enforce some wholesome moral lesson. How racy, though homely,
are these lines on a Frog!--

"The Frog by nature is but damp and cold,
Her mouth is large, her belly much will hold,
She sits somewhat ascending, loves to be
Croaking in gardens, though unpleasantly.

The hypocrite is like unto this Frog,
As like as is the puppy to the dog.
He is of nature cold, his mouth is wide
To prate, and at true goodness to deride.
And though this world is that which he doth love,
He mounts his head as if he lived above.
And though he seeks in churches for to croak,
He neither seeketh Jesus nor His yoke."

There is some real poetry in those on the Cuckoo, though we may be
inclined to resent his harsh treatment of our universal favourite:--

"Thou booby says't thou nothing but Cuckoo?
The robin and the wren can that outdo.
They to us play thorough their little throats
Not one, but sundry pretty tuneful notes.
But thou hast fellows, some like thee can do
Little but suck our eggs, and sing Cuckoo.

Thy notes do not first welcome in our spring,
Nor dost thou its first tokens to us bring.
Birds less than thee by far like prophets do
Tell us 'tis coming, though not by Cuckoo,
Nor dost thou summer bear away with thee
Though thou a yawling bawling Cuckoo be.
When thou dost cease among us to appear,
Then doth our harvest bravely crown our year.
But thou hast fellows, some like thee can do
Little but suck our eggs, and sing Cuckoo.

Since Cuckoos forward not our early spring
Nor help with notes to bring our harvest in,
And since while here, she only makes a n