Isaac Watts; his life and writings, his homes and friendsHood, Edwin Paxton
Religion
Isaac Watts; his life and writings, his homes and friends
Hood, Edwin Paxton
Watts, Isaac, 1674-1748
Among the pieces of our author which are least known are the essays
variously published under the title of “Reliquiæ Juveniles; Miscellaneous
Thoughts in Prose and Verse, on Natural, Moral, and Divine Subjects,
written chiefly in younger years.” These were published in 1734, and
dedicated to the Countess of Hertford. A similar volume is the “Remnants
of Time Employed in Prose and Verse; or, Short Essays and Composures on
Various Subjects.” All of these are very pleasing essays, in which the
writer gives a more than ordinary rein to his fancy: the pieces are in
prose and verse, and they display a considerable amount of humour; the
subjects are very various, and display the purely literary excursions
of the author’s mind. The reader will be so far interested as to enjoy
some few selections. To dwell at length upon the characteristics of the
essays, or to indulge in any lengthy citation, would be like writing a
dissertation upon Johnson’s “Rambler,” or Addison’s “Spectator;” indeed,
there is very much of the Christian Rambler and the Christian Spectator
in these papers: brief essays on manners, on certain vices or defects of
character, conveyed after the usage of the time beneath names sheltered
under a Greek or Latin etymology; sometimes a graceful meditation upon a
text of Scripture, and sometimes a poem. We have ourselves found these
essays always fresh and interesting, possessing much of the spirit and
vivacity and philosophical meditativeness of Cowley, with a perpetual
suffusion of Christian sentiment and doctrine, and the whole exhibiting
the vigilance of the author’s eye, and the active usefulness of his mind.
THE SKELETON.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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