Amid the spangled sky, the silver lyre. From world to world, the vital ocean round, The long resounding voice, oft breaking clear, Or if you rather choose the rural shade, Should fate command me to the farthest verge And where He vital spreads, there must be joy. Myself in Him, in Light ineffable! Come, then, expressive silence, muse his praise FROM THE "CASTLE OF INDOLENCE." O mortal man, who livest here by toil, For, though sometimes it makes thee weep and wail, In lowly dale, fast by a river's side, With woody hill o'er hill encompass'd round, Than whom a fiend more fell is nowhere found. It was, I ween, a lovely spot of ground; And there, a season atween June and May, Half prank'd with spring, with summer half imbrown'd, A listless climate made, where, sooth to say, No living wight could work, ne cared e'en for play. Was naught around but images of rest; Sleep-soothing groves, and quiet lawns between; Till clustering round th' enchanter false they hung, While o'er th' enfeebling lute his hand he flung, And to the trembling chords these tempting verses sung: "Behold! ye pilgrims of this earth, behold! Who can with her for easy pleasure vie? "Behold the merry minstrels of the morn, The swarming songsters of the careless grove, Ten thousand throats! that from the flowering thorn, Hymn their good God, and carol sweet of love, Such grateful kindly raptures them emove : They neither plough, nor sow, ne, fit for flail, E'er to the barn the nodding sheaves they drove; Yet theirs each harvest dancing in the gale, Whatever crowns the hill, or smiles along the vale. "Come, ye who still the cumbrous load of life Down thunders back the stone with mighty sweep, I in oblivion will your sorrows steep, "With me you need not rise at early dawn, "No cocks, with me, to rustic labor call, "What, what is virtue, but repose of mind, "The best of men have ever loved repose; Where the soul sours, and gradual rancor grows, "Oh, grievous folly! to heap up estate, To toil for what you here untoiling may obtain." ISAAC WATTS, whose reputation as a prose writer and as a poet is as wide as the world of letters, was born at Southampton on the 17th of July, 1674. At the age of but four years he began to study the Latin language; but as he was a "dissenter" from the "established" church, he could not look forward to an education in either of the great universities, and therefore, at the age of sixteen, he was placed under the care of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, who had charge of an academy in London. At the age of twenty he returned to his father's house, and spent two years in studying for the ministry. At the close of this period he accepted the invitation of Sir John Hartopp to reside with him as tutor to his son, and remained with him five years, devoting most of his time to a critical knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures, and entering, during the last year, upon the duties of his profession. In 1698 he was chosen as an assistant to Dr. Chauncey, pastor of an Independent church in Southampton, and on his death, 1702, was elected to succeed him. Soon after entering upon his office he was attacked by a dangerous illness, from which he but very slowly recovered. In 1712 he was again seized with a fever so violent and of so long continuance, that it left him in a feeble state for the rest of his life. In this state he found in Sir Thomas Abney a friend such as is not often to be met with. This gentleman received him into his own house, where he remained an inmate of the family for thirtysix years, that is, to the end of his life, where he was treated the whole time with all the kindness that friendship could prompt, and all the attention that respect could dictate. Here he devoted all the time that his health would allow to the composition of his various works, and to his official functions; and when increasing weakness compelled him to relinquish both, his congre 1 "A coalition like this-a state in which the notions of patronage and dependence were over powered by the perception of reciprocal benefits, deserves a particular memorial."-Dr. Johnson. Accordingly the great biographer has given in his life of Watts a long extract from Dr. Gibbons's touching account of Watts's residence in this family, and then adds: "If this quotation has appeared long, let it be considered that it comprises an account of six-and-thirty years and those the years of Dr. Watts." gation would not accept his resignation, but, while they elected another pastor, continued to him the salary he had been accustomed to receive. On the 25th of November, 1748, without a pain or a struggle, this great and good man breathed his last.1 In his literary character, Dr. Watts may be considered as a poet, a philosopher, and a theologian. As a poet, if he takes not the very first rank in the imaginative, the creative, or the sublime, he has attained what the greatest might well envy,-a universality of fame. He is emphatically the classic poet of the religious world, wherever the English language is known. His version of the Psalms, his three books of Hymns, and his Divine Songs for Children," have been more read and committed to memory, have exerted more holy influences, and made more lasting impressions for good upon the human heart, and have called forth more fervent aspirations for the joys and the happiness of heaven, than the productions of any other poet-perhaps it would not be too strong to say than ALL OTHER poets, (the sacred bards of course excepted,) living or dead. As a philosopher, he has the rare merit of always being practically useful, especially in the education of youth. His "Logic, or Right use of Reason," was for a long time a text-book in the English Universities; and of his "Improvement of the Mind," no happier eulogium can be given than that by Dr. Johnson:2 "Few books," says the sage, have been perused by me with greater pleasure than this; and whoever has the care of instructing others may be charged with deficiency if this book is not recommended." As a theologian, the compositions of Watts are very numerous, and every page," says Dr. Drake, "displays his unaffected piety, the purity of his prin ciples, the mildness of his disposition, and the great goodness of his heart. The style of all his works is perspicuous, correct, and frequently elegant; and happily for mankind, his labors have been translated and dispersed with a zeal that does honor to human nature; for there are probably few persons who have studied the writings of Dr. Watts without a wish for improvement; without an effort to become wiser or better members of society." A SUMMER EVENING. How fine has the day been, how bright was the sun, Though he rose in a mist when his race he begun, 1 When he was almost worn out by his infirmities, he observed, in a conversation with a friend, that "he remembered an aged minister used to say that the most learned and knowing Christians, when they come to die, have only the same plain promises of the Gospel for their support as the common and unlearned." "So," said Watts, "I find it. It is the plain promises of the Gospel that are my support; and I bless God they are plain promises, and do not require much labor and pains to understand them, for I can do nothing now but look into my Bible for some promise to support me, and live upon that." 2 "He is one of the few poets," says Dr. Johnson, "with whom youth and ignorance may be sately pleased; and happy will be that reader whose mind is disposed, by his verses or his prose, to copy his benevolence to man and his reverence to God." Read-his Life in Drake's EssaysJohnson's Life-Memoir, by Southey-Memoirs, by Thomas Gibson. |