Page:The Pilgrim's Progress, the Holy War, Grace Abounding Chunk1.djvu/175

Rh If such thou meet'st with, then thine only way,

Before them all, is to say out thy say

In thine own native language, which no man

Now useth, nor with ease dissemble can.

If, after all, they still of you shall doubt,

Thinking that you, like gipsies, go about

In naughty-wise the country to defile,

Or that you seek good people to beguile

With things unwarrantable; send for me,

And I will testify you Pilgrims be;

Yea, I will testify that only you

My Pilgrims are,—and that alone will do.

OBJECTION II.

But yet, perhaps, I may inquire for him

Of those who wish him damned life and limb.

What shall I do, when I at such a door

For Pilgrims ask, and they shall rage the more?

ANSWER. Fright not thyself, my Book, for such bugbears

Are nothing else but ground for groundless fears.

My Pilgrim's book has travelled sea and land,

Yet could I never come to understand

That it was slighted or turned out of door,

By any kingdom, were they rich or poor.

In France and Flanders, Where men kill each other,

My Pilgrim is esteemed a friend, a brother.

In Holland too, 'tis said, as I am told,

My Pilgrim is, with some, worth more than gold.

Highlanders and wild Irish can agree

My Pilgrim should familiar with them be.