Mr. Southey also observes to the same purpose;

"A happier situation, for one who had made up his mind to celibacy, could hardly be imagined." "Mr. Watts was thus adopted into a family, which loved him for his personal qualities, admired him for his genius, and revered him for his piety. On their side there was no pride of patronage; on his there was no uneasy feeling of dependence. He was exempt from the ordinary cares of life, and enabled at perfect leisure to employ himself in the way which he deemed most useful."

Again, "His usefulness among his flock was in no degree diminished by his residence at Theobald's. It was easy for him, when his health permitted, to officiate in London. Lady Abney's carriage was at his command, and the family with which he was domesticated, being of his own persuasion, were as much interested upon this point as himself. If he was disabled by indisposition, there was no cause for uneasiness on that account; for his colleague, [Mr. Price, uncle of Dr. Richard Price,] with whom he always maintained an uninterrupted friendship, was on the spot to supply his place. When he was incapable of public labor, he refused to receive his salary; and at all times a third* part of his income was devoted to charitable purposes."

The remarks which follow may be just, but applicable, we are ready to think, to the state of society and of churches in England rather than to our own.

"Perhaps the peculiar position in which he was placed, increased both the respect and the affection with which his congregation regarded him. It made him independent of them; and they looked upon him, not in the light of a dependent upon the wealthy family with which he was domesticated, nor as a humble friend, but as what in reality he was, one of its members, adopted into it by the special friendship of one of the wealthiest and most considerable persons attached to the dissenting cause."

Whether in our community, and with the spirit of our republicanism in church as well as in state, it be an advantage to a minister (by which we mean, favorable to his spiritual influence,) to be independent of his people, must rest on a variety of circumstances. Personal ability and fidelity must of course determine his weight; yet, other qualifications being equal, we are rather disposed to the impression, that a certain measure of

* Dr. Johnson says a third part, from whom Southey borrowed it; but Dr. Jennings, who probably knew best, says, it was a fifth. His whole income seldom exceeded £100 a year.

dependence on a people, supposing them liberal and kind, is most favorable to their confidence, and to his full access to their hearts. People love to feel, that, while their teacher is dispensing to them of the things that are spiritual, he is resting on them for things temporal.

It was under this peculiar felicity of his condition, this pleasant home at Lady Abney's, that Dr. Watts composed most of the works, nearly fifty in number, which have made his name immortal. Many of those for children and young persons, such as his "Art of Reading and Writing English," his "First Principles of Geography and Astronomy," and probably some of his Catechisms, were written, in token of his gratitude, for the benefit of Lady Abney's children, in whose education and character he took a tender interest.

In Sir Thomas Abney's garden there stood, near the entrance of a long moss walk, overshadowed by some venerable elm trees, a summer-house, which more than fifty years after his death was shown as the place in which Watts composed many of his works. These obtained for him as they were published, a high reputation, though his Hymns and some of his Tracts on the Trinity did not escape severe reprehension.* When he had passed fifty-six years of his age, and not earlier, he received from the universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen, the same year, a degree of Doctor of Divinity.

His private character and intercourse appear from the testimony of all his biographers to have been in the highest degree exemplary and amiable. From his venerable father, who had been a sufferer under King James for conscience' sake, but

*The Doctor's mode of explaining the Trinity gave sore offence to the rigidly orthodox, who never forgave him for refusing his subscription to the test at the Salters'-Hall Conference. He was assailed with great bitterness, five years after, by the Rev. Thomas Bradbury, whose zeal for orthodoxy was quickened by his impetuous temper. He particularly set himself against the introduction into his own pulpit, and others places where he preached, of Watts's Psalms and Hymns. It is said, that on one occasion an unlucky clerk having stumbled upon one of them, Mr. Bradbury got up and reproved him with "Let us have none of Mr. Watts's whims." Nor was he alone, except in the manner of this opposition. It appears indeed that the benevolence of Watts's character did not secure him from the derision of the wits. Pope introduced his name contemptuously into the first edition of the Dunciad, but withdrew it afterwards, as he did that of Wesley the elder, on the remonstrance of Watts,

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lived long after to witness the virtues and honors of his son, he received those early impressions of religion which abide; so that piety, says Dr. Jennings, " pure and undissembled piety, was the settled habit of his mind." Though naturally of a susceptible temper, and a sufferer, sometimes to the very borders of insanity, from nervous disorders, he is said to have acquired in a good measure the control of his passions, and "to have been gentle, humble, and inoffensive in his established practice." Considering the feebleness of his body, and his severe and protracted illnesses, it is surprising he attained to so advanced an age. Doubtless the freedom from care which

