Jolly and Griggish

The sons of Harmless-Mirth.[3]

"One would think that Bunyan had borrowed, by anticipation, a part of the 'slang' of our own age, when he indicates by these names the offspring of that Diabolonian principle, Lasciviousness, which disguised itself under the more deceptive name of Harmless-Mirth. The names here given to his two sons are, indeed, very suggestive, and point to those features of the worldly mind which include carnal pleasure, the mirth that hurts the soul, the laughter that makes one sad, and the joy of the world, that so soon turns to sorrow and bitterness. Worldly pleasure ofttimes relaxes the discipline of the soul; the bow unbent is subject to reaction; and that which seemed to be harmless, pleasurable, and mirthful, becomes the occasion of a deep decline of faith and holiness, and, at last, a grievous downfall of the soul. These principles must be put to the cross—crucified and slain; else, that which is the offspring of past sin may become the parent of future transgression."[2]