of this sacred bard in the house of a friend for the long period of thirty-six years, has no parallel in English literary biography. 'Abney House,' says Dr. Gibbons, 'was a handsome mansion, surrounded by beautiful pleasuregrounds. Watts had apartments assigned to him, of which he enjoyed the use as freely as if he had been the master of the house. Here, without any care of his own, he had every thing which could contribute to the enjoyment of life, and favour the pursuit of his studies. Here he dwelt in a family, which, for piety, order, harmony, and every virtue, was a house of God. Here he had the privilege of a country recess, the fragrant bower, the spreading lawn, the flowery garden, and other advantages to soothe his mind and aid his restoration to health; to yield him, whenever he chose them, most grateful intervals from his laborious studies, and enable him to return to them with redoubled vigour and delight.' The death of Sir Thomas Abney, which occurred eight years after Watts went to reside with him, made no change in these agreeable arrangements; as the same benevolent patronage was extended to him by the widow, who survived the poet a little over a year. While in this retirement he preached occasionally, but gave the most of his time to study, and in the composition of those works which have essentially contributed to immortalize his name. 'In 1728,' says Dr. Johnson, 'the universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen, with great propriety, conferred upon him an unsolicited diploma, by which he became a doctor of divinity. Academical honours,' adds the great critic, 'would have more value if they were always bestowed with equal judgment.' This great and good man expired, without a struggle or a groan, on the twenty-fifth of November, 1748, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. The literary character of Dr. Watts should be contemplated under the three-fold aspect of poet, philosopher, and theologian. As a poet, though he may not, in creative power or sublimity of genius, hold the first rank, yet he has attained to that which the greatest might well envy-a universal fame. He is emphatically the classic poet of the religious world, wherever the English language is spoken. His Version of the Psalms of David, his Books of Hymns, and his Divine Songs for Children have been more frequently read and committed to memory, have exerted more sacred influences, and made more lasting beneficial impressions upon the human heart, and have called forth more fervent aspirations for the joys of heaven, than the productions of all other poets of the language combined. His poems on other subjects are such as might be expected from the amusements of a man of letters, and are more or less excellent as the subject happened to be more or less favorable to invention. As a philosopher, Dr. Watts enjoys the rare felicity of always being practically useful. His Logic, or the Right Use of Reason, was used, for a long time, as a text book in the English Universities; and of his Improvement of the Mind, Dr. Johnson remarks, Few books have been perused by me with greater pleasure than this; and whoever has the care of instructing others may be charged with deficiency in his duty if this book is not recommended.' Of his theological writings Dr. Drake ob serves, that every page displays his unaffected piety, the purity of his principles, 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 labours have been translated and dispersed with a zeal that does honor to human nature; for there are 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. Our selections from this author must, from the peculiar nature of his writings, necessarily be short. SOVEREIGNTY AND DOMINION OF GOD. Keep silence-all created things, My soul stands trembling while she sings The honours of her God. Life, death, and hell, and worlds unknown, Hang on his firm decree; He sits on no precarious throne, Nor borrows leave-To Be. Chained to his throne a volume lies, With every angel's form and size His providence unfolds the book, (Here he exalts neglected worms, And there, the following page he turns, Not Gabriel asks the reason why, My God, I would not long to see In thy fair book of life and grace, THE HEBREW BARD. Softly the tuneful shepherd leads VOL. II.-T He marks their path with notes divine, Rivers of peace attend his song, When, kindling with victorious fire, Behold the God! the Almighty King Ten thousand cherubs wait his course, But who those frowns of wrath can draw, Red lightning from his eyelids broke; His voice was thunder, hail, and smoke. He spoke; the cleaving waters fled, In heaps the frighted billows stand, Turning his hand with sovereign sweep, Here camps, with wide-embattled force, See his broad sword flies o'er the strings, Lo! the great poet shifts the scene, THE ROSE. How fair is the rose! what a beautiful flower, The glory of April and May! But the leaves are beginning to fade in an hour, Yet the rose has one powerful virtue to boast, When its leaves are all dead, and its fine colours lost, So frail is the youth and the beauty of men, Then I'll not be proud of my youth nor my beauty, But gain a good name by well-doing my duty; EDWARD YOUNG, the celebrated author of the Night Thoughts, was born at Upham, Hampshire, in June, 1681. His father, then rector of the parish of Upham, and afterwards dean of Salisbury, conducted his early studies with great care, and at a suitable age sent him to Winchester school, where he remained until he became a member of the university of Oxford. He first entered, in 1703, New College, and was thence afterwards transferred to All Souls, where, being designed for the legal profession, he took his degree of bachelor of civil laws, in 1714, and his doctor's degree, in 1719. In 1712, Young commenced public life as a courtier and poet; and one of his earliest patrons was the notorious Duke of Wharton, 'the scorn and wonder of his days,' whom he accompanied, in 1717, to Ireland. He afterwards became tutor to Lord Burleigh, but was induced by Wharton, to give up this situation, under the promise to provide for him in a more suitable and ample manner. The duke also prevailed upon Young, as a political supporter, to offer himself as a candidate for the representation of the borough of Cirencester, in parliament; and although the duke proposed to advance the liberal sum of six hundred pounds to meet the expenses attending the canvass, and actually gave his bond for that amount, still Young was defeated. He had previously written two of his tragedies, Busiris, and the Revenge, the latter of which proved eminently successful upon the stage; and it was doubtless as a dramatic writer that the patronage of Wharton was extended to him. The poet being now qualified by age, experience, and observation, wrote a satire on the Universal Passion-the Love of Fame, which is both keen and powerful, and the nearest approach that the age produced to the polished satire of Pope. The want of success which had attended Young's career as a courtier, is supposed to have impelled him, when upwards of fifty years old, to enter the church; soon after which he wrote a panegyric on the king, and was made one of his majesty's chaplains. In 1730, he obtained from his college the living of Welwyn, in Hertfordshire, where he was destined to pass the remainder of his days. He was anxious to obtain farther preferment, but having, in the following lines, professed a strong love of retirement, the ministry seized upon this as a pretext to keep him out of a bishopric: Blest be that hand divine, which gently laid I see the circling hunt of noisy men Burst law's enclosure, leap the mounds of right, And dust to dust' concludes her noblest song. Soon after Young had entered the ministry, he made a noble alliance by marrying the daughter of the Earl of Lichfield, widow of Colonel Lee. This proved a much happier union than the titled marriages of Dryden and Addison; for our poet passed, with his lady, ten years of uninterrupted felicity. She had, by her former husband, a son and a daughter, to both of whom Young was devotedly attached. Death, however, removed them from his solace and his care; and when the mother soon after followed, he composed, to mitigate his grief, his greatest literary performance, the 'Night Thoughts.' He was now over sixty years of age; but time had strengthened and enriched his genius, and increased even the brilliancy of his fancy. In 1761, he was made clerk of the closet, to the Princess Dowager of Wales, and died four years afterwards, in April 1765, at the advanced age of eighty-four. Few men have ever united so much activity and worldly anxiety, with so much literary industry and genius, as Dr. Young. In youth he was gay and dissipated, and no sooner had he relinquished his career of folly than he became an indefatigable courtier. In his poetry he is a severe moralist, and ascetic divine. That, at the time of writing, he felt the emotions he describes, must necessarily be true; but they did not permanently influence his conduct. He was not weaned from the world till age had incapacitated him |