THEIR AUTHORS AND ORIGIN. 199
review of the present state of religion in England, in the form of a new Pilgrimage to the Heavenly Jerusalem; containing, by way of allegorical narrative, a great variety of dialogues and adventures of eminently religious persons," 1776, Rochester. This is a curious allegorical work — after the manner of Bunyan. It extends to 400 pages, and is very severe on religious errors. This work is prefaced by a letter of approval from W. Mason, author of "The Christian s Spiritual Treasury." The letter bears date Rotherhithe, September 24th, 1775. In the address to the reader, Mr. Shrubsole says, "The following narrative was first taken in hand to divert my mind from melancholy reflections, which arose from too great attention to what might be the fatal consequence of an accident that befel me in October, 1773." The congenial pursuit cheered his mind, and the work extended as he gave attention to it. The second edition of this work was published in 1790. To this edition, which contained some alterations, was appended an elegy by Mr. Shrubsole, on the death of Whitefield; originally published in 1771, the year after Whitefield died. The elegy extends to thirty-five verses, and is vigorous and eulogistic. It maintains an average excellence without being marked by indications of poetic genius. The third edition of the same work was published in 1807, after the author's death, by his son, who has added a life of the author, from which we glean the following particulars: —
Mr. Shrubsole was born at Sandwich, on the 7th of April, 1729. After a few years' instruction in the Town School, he went to work with his father, and in February, 1743, he was apprenticed to Mr. George Cook, a shipwright, at Sheerness. His removal from home gave him more scope to indulge his vicious propensities; but by providential circumstances his evil course was checked, and he was led to reflect on the uncertainty of life, and of all human things. At about the age of twenty, he took up casually a volume by Isaac Ambrose, and reading again and again in the same book, he was conscious, by the Divine blessing, of a great spiritual change. He derived benefit also from reading "Luther
