WAT 



of animals, fiich as the cock, turkey, and fome others. See 

 Hurdle. 



WATTLE-BirJ. See Glaucopis Cinerea. 

 Wattles, in Rural Economy, a term applied, in fome 

 places, to the rods that are laid upon a roof to be thatched 

 on. This is found an ufeful and cheap mode for farm build- 

 ings in fome of the fouthern diftrifts. See Thatching. 



WATTON, in Geography, a fmall market-town in the 

 hundred of Wayland and county of Norfolk, England, is 

 fituated on the confines of what is called the Filand, or open 

 part of the county, at the diftance of 21 miles W. by S. from 

 Norwich, and 91 miles N.N.E. from London. Since the 

 making of the turnpike-road through the hundred, Watton has 

 become a place of confiderable thoroughfare. It has three 

 annual fairs, and a refpeftable weekly market on Wednefdays. 

 Great quantities of butter are fent hence for the fupply of 

 the London markets. In the enumeration of the popula- 

 tion for the year 181 1, the pari(h was ftated to contain 177 

 houfes, with a population of 794 perfons. The church is 

 very fmall, being only twenty yards long and eleven broad : 

 the tower is round at the bottom, and oftangular at the top. 

 Blomefield was induced, from the appearance of the church, 

 to fuppofe it was erefted fo early as the reign of Henry I. 

 It ftands at a diitance from the town, near the fcite of the old 

 manorial houfe ; and was evidently fo placed to accommo- 

 date the tenants of the feveral hamlets belonging to the ma- 

 nor. On the 25th of April 1673, a dreadful fire happened 

 in the town, when above fixty houfes were burnt down, be- 

 fides outhoufes, &c. to the damage of 74J0/., and goods to 

 the further value of 2660/. : for which a brief was granted to 

 colleft throughout England for two years. — Blomefield's 

 Effay towards a Topograpliical Hiftory of Norfolk, vol. 2. 

 8vo. 1805. Beauties of England and Wales, vol. xi. Nor- 

 folk. By Rev. J. Evans, and J. Britton, F.S.A. 



WATTS, Isaac, D.D. in Biography, a Nonconformift 

 divine, eminently diftinguifhed for talents and piety, was born 

 at Southampton in 1674, where, under the tuition of a clergy- 

 man of the eilablifhed church, he made rapid progrefs in the 

 Latin and Greek languages, and acquired fome knowledge 

 even of Hebrew. When it was propofed by fome gentlemen 

 who were apprized of his proficiency, to bear the charges of 

 his education in one of the Enghfh univerfities, he declared his 

 purpofe of continuing among the Diffenters, though his father, 

 who was of that profeflion, hadoften fuffered perfecution ; and 

 at the age of fixteen he was placed under the care of the Rev. 

