v MEMOIRS OF OR. WATTS. usually attached toa IoWorigin, by the prideof fashionable life. But had lib descended (as was reported) from a poor mechanic, had his parents lived in the utmost meanness, his name would be ,pronounced with reverence ; his characterand writings would be held in the same esteem and admirationby all who are capable of making a just estimate of what istruly valuable in the existence of man. As princely grandeur can never dignify ignorance and vice, so talents, learning, and piety, are not to bedegraded by any reverse.. His father presided over a boarding -school, at Southampton ; of good repu- tation. He was a man of lively devotion, and a decided non, conformist. But living under a reign, the profligacy of which, gave the stamp offashion to almost everyvice; a reign, the bigotry ofwhich, fixed the odium of fana- ticism, hypocrisy, and sedition, upon every avowal of attachment to the pure religion of the cross, he became a considerablesufferer, driven by the persecutingemissaries of the princeof darkness, from the comforts of domes- tic life, and the enjoyment of his religious privileges, he was doomedto the degradation andhardships 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 afflictionof 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 themost promising indications of abright and usefuldays Before hehad well learned to speak, abook 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 im- provement, and in preparation for the service and enjoyment of God, The true principlesof wisdom and spiritual understanding, which thus early began to bud, yielded, through every succeedingperiod of his earthly pilgrimage, a rich variety of fruit, pleasant to the sight, and good for food. Although naturally of a temper remarkablefor vivacity, he was a singular exception to the vanity of childhood and youth. The hoursdevoted by other children to play, he employed in reading, pr in composing little poems to gratify the.. fond expectations of his mother. In hisfourteenthyear, heentered upon the studiesofthe learned languages,. under the tuition of Mr. Pinhorn, a minister of the established church, and master of the free grammes- school at Southampton ; a. man of considerable reputation for learning and respectability of character. Here our young stu- dent discovered such avidity of application, and extent of capacity, and so distinguished himself by the ease and celerity of his progress, that all who knew him, anticipated with delight, the perfection be afterwards attained. Hiswhole deportment in this critical period of age, formed a happy contrast with the prevailing spirit of some modern fashionable seminaries, where the seeds of vice finda congenial soil, and often before the age of manhood, produce a copious harvest of personal and relative evils. To prepare him- self for usefulness in the world, -to secure the approbation of heaven, realize the hopes of bis friends, and to reward the labours of his preceptor, by his continual diligence in improving the advantages he enjoyed ; in thesepoints was all his ambition concentrated. Ili the twentieth year of his, age, he inscribed a latinode to Mr. Pinhorn, which is not more honourable, as a tri- buteofgratitude to the merit of themaster, than as a proof pfuncommon pro, âciency in the scholar. ,
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