with that moderation, candour, and patience, which befit their ftation.

With thefe difpofitions, furely the abominable frequency, expence, inefficacy, and divers other ill confequences of lawfuits, might, in great part, be obviated; by inftituting fome fort of AMICABLE, yet folemn JUDICATORY, for the fummary decifion of difputed matters of infurance: at least, fuch as might not be of a very abftruse nature, to confift of fuch a number of perfons as might be deemed requifite (with proper affiftants, or clerks) to be elected, from amongst gentlemen of fagacity and refpectability, and who have had a large experience of thefe affairs; annually, or for a longer term; or three new ones each year; by all fuch merchants, infurers, and infurance brokers, who might be inclined to refer their differences thereto, and to fupport the charges thereof, even with proper falaries, by fubfcrip

tion.

The members, who might compofe this court, fhould fit at ftated times, weekly, monthly, or otherwife, and act on oath, as do the judges, and juries, in the law courts: Parties, their agents, and witneffes, fhould alfo, previously to their being heard, make proper affidavits before a judge, or other magiftrate (which fhould be filed) to give true information:-The mode of proceeding might be duly regulated, and open:-The decifions rendered abfolutely, or only occafionally final, according to the greater or lefs importance of the cafe, or queftion, by the partics agreeing, in bonds of fubmiffion, that they fhould be made a rule of the court of King's-Bench, as is now done with respect to awards, in common arbitrations.

Most of our litigations turn upon difputed facts: and these, as well as perfons, papers, evidences, &c. would be much more fpeedily and effectually discovered, and examined, than can be done by means even of all the courts of law and equity together (whofe tardy and intolerably expenfive operations abfolutely fruftrate this neceffary end); and, therefore, ill-defigning and fraudulent perfons would be kept, by the method propofed, in greater awe; and few, except fuch, would be indifpofed to contribute to the fupport, and to refer themfelves to the authority of fuch an amicable judicature.'

We entirely agree with Mr. W. in taking it for granted, that the neceffity, advantage, and general convenience of fuch an inftitution, are too obvious to be denied ;'-and we think, that the experienced advantages derived to merchant-adventurers from the chambers of affurance in foreign maritime countries, are fufficient to countenance his proposal. Some objections may, however, be made to it. Of thefe our Author is well aware; and he endeavours to obviate them: in which, we think, he is perfectly fuccefsful.

ART.

ART. IV. The Pofthumous Werks of the late Learned and Rev. Ifaac Watts, D. D. Compiled from Papers in Poffeffion of his immediate Succeffors. Published by a Gentleman of the University of Cambridge. 2 vols. 8vo. 8 s. fewed. Becket, &c. 1779.

σε

T

HE officioufnefs of friends hath frequently done more injury to the reputation of a man than the malice of his enemies."-We are not fond of your grave saws and oracular apothegms, notwithstanding our age and ftation might claim a fort of prefcription for their ufe. But in general we wave our privilege; and if, for once, we introduce ourselves to the public with a wife countenance-a folemn eye-and a grey beard, we hope we are entitled to their indulgence.

We are forry, that any thing which bears the name of Dr. Watts, fhould have made us ftumble on a trite proverb. But in its propriety we overlooked its commonnefs. The convenientia cuique we with never to lose fight of: and if we cannot fupply them by our invention, we must refer to our memory; and if that should fail us, our dernier refort is our common-place-book. -And now, at laft, gentle Reader, we have unfolded to thee, after thirty years hard labour in this literary vineyard, the whole art and mystery of reviewing.

Dr. Watts hath fo long been the idol of a particular clafs amongst the Diffenters, that his fame would not be affected in their account, if this collection contained more trifling things than we find in it; or our criticism were more fevere on it than we intend it fhall be. The Doctor was fo excellent a character, that we should be difpofed to fpare him for his heart's fake, even if we held his head in less estimation than we really do.

