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verfity; but he declared his refolution to take his lot with the Diffenters. Such he was as every Chriftian Church would rejoice to have adopted.

He therefore repaired in 1690 to an academy taught by Mr. Rowe, where he had for his companions and fellow-ftudents Mr. Hughes the poet, and Dr. Horte, 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 study.

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, in the glyconick measure, written when he was feventeen, are remarkably eafy and elegant. Some of his other odes are deformed by the Pindarick folly then prevailing, and are written with fuch neglect of all metrical rules as is without example among the ancients; but his diction, though perhaps not always exactly pure, has fuch copioufnefs and splendour, as fhews that he was but at a very little diftance from excellence.

His method of ftudy was to imprefs the contents of his books upon his memory by abridging them, and by interleaving them to amplify one fyftem with fupplements from another.

With the congregation of his tutor Mr. Rowe, wha were, I believe, Independents, he communicated in his nineteenth year.

At the age of twenty he left the academy, and spent two years in ftudy and devotion at the houfe of his father, who treated him with great t.. dernefs; and had

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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 Hartopp five years, as domeftick tutor to his fon; and in that time particularly devoted himself to the ftudy of the Holy Scriptures; and being chofen affiftant to Dr. Chauncey, preached the first time on the birth-day that compleated his twenty-fourth year; probably confidering that as the day of a fecond nativity, by which he entered on a new period of existence.

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 affistant neceffary, and appointed Mr. Price. His health then returned gradually, and he performed his duty, till (1712) he was feized by a fever of fuch violence and continuance, that, from the feebleness which it brought upon him, he never perfectly recovered.

This calamitous ftate made the compaffion of his friends neceffary, and drew upon him the attention of Sir Thomas Abney, who received him into his houfe; where, with a conftancy of friendship and uniformity of conduct not often to be found, 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 his life. The lady died about a year after him.

A coalition like this, a ftate in which the notions. of patronage and dependence were overpowered by the perception of reciprocal benefits, deferves a particular

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memorial; and I will not withhold from the reader Dr. Gibbons's reprefentation, to which regard is to be paid as to the narrative of one who writes what he knows, and what is known likewife to multitudes befides.

"Our next obfervation fhall be made upon that "remarkably kind Providence which brought the "Doctor into Sir Thomas Abney's family, and con"tinued him there till his death, a period of no "lefs than thirty-fix years. In the midft of his facred "labours for the glory of God, and good of his ge"neration, he is feized with a most violent and threat"ening fever, which leaves him oppreffed with great "weakness, and puts a stop at least to his publick fer"vices for four years. In this diftreffing season,

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doubly fo to his active and pious fpirit, he is in"vited to Sir Thomas Abney's family, nor ever re"moves from it till he had finished his days. Here "he enjoyed the uninterrupted demonftrations of the trueft friendship. Here, without any care of his own, he had every thing which could contribute "to the enjoyment of life, and favour the unwearied purfuits of his ftudies. Here he dwelt in a family, which for piety, order, harmony, and every vir"tue, was an houfe of God. Here he had the privilege of a country recefs, the fragrant bower, the "the fpreading lawn, the flowery garden, and other advantages, to footh his mind and aid his restora"tion to health; to yield him, whenever he chofe "them, moft grateful intervals from his laborious

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ftudies, and enable him to return to them with re"doubled vigour and delight. Had it not been for "this moft happy event, he might, as to outward

"view, have feebly, it may be painfully, dragged "on through many more years of langour, and in"ability for publick service, and even for profitable

study, or perhaps might have funk into his grave "under the overwhelming load of infirmities in the "midst of his days; and thus the church and world "would have been deprived of those many excellent fer"mons and works, which he drew up and published during his long refidence in this family. In a few

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years after his coming hither, Sir Thomas Abney "dies; but his amiable confort furvives, who fhews "the Doctor the fame refpect and friendship as be"fore, and most happily for him and great numbers " befides; for, as her riches were great, her generofity "and munificence were in full proportion; her thread "of life was drawn out to a great age, even beyond "that of the Doctor's; and thus this excellent man, "through her kindness, and that of her daughter, "the prefent Mrs. Elizabeth Abney, who in a like "degree esteemed and honoured him, enjoyed all the "benefits and felicities he experienced at his first "entrance into this family, till his days were num"bered and finished, and, like a fhock of corn in "its feafon, he afcended into the regions of perfect "and immortal life and joy."

If this quotation has appeared long, let it be confidered that it comprises an account of fix-and-thirty years, and those the years of Dr. Watts.

From the time of his reception into this family, his life was no otherwife diversified than by fucceffive publications. The feries of his works I am not able to deduce; their number, and their variety, fhew the intenfeness

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intenseness of his industry, and the extent of his capacity.

He was one of the first authors that taught the Dif fenters to court attention by the graces of language. Whatever they had among them before, whether of learning or acutenefs, was commonly obfcured and blunted by coarfenefs and inelegance of ftyle. He fhewed them, that zeal and purity might be expreffed and enforced by polished diction.

He continued to the end of his life the teacher of a congregation, and no reader of his works can doubt his fidelity or diligence. In the pulpit, though his low ftature, which very little exceeded five feet, graced him with no advantages of appearance, yet the gravity and propriety of his utterance made his difcourfes very efficacious. I once mentioned the reputation which Mr. Fofter had gained by his proper delivery to my friend Dr. Hawkefworth, who told me, that in the art of pronunciation he was far inferior to Dr. Watts.

Such was his flow of thoughts, and fuch his promptitude of language, that in the latter part of his life he did not precompofe his curfory fermons ; but having adjusted the heads, and sketched out fome particulars, trufted for fuccefs to his extemporary powers. He did not endeavour to affift his eloquence by any gefticulations; for, as no corporeal actions have any correfpondence with theological truth, he did not fee how they could enforce it.

At the conclusion of weighty fentences he sentences he gave time, by a short paufe, for the proper impreffion. To ftated and publick inftruction he added familiar vilits and perfonal application, and was careful to improve

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