In his personal appearance there was little that could interest the admirers of external comeliness. He was low of stature, and his bodily presence was weak; yet there was a certain dignity in his countenance, and such piercing expression in his eyes, as commanded attention and awe. His manner was animated; but not boisterous; the self-possession he enjoyed was inspired by confidence in God; and therefore, discovered nothing but respect and affection for his hearers. When Dr. Gibbons asked him, if he did not find himself sometimes too much awed by his auditory, he replied, That when such a gentleman, of eminent abilities and learning, has come into the assembly, and taken his eye, he felt something like a momentary tremor, but that he recovered himself by remembering what God said to the Prophet Jeremiah, “Be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.” In preparation for his ministry, he wrote and committed to memory, the leading features of his cursory sermons; the rest he trusted to his extemporary powers, and the promised assistance of the Holy Spirit; and he never failed to acquit himself with credit. “His reading had made him a full man, conference a ready man, writing an exact man[8],” and his free access to the fulness of Christ made him an essentially profitable man. At the conclusion of weighty sentences it was his custom to pause, that he might quicken the attention and more solemnly impress the realities of the gospel upon the mind. He had cultivated with care and singular success the graces of language. The correctness of his pronunciation, the elegance of his diction, and the grandeur of his sentiments, obtained him an uncommon share of popularity. I once mentioned, says Dr. Johnson, the reputation which Mr. Foster had gained by his proper delivery to my friend Mr. Hawkesworth, who told me, that in the art of pronunciation he was far inferior to Dr. Watts. His ambition of usefulness was confined to no time or place; such was his love to the Head of the church, and his compassion for the fallen children of men, that he was eager to seize every opportunity of glorifying him, and administering the word of salvation to them, as the subsequent anecdote, communicated by Mr. Kingsbury, of Southampton, to Dr. Gibbons, will testify:—“Mr. Richard Ellcock was a servant in old Mr. Watts’s family. Dr. Watts going to London after the last time of his visiting his father at Southampton, Richard Ellcock was ordered to go with him a day’s journey. The Doctor entered into serious discourse with him, which made a deep and lasting impression on his heart and was the means of his sound and saving conversion. After the Doctor came to London, he wrote to his father, recommending the servant to his particular regard, for that he doubted not he would make an eminent christian, and so he lived and died, leaving an honourable character for piety and uprightness behind him.”