A

Secretary to the Lord Chancellor, and in August 1733 became Judge of the Prerogative Court.

After the death of his patron he continued fome years in Ireland; but at last longing, as it feems, for his native country, he returned (1748) to London, having doubtlefs furvived moft of his friends and enemies, and amongst them his dreaded antagonist Pope. He found however the Duke of Newcastle ftill living, and to him he dedicated his poems collected into a volume.

Having purchased an annuity of 4001. he now certainly hoped to pass fome years of life in plenty and tranquillity; but his hope deceived him he was struck with a palfy, and died June 18, 1749, in his 78th year.

"Of his perfonal character," fays Johnfon," all that I have heard is, that he was eminent for bravery and skill in the fword, and that in converfation he was folemn and pompous."

66 -Of the " Diftreft Mother" not much is pretended to be his own, and therefore it is no fubject of critici: his other two tragedies, I believe, are not below mediocrity, nor above it. Among his poems the *Letter from Denmark" may be juftly praifed; the "Paftorals," which by the writer of the " Guardian" were ranked as one of the four genuine productions of the ruftick mufe, cannot furely be defpicable."

"In his other poems he cannot be denied the praife of lines fometimes elegant; but he has feldom much force, or much comprehenfion."

"In his tranflations from Pindar, he found the art of reaching all the obfcurity of the Theban bard, however he may fall below is fublimity, he will be allowed, if he has lefs fire, to have more smoke.

"He has added nothing to English poetry, yet at leaft half his book deferves to be read: perhaps he valued most himself that part which the critick would reject."

WATTS.

WATTS.

ISAAC

ISAAC WATTS was born July 1674 at Southampton, where his father kept a boarding school for young gentlemen, though common report makes him a fhoemaker. He was however neither indigent nor illiterate.

Ifaac, the eldest of nine children, was given to books from his infancy; and began, we are told, to learn Latin when he was four years old, at home. He was afterwards taught Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, by the mafter of the free-fchool at Southampton, to whom the gratitude of the fcholar afterwards infcribed a Latin Ode.

His proficiency at fchool was fo confpicuous, that a fubfcription was propofed for his fupport at the univerfity; but he declared his refolution to take his lot with the Diffenters. He therefore repaired in 1690 to an academy taught by Mr. Rowe, where he had for his fellow ftudents Mr. Hughes the poet, and Dr. Hoit, afterwards archbishop of Tuam. Some Latin Effays, fuppofed to have been written as exercifes at this academy, fhew a degree of knowledge, both philofophical and theological, fuch as very few attain by a much longer courfe of ftudy.

He was, as he hints in his mifcellanies, a maker of verfes from fifteen to fifty; and in his youth he appears to have paid attention to Latin poetry. His verfes to his brother, written when he was feventeen, are remarkably eafy and elegant. His method of study was to impress the contents of his books upon his memory by abridging them, and by interleaving them to amplify one fystem with supplements from another.

At the age of twenty he left the academy, and spent two years in ftudy and devotion at the house of his father, who treated him with great tenderness, and had the happiness, indulged to few parents, of living to fee his fon eminent for literature and venerable for piety. He was then entertained by Sir John Hartop five years, as domestick tutor to his fon; and in that time particularly devoted himself to the study of the holy fcriptures; and, being chofen affiftant to Dr. Chauncey, preached the first time on the birth-day that completed his twenty-fourth year.

In about three years he fucceeded Dr. Chauncey ; but foon after his entrance on his charge, he was feized by a dangerous illness, which funk him to fuch weakness, that the congregation thought an affiftant neceffary, and appointed Mr. Price. His health then returned gradually, and he performed his duty till (1712) was feized by a fever of fuch violence and continuance, that from the feeblenefs which it brought upon him he never perfectly recovered.

This calamitous ftate drew upon him the attention of Sir Thomas Abney, who received him into his houfe, where he was treated for thirty-fix years with all the kindness that friendship could prompt, and all the attention that refpect could dictate. Sir Thomas died about eight years afterwards; but he continued with the lady and her daughters to the end of life. The lady died about a year after him.

From the time of his reception into this family, his life was no otherwife diverfified than by fucceffive publications. The number and variety of his works fhew the intenseness of his industry, and the extent of his capacity. He was one of the first authors that taught the Diffenters to court attention by the graces of language. He continued to the end of his life the teacher of a congregation. In the pulpit, though his low ftature, which very little exceeded

eeeded five feet, graced him with no advantages of appearance, yet the gravity and propriety of his utterance made his difcourfes very efficacious.

Of his philofophical pieces, his Logick has been received into the Universities, and therefore wants no private recommendation. In his metaphyfical difquifitions, it was obferved by the late learned Mr. Dyer, that he confounded the idea of space with that of empty Space; and did not confider, that though space might be without matter, yet matter being extended could not be without space. Few books of the kind have been perufed with greater pleasure than his "Improvement of the Mind," of which the radical principles may be found in Locke's "Conduct of the Understanding," but they are fo expanded by Watts, as to confer upon him the merit of a work in the highest degree useful and pleasing. Whoever has the care of inftructing others may be charged with deficience in his duty if this book is not recommended.

In 1720 he received from Edinburgh and Aberdeen an unfolicited diploma by which he became a Doctor of Divinity. He continued many years to ftudy and to preach, and to do good by his inftructions and example, till at laft being difabled by the infirmities of age from doing his public duty, he offered to remit the falary appendant to it; but his congregation would not accept the refignation.

By degrees his weakness increased, and at laft confined him to his chamber and his bed; where he was worn gradually away without pain, till he expired November 25, 1748, in the 75th year of his age.

"Few men have left behind fuch purity of cha rácter or fuch monuments of laborious piety. He has provided inftruction for all ages, from those who are lifping their firft leffons to the enlightened readers of Malbranche and Locke; he has left neither cor

poreal

poreal nor fpiritual nature unexamined; he has taught the art of reafoning, and the fcience of the ftars.

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-As a poet, had he been only a poet, he would probably have stood high among the authors with whom he is now affociated. For his judgment was exact, and he noted beauties and faults with very nice difcernment; his imagination, as the "Dacian Battle" proves, was vigorous and active, and the ftores of knowledge were large by which his imagination was to be fupplied. His ear was well-tuned, and his diction was elegant and copious. But his devotional poetry is, like that of others, unfatisfactory. The paucity of its topicks enforces perpetual repetition, and the fanctity of the matter rejects the ornaments of figurative diction. It is fufficient for Watts to have done better than others what no man has done fo well. "His poems on other fubjects feldom rife higher than might be expected from the amusements of a man. of letters."

I

SAVAGE.

N the year 1697, Anne Countefs of Macclesfield, having lived for fome time upon very uneafy terms with her husband, thought a publick confeffion of adultery the moft expeditious method of obtaining her liberty, and therefore declared, that the child, with which he was then pregnant, was begotten by the Earl of Rivers. This, as may be eafily imagined, made her husband no lefs defirous of a feparation than herself, and accordingly on the third of March he was parted from his wife, a bill having paffed for that purpose, although there was no divorce obtained in the fpiritual court, and her fortune, which was very great,