an \ a D oy I [ |q : oF CONVERTED I A J % fife of Isaac m-dts. ISAAC WATTS. From the Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller, now in the National Portrait Gallery. GDjjt %\bts of % §titafj ggmn- Writers Personal Memoirs derived largely from unpublished materials THOMAS WRIGHT (Author of " The Life of William Cowpet," " The Life of Augustus M. Tofilady," &c.) VOLUME III. ISAAC WATTS AND CONTEMPORARY HYMN-WRITERS. LONDON: C. J. FARNCOMBE & SONS, Ltd., 30 IMPERIAL BUILDINGS, LUDGATE CIRCUS, E.C. 1 9 1 4 RECOfi THE SERIES OF WHICH THIS WORK FORMS THE THIRD VOLUME IS DEDICATED TO THE LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM. THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED TO W. H. WATTS, Esq., J.P., Alderman, AND AT ONE TIME LORD MAYOR OF LIVERPOOL, WHO CLAIMS DESCENT FROM DR. WATTS'S FAMILY. LOAM STACK — V/3W7 CONTENTS CHAPTER I 17 July, 1674 1 ^9° SOUTHAMPTON Page 1 Suckled on a Horse-block ' " 2 ' My Master is at Prayer " 3 ' • There was a Mouse CHAPTER II 1690—15 Oct., 1696 NEWINGTON GREEN 4 " Life consists of Mornings" ..... 23 5 Interleaving and Annotating ..... 28 6 " Behold the Glories of the Lamb" .... 31 CHAPTER III 15 Oct., 1696—Feb., 1699 TUTOR AT SIR JOHN HARTOPP's 7 The Joy of Teaching ...... 33 8 Mark Lane ....... 36 9 Thoughts of Love. Freeby. Epsom 39 CHAPTER IV Feb., 1699— *8 Mar., 1702 ASSISTANT TO DR. CHAUNCEY to Assistant Minister at Mark Lane .... 45 :i Enoch Watts urges his Brother to Publish, Mar., 1700 . 46 :2 Sir Thomas Abney. Death of Thomas Gunston, 11 Nov., 1700 ....... 48 CHAPTER V 18 Mar , 1702—June, 1703 IN SOLE CHARGE OF THE CHURCH IN MARK LANE 13 The Ordination, 18 Mar., 1702. .... 56 14 Self-Civil War ..,,.,, 60 * n>*} — LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS. CHAPTER VI June, 1703—July, 1707 "THERE IS A LAND OF PURE DELIGHT : Rev. Samuel Price, 1703 At Pinners' Hall, June, 1704. Horce Lyricce, 1705 A Visit to Southampton, May, 1706 . Miss Elizabeth Singer, 1706 CHAPTER VII July, 1707 HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS 19 By the Sick Bed of Matthew Clarke, 1707 " 20 " Come, let us join our Cheerful Songs 21 " Come, we that love the Lord " ' " 22 ' When I survey the wondrous Cross 23 The Influence of John Mason . CHAPTER VIII 1709 1712 BOLD BRADBURY " I am King of Me." Bury Street Chapel opened, 29 Sept. 1708 ...... 92 " " Give me the Wings of Faith to Rise 99 Miss Singer again. Her Marriage 101 The Burning of the Meeting Houses, 1 Mar., 1710 Removal to Mr. Bowes', 30 Dec, 1710 . 104 Green Dragons, Bears and Ghosts, 1712— 1713 109 CHAPTER IX Spring, 1714—Dec, 1718 WITH THE ABNEYS AT THEOBALDS. THE PSALMS OF DAVID IMITATED. 29 Theobalds, Spring, 1714 112 30 Death of Queen Anne, 1 Aug., 1714 . 116 " " 31 Oh, he was all my soul ! 13 May, 1715 123 32 " He wants me not," 12 Feb., 1718 124 33 Psalms of David Imitated 126 34 A Hostile Reception 131 CHAPTER X Jan. and Feb., 1719 MAKE-A-NOISE TOM " " 35 Shorthand and other Mechanisms of Hypocrisy . 155 36 Salters' Hall, 19 Feb., 1719. Death of Hughes, 17 Feb., 1720 .,..., 136 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XI 1720— 19 March, 1728 HCMOR1ST, LOGICIAN, TREACHER Divine and Moral Songs, 1720 .... 143 Watts as a Humorist ...... 149 Death of Sir Thomas Abney, 6 Feb., 1722 . 151 The Logic, 1724 . 153 Brother Bradbury once more, 1725. A Letter from the Elder Watts, 16 Feb., 1727 .... 156 At Hedingham Castle again ..... 163 " " " Fear Begone ! " Am I a Soldier of the Cross ? . 164 CHAPTER XII 19 March, 172S—31 Oct., 1734 PHILIP DODDRIDGE " " Live while you live . 171 " " The Mind's the Standard of the Man 174 Letter to the Rev. Henry Francis, 19 Mar., 1728 176 The Doctrine of the Passions. Fear again, 1729 . 178 An Humble Address, 12 Nov., 1729. John Hurrion 179 The Cause at Olney, 23 Feb., 1732 181 Make Prayer a Pleasure, 1734 .... 186 CHAPTER XIII 1 Nov., 1734—31 Dec, 1740 WITH THE ABNEYS AT STOKE NEWINGTON William Coward; William Duncombe, 1734-5 . 187 Abney Park, 1736 ...... 191 Death of Watts's Father, 10 Feb., 1737 . 197 Death of Mrs. Rowe, 20 Feb., 1737. The World to Come, 1739. Martin Tomkins ..... 199 CHAPTER XIV 1 Jan., 1741—29 June, 1744 THE MAP OF MAN' The Improvctnent of the Mind, 1741. 210 Watts and Shorthand again 214 Thomas Gibbons, 1741 . 216 Know-thyself Mason, 24 Oct., 1741 218 John Brine. Deaths of Say, 12 April, [743, and Eames 29 June, 1744 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XV 29 June, 1744—25 Nov., 1748 A GREY EVENINGTIDE "The 45." Death of Colonel Gardiner, 21 Sept., 1745 Culloden, 16 April, 1746 .... 223 " In what most harmed him his delight was greatest " 226 Hallucinations ...... 227 Watts's Will, 23 July, 1746. Persecuted by his Relations Doddridge repulsed, Aug., 1746 . 