Sect. HI.] Moral and Dcvotioiial Poetry. 21 



by the Devotional poetry which it produced. The 

 difficulty of this species of composition has been 

 found and acknowledged, at all periods in which 

 it was undertaken. Before the commencement of 

 the age under consideration, theological doctrines, 

 and portions of sacred history, had been made the 

 subject of poetry, by a number of distinguished 

 writers. Versions of the Psalms had been parti- 

 cularly attempted by several persons with tole- 

 rable success. Among these the version of Brady 

 and Tate held the first place in the English lan- 

 guage. Indeed some parts of their work were so 

 well performed, that, comparatively, few of their 

 successors have attained equal excellence. 



But among all the sacred poetry of the eigh- 

 teenth century, that of Dr. Watts stands pre- 

 eminent. His plan of evangelising the Psalms of 

 David, and accommodating them to the worship 

 of God under the present dispensation, as it was 

 equally new and ingenious, so it has received an 

 unusual degree of approbation, and has perhaps 

 been more useful than any other work in this de- 

 partment of composition that was ever presented 

 to the world. Simplicity, smoothness, harmony, 

 and pious elevation, remarkably characterise his 

 verse. Next to the sacred poetry of Dr. Watts, 

 the specimens produced by Mr. Addison, Dr. 

 Doddridge, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Merrick, Dr. Blacklock, 

 Mr. Logan, and several others, possess a high de- 

 gree of merit. To these, the immortal name of 

 Cow per ought to be added, as holding a place in 

 the first rank. The orthodoxy of his faith, and the 

 fervour of his piety, joined to his great talents, fitted 

 him preeminently for this species of composition. 



