ISAAC WATTS, the eldest of nine children, was born July 17, 1674, at Southampton. If his family connections did not possess the advantages of affluence, they were such as might have secured him against the prejudice usually attached to a low origin, by the pride of fashionable life. But had he descended (as was reported) from a poor mechanic, had his parents lived in the utmost meanness, his name would be pronounced with reverence; his character and writings would be held in the same esteem and admiration by all who are capable of making a just estimate of what is truly valuable in the existence of man. As princely grandeur can never dignify ignorance and vice, so talents, learning, and piety, are not to be degraded by any reverse. His father presided over a boarding-school, at Southampton; of good reputation. He was a man of lively devotion, and a decided non-conformist. But living under a reign, the profligacy of which, gave the stamp of fashion to almost every vice; a reign, the bigotry of which, fixed the odium of fanaticism, hypocrisy, and sedition, upon every avowal of attachment to the pure religion of the cross, he became a considerable sufferer, driven by the persecuting emissaries of the prince of darkness, from the comforts of domestic life, and the enjoyment of his religious privileges, he was doomed to the degradation and hardships of a jail. During his confinement, his wife would often sit on a stone at the door of the prison, with this child of promise at her breast, revolving in deep affliction of mind, the horrors of that tyranny by which they were deprived of their chief earthly protection, and left alone to contend with the buffetings of adversity. In the morning of life, he gave the most promising indications of a bright and useful day: Before he had well learned to speak, a book was his greatest pleasure, and every little present of money, received additional value in his esteem, as it applied to the gratification of this early propensity. When a child he began to act the part of maturer years, in attention to mental improvement, and in preparation for the service and enjoyment of God. The true principles of wisdom and spiritual understanding, which thus early began to bud, yielded, through every succeeding period of his earthly pilgrimage, a rich variety of fruit, pleasant to the sight, and good for food. Although naturally of a temper remarkable for vivacity, he was a singular exception to the vanity of childhood and youth. The hours devoted by other children to play, he employed in reading, or in composing little poems to gratify the fond expectations of his mother.