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 he enjoyed under Lady Abney's roof was favorable. But 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 approba tion 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 and live upon that."

me,

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. awe-struck youngster, eyeing the venerable figure before him, replied, "Madam, nine hundred years,'

The

was several years ago in a state of decay, so that the modest inscription inscribed upon it by the direction of Watts himself, was scarcely legible. It has since been renewed, we learn, by the munificence of some of the descendants of those his ancient friends; and still records, with the modest mention of his name, the text he selected as the expression of his undying hope :

"When Christ, who is my life, shall appear, then shall I also appear with him in glory."

ART. V.-An Essay on the Moral Constitution and History of Man. Edinburgh. W. Tait. 1834. 12mo. pp.

viii. and 272.

THIS is a valuable work on a very important subject. It is the production of no common-place mind. Every page of it bears the proofs of strong, independent, and original thought. Whoever thinks at all on his own moral nature, or on the destiny of mankind, will read it with deep interest, and find much in it to prompt inquiry, to warm his heart, and guide his thoughts.

The object of this Essay, as stated in the Preface, is, "to show that mankind collectively, or Society, was destined to grow from infancy to maturity in the same way as individuals are, and that the due consideration of this truth explains the origin of moral evil, the cause of its prevalence under varied forms and extent, and the means of its cure ; and also to consider "as connected with the actual progress of society, the means of its education, provided by Divine Providence, in the different revelations he has given to mankind. These were completed, doctrinally, by Christianity; but the world being incapable, at the first promulgation of the Christian religion, to comprehend, still more to practise its lessons, the time had not yet arrived for the actual success of the doctrine; nor has it yet arrived; but the era is approaching.'

The author's point of departure is progress. Man does not come into the world full-grown. Individually and collectively, he is designed by Providence to pass from rude and feeble beginnings, to maturity, to the strength and perfection of which

VOL. XVIII.-N. S. VOL. XIII. NO. III.

45

he is capable. Knowledge and virtue are to be acquired, by slow and toilsome effort,- often at the expense of temporary suffering and evil.

The individual and the species are both subject to the same law of developement. In attaining maturity, each passes successively under the dominion of different sets of faculties. In infancy the individual is a mere animal, affected chiefly by the appetites, instincts, and passions of animal life. These are all essentially selfish, having for their object the preservation, nutrition, and health of the individual. To these succeeds the imagination. Under the dominion of the imagination the individual has a great curiosity to learn the causes and the uses of every thing; but he is credulous, particularly charmed with the wonderful, and becomes the easy dupe of every tale that is told him.

The intellectual powers come next in order, and assume, or try to assume, the mastery; but the remains of preceding influences and habits, together with the circumstances, by which the man is surrounded, and which tempt or compel him to fight his way through the world, prevent this mastery from being complete, often from being even predominant. Under the reign of the Intellect, the follies and prejudices of childhood and youth are surmounted, knowledge and strength are gained, but not wisdom and happiness. There remains another set of faculties to be developed, the moral sentiments. These are last in order; their predominance constitutes the maturity, the perfection of human nature, and gives moral wisdom, which is the proper attribute of

-

age.

Society comes under each of these different sets of faculties in the same order. The infancy of society is the savage state, in which the animal passions predominate as in children. Savages are wholly occupied with the means of self-preservation, and the gratification of their natural appetites and instincts. The next epoch in social progress is marked by the predominance of the imagination. This is the age of superstition. The imagination, usurping the prerogative of reason, attempts to account for all the phenomena of nature by its own conceits. Whatever is extraordinary it imputes to some mysterious influence; it peoples the world with imaginary beings, some above, some below men, some good, some bad, who are for ever interfering with the affairs of mankind, and with the ordinary course or general laws of nature; and, when