I feel my watch, I tell my clock, The watch thus touchingly mentioned, was so contrived, we are informed by Hawkins, that the sufferer could by his "finger discern the time to half a quarter of an hour." It is now in the possession of Dr. Hawes. When he took refuge in a book, his pains rendered it difficult for him to read a line. But his reflections upon the dreary vigils of the night are still more affecting. As in the night I restless lie, I the watch-candle keep in eye, My curtain oft I draw away, But when the morning gilds the skies, The morning no relief supplies. English poetry contains nothing more natural or affecting than these verses. Mr. Bowles notices the very lively and original image of death in the following stanza :-— Search, who is he encharged to harm? Him of his dart disarm, Keen, and still pointing to my heart, That I from God no more may start. Cowley was the laureate of the age, and the model of Ken's imitation; but his fancy shone only to mislead. A great poet he could never have been; but pathos and grace he might have frequently attained; for his ear had a lively perception of melody; his versification is often easy and vigorous, and he occasionally turns a stanza with epigrammatic point; as in the following: Let sensual souls, then, covet ease, Ease their eternal pain will be; His unadorned naturalness sometimes resembles the agreeable familiarity of Flemish painting; thus, in portraying a Miser, he represents him upon the receipt of a bag of gold, brightening his spectacles, and moving the table nearer the window to obtain a clearer view of the treasure. Through many of his poems, rugged as they are, runs a vein of gold, not of the purest quality, nor sufficiently rich to repay the toil of the search, but ample enough to vindicate his fancy from the charge of sterility. The poet may sigh for a greater brilliancy of wit, a richer flush of imagination, or a sweeter flow of music; but the Christian will be satisfied with the fervent sincerity of his devotion, and the cheerful sunshine of a meek and contented disposition. Like his master, Cowley, he often spoke the language of the heart. ISAAC WATTS. THE name of Watts was admitted into the collection of the English poets at the express desire of Dr. Johnson, whose anxiety to render justice to his virtues and talents is apparent from the letter he addressed to Mr. Dilly, in 1777. The greater portion of the following account was written before the appearance of the Memoir by Southey; but the writer has gladly availed himself of the opportunity of embellishing his work with one or two remarks by an author whose biographies alone will memory, preserve his as long as there shall be any praise." ISAAC WATTS was born July 17th, 1674, in the town of Southampton, where his father kept a respectable boarding-school. He was a strict nonconformist, and suffered severely on account of his religious opinions. During his imprisonment his wife is said to have sat on a stone by the gaol-door, with the poet, then an infant, at her breast. Isaac, who was the eldest of nine children, evinced, from his earliest years, that love of knowledge which never deserted him. We are told that even before he could speak plain, his constant exclamation, when any money was given to him, was—“ A book! a book!-buy a book!" and his sister communicated to Dr. Gibbons another interesting anecdote of his precocious intellect. It was the practice of his mother, after school hours, to VOL. II. propose to the pupils a subject for the exercise of their rhyming talents, and the successful candidate was rewarded with the encouraging prize of a farthing. On one of these occasions little Isaac produced the following couplet : I write not for a farthing, but to try How I your farthing writers can outvie*. About the same time, he wrote an acrostic on his own name, in which his ingenuity and piety are both conspicuous. At this period, he was not more than seven or eight years old. He had previously, in his fourth year, commenced the study of the learned languages, at the free grammar school of his native town, under the Rev. John Pinborne, of whom he always "retained a grateful and affectionate remembrance." These uncommon proofs of mental activity attracted the notice of several benevolent individuals in the neighbourhood, who generously offered to educate the young scholar, at their own expense, in one of the universities. Watts, however, declined the offer with the remark, that he was determined to take his lot with the dissenters. His wishes appear to have been anxiously promoted by his affectionate parents, who placed him, in his sixteenth year, in the academy of Mr. Rowe. Among his companions were Hughes, the poet whose name is honourably associated with that of Addison, and Hort, afterwards archbishop of Tuam. His industry was unremitting. * Memoranda :-Began to learn Latin of my father, 1678 To Latin school and writing Began to learn Greek I had ye small-pox Learnt Hebrew Life and Times, by MILNER, 1834, p. 60. Gibbons mentions a MS. volume of Latin exercises, written while he resided in this academy, which, in the opinion of Dr. Johnson, manifest a degree of knowledge, both philosophical and theological, such as very few attain by a much longer course of study. A few of his leisure hours were devoted to poetry, and his Latin verses seem to have been the result of considerable labour. The lines addressed to his brother are even graceful and elegant. But this enthusiasm of study, which scarcely allowed the necessary refreshment of sleep, probably laid the foundation of the sufferings he afterwards endured. In 1694 he left the academy, with a very high character for virtues and acquirements, and returned to the house of his father, where he passed two years; during which time he is supposed to have produced many of his Hymns, and other juvenile compositions. At the expiration of that period, he was invited by Sir John Hartopp to undertake the education of his son. So eligible a proposal was gladly accepted. Sir John was himself a scholar, "inquisitive into the affairs of the learned world," and, it may be mentioned to his praise, that when past the age of fifty years, he began the study of Hebrew, in order to comprehend with greater clearness the spirit of the Scriptures. We shall not therefore wonder at the affection with which Watts always remembered his sojourn in that family. "I cannot," he said, "but reckon it among the blessings of heaven, when I review those five years of pleasure and improvement which I spent in his family in my younger part of life. And I found much instruction myself, where I was called to be an instructor." It was to facilitate the progress of his pupil, that he prepared the outline of that work which, in its |