229 CHAPTER XVI CONCLUSION. A CRIMSON SUNSET " 64 " When I am Weak, then am I Strong 234 65 Portraits and Statues of Watts 247 66 Last Days of his Friends 250 HYMN-WRITERS CONTEMPORARY WITH WATTS Browne, Simon LIST OF PLATES Watts, by Kneller ..... Frontispiece Page from Sum Book, filled by Isaac Watts (Watts's Father) .... facing page 4 St. Michael's Church, Southampton. J 3 Watts's Birthplace 13 South Castle, Jail 16 Watts's Father 33 The Grammar School, Southampton 33 Map of Old Southampton 36 Watts's Bibles. 45 The Watts Window, Freeby 48 The Lady Hartopp Window, Freeby 48 All Hallows Staining 65 St. Olave's, Hart Street 65 Map of Mark Lane 68 Fenchurch Street in the time of Watts 77 Pinners' Hall, London 81 Rev. Thomas Bradbury 96 Rev. Samuel Say 96 Bury Street Meeting House and Minister's Residence 98 Map showing Site of Dr. Watts's Meeting House 98 Title Page of First Edition of Watts's Hymns „ 100 Title Page of Second Edition of Watts's Hymns ii 109 The Synod at Salters' Hall . 139 The Danger of Delay. 144 The Child's Complaint 144 Against Pride in Clothes 144 The Thief .... 144 Praise to God for our Redemption . 144 The Rose .... 144 Mrs. Rowe .... 161 The Banqueting Hall, Castle Hedingham 165 Castle and Mansion, Castle Hedingham 165 Isaac Watts, drawn by Hilton 172 Isaac Watts, from portrait by G. White, 1727 1 176 Rev. Dr. Thomas Gibbons . 180 Rev. Philip Doddridge „ 180 Dr. Watts, from the Gospel Magazine, June, 1779 Portions of Dr. Watts's Letter to W. Duncombe, 9 March, 1736 193 Abney House .... 196 The Staircase, Abney House . 196 The Grove of Cedars and Yews 205 Dr. Watts's Study, Abney House . 205 Dr. Watts's Mount, Abney House 205 The Statue, Abney Park Cemetery . 205 Joseph Parker, Watts's Amanuensis 224 Portion of Sermon in Metcalfe's Shorthand, 224 Invitation to Watts's Funeral. 241 The Monument in Westminster Abbey, as it appeared in 1821 .... 242 The Statue at Southampton . 249 The Tomb in Bunhill Fields . 252 PREFACE I have for some time felt that of the real Dr. Watts the general public has, notwithstanding the popularity of his hymns, only a very vague idea. He has been unfortunate in his biographers. The first account of him—that by Gibbons —is a brief and clumsy compilation ; the next, Milner's, which is the work of a man with no idea of selection, contains vast arid expanses which alone are sufficient to repel the enquirer from its pages ; the third and most readable, Paxton Hood's, is merely a gallimaufry of the other two, with absolutely nothing that is new. The present work, which is the result of careful and original research, is founded largely on materials which were inaccessible to my predecessors. It contains not only many hitherto unrecorded facts respecting Watts, but also citations from a number of hitherto unpublished letters. I have endeavoured to deal graphically with a subject which invites graphic treatment. The impression created by previous biographies is that of a dull grey career in a dull, common-place age. Unintentionally, they have created an utterly false portrait of Dr. Watts, with a niggard and therefore inappropriate background. Instead of being the cold, unemotional figure that is generally sup- posed, Watts was a man of powerful passions, which were with great difficulty held in restraint. Notwithstanding his many ailments, his was a life flooded with sunshine, in an age glowing with colour and throbbing with character. If he loved a psalm of David, he could appreciate a verse of Virgil or an ode of Horace. Born of a fighting stock, he was on great occasions, notwithstanding his weakly constitution and his passion for compromise, as ready with the sword as with the trowel, for he knew perfectly well that the battle for liberty has to be fought over and over again ; and that the weapons of those who love it require constant furbishing. PREFACE. xi. I have grieved with others that in his declining years he should have wasted so much time in trying to prove the unprovable, to explain the inexplicable, to accommodate the unaccommodatable. It is well to try to bring Christians into line, and to do one's best to prevent unseemly disputes ; but care should be taken lest the price paid be too large. Thomas Bradbury, who would not yield an inch, was in these matters, notwithstanding many glaring faults, a far better counsellor than Watts. We who live in an age that is not distinguished for religious courage, in an age that wastes its time in quixotic talk about the union of churches, can scarcely do other than be gentle with Watts's failing—for his great failing (let men say what they will) was excess of good nature—the fear of hurting anyone's feelings carried to the point of folly.