LIFE OF DR. WATTS.

The attention is caught by indirect instruc­tion, and he that sat down only to reason, is on a sudden compelled to pray.

It was therefore, with great propriety, that, in 1728, he received from Edinburgh and Aber­deen an unsolicited diploma, by which he be­came a Doctor of Divinity. Academical ho­nours would have more value, if they were always bestowed with equal judgment.

He continued many years to study and to preach, and to do good by his instruction and example; till at last the infirmities of age dis­abled him from the more laborious part of his ministerial functions, and being no longer ca­pable of public duty, he offered to remit the salary appendant to it; but his congregation would not accept the resignation.

By degrees his weakness increased, and at last confined him to his chamber and his bed; where he was worn gradually away without pain, till he expired, Nov. 25, 1748, in the seventy- fifth year of his age.

Few men have left behind such purity of cha racter, or such monuments of laborious piety. He has provided instruction for all ages, from those who are lisping their first lessons, to the enlightened readers of Malbranche and Locke: he has left neither corporeal nor spiritual na­ture unexamined; he has taught the art of rea­soning, and the science of the stars.

ance;

His character, therefore, must be formed from the multiplicity and diversity of his attain­ments, rather than from any single perform­for it would not be safe to claim for him the highest rank in any single denomination of literary dignity; yet, perhaps, there was nothing in which he would not have excelled, if he had not divided his powers to different pursuits.

As a poet, had he been only a poet, he would probably have stood high among the authors with whom he is now associated. For his judg­ment was exact, and he noted beauties and faults with very nice discernment; his ima­gination, as the Dacian Battle proves, was vigorous and active, and the stores of know­ledge were large by which his fancy was to be supplied. His ear was well tuned, and his

diction was elegant and copious. But his de­votional poetry is, like that of others, unsatis­factory. The paucity of its topics enforces per­