It is generally agreed, by men of taste and science, that Dr. Watts hath no claim to fuperiority either as a poet, a philofopher, or a divine. He was an ingenious writer. He had a lively and fertile imagination; and fome of his poems have been defervedly admired: but he wanted a correct judgment to reftrain that hey-dey of the fpirit, which too frequently led him aftray into the wilds of fanaticifm, to play at bo peep with the faints. Here it was he moft expofed the weakness of his understanding. Like David, he uncovered his nakedness, when he danced before the Ark. Far be it from us to accufe this good man of infincerity. The natural enthusiasm of his temper improved on a fanatical education. Hence, without defign, he ran into certain devotional abfurdities: but it needed the genius of a Milton to adopt the cant of Calvinifm, and yet maintain the dignity of poetry. "A great gulph lies between!" And " a man must be upborn on an eagle's wings (as John Wefley fays of an emigration of another kind) to fly over the immenfe chaẩm that divides thefe two extremes."

A fmoothness of ftyle, and a redundancy of metaphor, fre quently ferve to cover a deficiency of thought in your devotional poets. Imagination is amufed by a ferious kind of play, where much is faid, but little understood. Smitten with the wand of myftery, the fancy is fascinated by an inexpreffible delufion. Thus charmed, it diftantly defcries objects which vary their forms, and fhift their places every moment. This is a fpiritual harlequinade: and by the very obfcurity of its figures and fcenery, the languor of the mind is prevented :—for if it could understand and comprehend all that is faid or fung, the play of fancy would be at an end: and judgment in perfons who are to be captivated by fuch an amufement, having little to do, and very few objects to converfe with, would grow lift. lefs, and fall afleep for want of employment. And now, Reader, we have unfolded to thee the fecrets of another myftery. The former, we learnt in our garret in Grub-street: and the latter, at but we fhall not fill up our Review with the names of a thoufand churches, and chapels, and meeting-houfes: and all the tabernacles in the kingdom.

The collection now before us, is introduced with an account of the life and character of Dr. Watts. Of the biographical talents of his Cambridge editor, we have but little to fay,though, if we were difpofed to be fevere, we might say a good deal about his affectation in stopping fo frequently to moralize and drop fage reflections fomething after the manner of Dr. Johnfon-fed haud paffibus æquis!

In this account, we are informed, that Dr. Watts was born at Southampton, July 17, 1674. The genius (fays his Biographer) which afterwards fhone with fuch diftinguished luftre through all the refined countries of Europe, had with him a very early dawn. He difcovered in his earlieft infancy a quickness of apprehenfion, which was generally esteemed an aufpicious prefage of his future abilities. Montaigne is faid to have understood Latin almoft before he could speak; and Lipfius, to have written a book, as it is ludicrously defcribed by an ingenious countryman, which must have been meditated in utero."-What a pretty ftory this is, by way of introduction to the life of Dr. Watts! Sterne hath fomething of this fort in his life of Triftram Shandy. He hath prefented us with a long lift of rare and premature geniufes-of fcholars of three years old-philofophers of four, and divines of five-all fit to commence authors for the edification of the world. But to complete the ridicule of this ftrange fubject, he hints at the most extraordinary occurrence in the whole circle of poffible genius,-viz. -of a child who compofed a work the very day he was born: -which, as Uncle Toby wifely obferves, "his friends had better have wiped up, and faid no more about it."

But to proceed with this Biographer. It is certain (fays he), without the affectation of a miracle, that Dr. Watts commenced a pupil to Mr. Pinhorne, at the age of four, for the purpose of learning the Latin language, which, at that period, he acquired with an aftonishing facility. He remained with this gentleman till the year 1690, when he was removed to London, for academical education, under the care of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Rowe.—

When he had entirely completed the courfe of academical education, he returned to his father's houfe*, where he devoted himself with a moft indefatigable perfeverance to ftudy in general, and to the meditation of the Holy Scriptures in particular.