 Thomas Rowe, who kept an academy in London. Twenty- 

 two Latin diflertations on metaphyfical and theological fub- 

 jefts, found among his papers, afford ample evidence of his 

 zealous application during his connexion with this inftitu- 

 tion. Of his poetical talents at the early age of fifteen years 

 feveral fpecimens have been preferved, and more particularly 

 a Pindaric ode, addreffed to his preceptor Mr. Pinhorne. At 

 the age of twenty he finifhed his academical ftudies, and 

 reiided with his father for two years with a view to farther 

 improvement. At this time he was invited to become private 

 tutor to the fon of fir John Hartopp, bart. at Stoke-Newing- 

 ton near London, and in this fituation he continued for five 

 years, gaining univerfal efteem, cultivating a friendfliip with 

 his pupil which lafted through life, and connefting with the 

 difcharge of his office the ftudy of the fcriptures in the 

 original languages. Although he was well qualified for the 

 public exercife of his miniftry, fuch was his diffidence that 

 he would not venture to afcend the pulpit till he had com- 

 pleted his twenty-fourth year, at which time he was chofen 

 affiftant to Dr. Ifaac Chauncy, whom he fucceeded as paftor 

 in the year 1702. His conftitution was fo delicate that he 

 could not undertake the whole fervice, and the attack of a 



WAT 



fever in 17 1 2 difiqualified him for his public duties for 

 four years. In this ftate of debility he was kindly re- 

 ceived in the houfe of fir Thomas Abney, where the indulgent 

 treatment of this gentleman and his lady contributed to reftore 

 his health and fpirits. In this hofpitable manfion he not only 

 found a temporary afylum, but a permanent abode for the 

 remaining thirty-fix years of his hfe. Here he enjoyed every 

 comfort which friendlhip and liberality could bellow, and 

 which, by repairing his enfeebled frame, enabled him to re- 

 lume his iervices in public and to profecute his private ftu- 

 dies, no lefs to the improvement and fatisfatlion of thofe 

 with whom he was immediately connected, than to the bene- 

 fi.t of the world ; iniomuch that few perfons have acquired a 

 more extenfive and a more permanent popularity, as it re- 

 fpefts the interefts both of literature and of religion. His 

 reputation attradted the notice of both the univerfitiesof Edin- 

 burgh and Aberdeen, and they feemed to vie with each other 

 which Ihould firft confer upon him the honour of the degree of 

 doftor in divinity, and he received it from thefe two univerfi- 

 ties in the year 1728. His conftitution, though in fome de- 

 gree renovated by the attention and kindnefs which- he expe- 

 rienced, was ftill fo delicate and feeble, that he found it ne- 

 ceflary to remit, and at length to refign his minifterial duties ; 

 but his congregation teftified their refpeft for him by declin- 

 ing to accept his offer of the renunciation of his ufual falary. 

 However, he gradually dechned, and calmly expired at Stoke 

 Newington, November the 25th, 1748, in the 75th year of 

 his age. 



Dr. Watts was a man of lively fancy, warm feelings, and 

 a comprehenfive underftanding, and diftinguifhed by that 

 verfatiiity of talents and purfuits, which enabled him to ac- 

 quire a confiderable degree of reputation in various depart- 

 ments of literature, but which prevented his arriving at a 

 fupereminent rank in any. The charafteriftic quality of his 

 mind, manifefted in his numerous produftions, was a devo- 

 tional fpirit. Of his " Horas Lyricas," the greateft number 

 belongs to the devotional clafs, and in thefe his ardent feelings 

 and imagination have fometimes tranfported him beyond the 

 bounds which a correft tafte and found judgment would have 

 prefcribed. The fame obfervation may be alfo applied to his 

 " Pfalms and Hymns," and more efpecially to the latter, 

 which were juvenile compofitions, and in which a fober 

 reader will be difgufted with the contraft that is exhibited 

 between the wrath of the Supreme Being and the benignity of 

 the Son of God ; as if the Deity were inclined to punifh his 

 offending creatures with everlafting punifhment, and the Son 

 were difpofed to r^fcue and fave tliem. Many of the pfalms 

 and hymns, however, are admirably adapted to Chriftian 

 worlhip, and a feleft coUeftion of them, which has been 

 lately made by fome miniilers in London, and which they 

 have enriched by extrafts from other fources, is lefs excep- 

 tionable in a variety of refpefts than either the pfalms or 

 hymns even of Dr. Watts in their original ftate ; and in 

 thefe devotion and poetry are more happily combined for the 

 worfhip of DiiL-nters and even of Churchmen than in the 

 pfalmody of the eftabliftiment. Many of Watts's lyric pro- 

 duftions poffefs confiderable poetical merit, and difplay a 

 fertility and elegance of fancy. His " Divine Songs for 

 Children" have been widely circulated, and are well calcu- 

 lated to intereft and imprefs youthful minds ; and they are, 

 generally fpeaking, unexceptionable, though not incapable 

 of caftigatiou and improvement. 



The doftor's philofophical publications are numerous, and 

 moft of them are well known. Among thefe we may reckon 

 his " Logic," and the fupplement to it, entitled the •' Im- 

 provement of the Mind ;" " A Difcourfe on Education ;" 

 " An Elementary Treatife on Altronomy and Geography ;" 



" Philofo- 