But

he enjoyed under Lady Abney's roof was favorable. though the bounty of that excellent woman shut out want, it could not protect him from some other troubles, by which many good men have been severely tried. "The conduct," says Southey, "of some very near relations," (meaning a younger brother, Richard Watts, and a base nephew of the name. of Brackstone,) "embittered his latter days, and for a while, being in extreme weakness, he was stupefied by it to such a degree as hardly to take notice of any thing about him." Dr. Doddridge, who visited him at this time, was exceedingly affected by the melancholy condition in which he found him. He scarcely knew his friend, and had hardly a word to utter. There must indeed have been some unusual malignity in this misconduct of his relations, since it is represented by a confidant as a 66 most infamous and enormous wickedness." Lady Abney with judicious tenderness, "contrived to conceal from him the worst part of it, and to keep his enemies at a becoming distance;" so that, notwithstanding some nervous paroxysms, which were severe and distressing, and which occasioned groundless rumors of his mental derangement, he recovered before his last illness the full composure of his mind. "I am waiting," replied he to his trusty servant, who asked how he was, "I am waiting God's leave to die.” And it was just before his death, that he is said to have repeated with approbation that remark of an aged minister, "The most learned Christians, when they come to die, have only the same plain promises of the Gospel for their support as the common and unlearned. And so," added he, "I find it. It is the plain promises of the Gospel that are my support. And I bless God, that they are plain promises, that do not require much labor and pains to understand them. For I can do nothing

now but look into my Bible for some plain promise to support ine, and live upon that."

We have not room for the reflections, which crowd upon us from even this cursory survey of the life of this eminent man. Of these, our readers will not have failed to perceive, that neither the fame of his genius nor the felicity of his personal condition, nor the competence nor the leisure he enjoyed, could protect him from the reproaches, disappointments, and even domestic disquietudes common to inferior men. Dr. Watts experienced from his brethren his full share of theological hate; and, though neither husband nor father, he was well nigh overwhelmed by the misconduct of some of his kindred. Now when time has set its seal upon the name of a great man, we are too ready to imagine that his progress to that fame was also triumphant; and to forget the obstacles and mortifications he may have encountered in his path. Yet the history of great men will be found the history of their trials; and what seems glorious, and perhaps is envied as such by them who only look without, is often attended with such circumstances of vexation or defect, as make it scarcely compensate the toil of obtaining it.

But the great lesson to be derived from the character of this good man is the example of his catholicism. This, to adopt one of his own favorite epithets, was his shining grace. "In him," says Dr. Johnson, "orthodoxy was ever united to charity." It pervaded his life. It maintained in him a sacred

* Though the general ill health of Dr. Watts withdrew him much from active employment, and increased his natural passion for retirement, his habits were still those of constant industry. When free from the attacks of his complaint, he would not plead the privilege of an invalid to dispense himself from his share of duty. He preached in his turn as often as he could, in Bury Street. He took a prominent part in some of the various plans of usefulness formed among the Dissenters, especially in those relating to New England; and, though seldom present at the public meetings of his brethren, he was often visited and consulted by them. He maintained, as has been seen, an extensive correspondence both at home and abroad. And though we seldom or never find him on distant journeys, for councils or ordinations, those consumers of ministerial time at the present day, — he did not always decline extraordinary professional services. It is with entire justice therefore that Mr. Milner remarks, "In the midst of such avocations and a constant martyr to disease, to produce such a number of important works, embracing a range of subjects so extended, evinces an industry and resolution seldom surpassed." Milner's Life, p. 522.

regard for the rights and judgment of others. It prevented his subscribing his name to a test of human imposition, even though that test might express his private belief. This same charity pervaded his writings. It led him, as we have seen, to adorn his spacious study with nearly a hundred portraits * of the wise and good of different times and differing names, heathen as well as Christian, and to hope that he should meet them at last in heaven. It followed him to his dying hour. For, that his grave might read a lecture of that moderation which his life had exemplified and his pen had advocated, he desired that his funeral should be attended by two Independent ministers, two Presbyterian, and two Baptist. He also directed, says his biographer, "that his remains should be interred in Bunhill Fields, London, deep in the earth, among the relics of his pious fathers and brethren, whom he had known and honored here, and with whom he wished to be found in the resurrection."

Within that great repository of the "dissenting dead," the dust of Watts reposes in the same grave with that of his faithful colleague; in the near neighbourhood of Bradbury, his zealous antagonist, and the more congenial dust of Neal and Calamy, of Fleming and Lowman, of Chandler and Lardner, of Kippis and Price. The monument which was erected immediately after his death," as a small testimony of regard to his memory, by Sir John Hartopp and Dame Mary Abney,"

*It is pleasant to know, that among Watts's few recreations, painting found a place. Mr. Milner tells us, that he frequently employed his pencil in his leisure hours. Some of the portraits, of which we have spoken as adorning his study, were executed by himself. The house in which Lady Abney resided at Stoke Newington, and which was occupied by her surviving daughter until the year 1782, † still retains some interesting memorials of the Poet and Painter. "There is a costly apartment, called the painting-room, on the window-shutters of which are some pictorial decorations, executed, it is said, with considerable skill, and supposed to have been added by Watts's pencil."

This daughter of Lady Abney, a pupil in her youth of Dr. Watts, lived to a very advanced age. Her appearance betokened considerable antiquity, for she retained the costume of a belle of George the First's reign, with formidable hoop and all the appurtenances of the ancien régime. Dr. Winter of London used to relate of himself, that when a little boy, on being introduced to her presence, he was abashed. But the good dame, by way of being familiar, condescended to inquire how old he thought she was. The awe-struck youngster, eyeing the venerable figure before him, replied, "Madam, nine hundred years.'