During the laft year of his refidence with Mr. Rowe, he had begun to imbibe a very strong propenfity to the profeffion of the church, and being powerfully impreffed with the awful importance of the fubject, he, from that time, applied himself to the acquifition of it in all its extent, with unremitted labour.

He fpent two years in this learned retirement with his father; from whence, in 1696, he was invited by Sir John Hartopp, Bart, to refide in his house at Stoke-Newington, as tutor to his fon. He continued in this fituation four years: and fo well did he blend the learned tutor with the good and amiable man, that he won the refpect, love, and esteem, of the whole family.

He commenced his clerical duty on his birth-day, in the year 1698, with a fermon, which did him great credit as a preacher.

During the courfe of this fame year, he was chofen affiftant to Dr. Ifaac Chauncy, who, at that time, had the spiritual care of the church of Bury-ftreet, St. Mary Axe. His exertion, however, in this facred duty, proved too much for a frame not conftituted for any intenfenefs of corporeal labour; and he was foon after attacked with a fevere diforder, which produced a fufpenfion of his religious exercises for near five months. As foon, however, as he was reftored to his health, he proceeded on the fame indefatigable principle, and would not fuffer himself to be intimidated, by the apprehenfion of any perfonal confequences, from the due exertion of fo important a truft.

In January 1701, he fucceeded Dr. Chauncy in his church; to which fituation he was invited by the urgent and unanimous folicitation of the parishioners +.

• It

*If we mistake not, Dr. Watts's father was the clerk of Southampton Meeting. Rev.

Our Biographer speaks like a Cambridge-man. The parishioners [as fuch] of St. Mary Axe had nothing to do with the choice of a

paftor

It was a remarkable and difcouraging circumftance, that on the very day on which he fignified his acceptance of this preferment, the great patron of the Diffenters, King William III. died. So infecurely, at that time, was religious toleration established, that an event of this kind was of the utmost confequence to all the fects in the kingdom. Their existence depended on the mereft cafualties.

Dr. Watts, perhaps, was the only Proteftant Diffenter in the kingdom, unaffected by these general apprehenfions. He had affumed the exercise of a great truft, and was determined not to be deficient in the execution of it. To ufe his own expreffion," He had fet his hands to the plough, and would not: go back;" and under the fupport of this refolution, he defpifed the expected dangers, and was ordained to the paftoral office on the eighteenth of March following.-Exempt, almost in every fenfe of the term, from mental infirmity, he was the perpetual victim of corporal weakness, and found his beft fchemes, and moft favourite exercifes, perpetually interrupted by it.

To the great grief of the church, to which he had been fo recently elected, he was now attacked by a painful and threatening illness, which again produced a fufpenfion of his religious labours. He recovered by very flow degrees from this disorder; and his church, that no improper exertion might impede fo defired an end, thought proper to chufe him an affiftant, to relieve him in his duty. As his health returned, however, he renewed his diligence in his ministry, and with more effect, perhaps, than ever accompanied the industry of any other man. He became the delight of his followers, and the object of general efteem with mankind..

In the month of September [1712] he was vifited by a violent fever, which fhook his conftitution exceedingly, and left a weakness of nerves + behind it, which he never afterwards entirely recovered.

There was a confequence attending this fickness, which, in the opinion of Dr. Watts, was a fufficient compenfation for all the miferies he endured under it: it was the means of introducing him to the family of a very excellent perfon, Sir Thomas Abney, Knight and Alderman of London; who, on a principle of the moft generous friendship, received him in a very languishing ftate of health to his houfe, and cherished him

paftor to a church that was formed by Owen and Chauncy, on the most rigid model of independency. The nomination belongs to the Members--as they are.called, i. e. The Communicants.

*This affiftant was the Rev. Mr. Price (uncle of the prefent Dr. Price), with whom he lived in uninterrupted harmony for a greatnumber of years. Rev.

He had the hypochondria to a moft dreadful degree,