588 
WATTS, 
picture; but happily he discovered a character of subject 
quite original and exactly suited to his taste, for which he 
wisely deserted history, and which has since formed plenty 
of aspirants, but has never been so successfully practised. 
The theatre, the opera, fetes-champetres, masquerades, pan¬ 
tomimes, puppet-shows, afforded him his figures; the gar¬ 
dens of the Luxembourg and of the Thuilleries, of Versailles 
and St. Cloud, furnished the scenes. In these nature pre¬ 
vails only in the colouring, and that is exquisite, rich, deli¬ 
cate, clear, and full; bright without gaudiness, and deep 
without blackness; laid on with a freedom, fulness, and 
delicacy of touch, which no one ever surpassed; but the airs 
of his figures are generally affected to the highest degree; 
people of rank and fashion, aping the enjoyments of rural 
life; and when he attempted to paint domestic or rural 
scenes, he carried the same taste into his practice. The true 
character of Watteau’s pictures is French gentility, gay, 
cheerful, debonnaire, of which self-satisfaction is the surest 
basis. Watteau visited England in the reign of George I., 
but didnotenjoy his healtli here, and returned to France in 
about a year, where he died in 1721, at the early age of 37. 
WATTENWEIL, a large village and district of the Swiss 
canton of St. Gall, and county of Toggenburg. 
WATTENWE1LLER, or Watweil, a town of France, 
department of the Upper Rhine, with 1250 inhabitants. 
WATTENWEILLER, a town of Bavaria, in the circle 
of the Upper Danube. Population 900. 
WATTESFIELD, a parish of England, in Suffolk; 12| 
miles north-east-by-east of St. Edmund’s Bury. Population 
521. 
WATTIN, a parish of Scotland, lying nearly in the centre 
of the county of Caithness, about 14 miles long, and 10 or 
11 broad. It is watered by the river Wick. Population 
1109. 
WATTIN, Loch, a beautiful lake in the above parish, 
about 3 miles long, and 2 broad, frequented by sea fowl, and 
sometimes by swans. 
WATTISHAM, a parish of England, in Suffolk ; 2 miles 
norfh-east of Bildeston. 
WA'TTLE, 5 . [from waghelen, to shake, German. 
Skinner.'] The barbs, or loose red flesh that hangs below 
the cock’s bill.—The cock’s comb and wattels are an orna¬ 
ment becoming his martial spirit. More .—A hurdle. 
To WA'TTLE, v. a. [patelas, Saxon, To bind 
with twigs; to form, by platting twigs one within another. 
Might we but hear 
The folded flocks penn’d in their 'wattled cotes. 
Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops. Milton. 
WATTLE BRIDGE, a smart little village of Ireland, in 
the county of Fermanagh, pleasantly situated on the river 
Fin. On the right stand the ruins of a Druidical temple, 
situated on the bank of the river. 
WATTON, a market town and parish of England, in 
the county of Norfolk. Great quantities of butter are sent 
hence to Downham bridge, from whence factors send it to 
London by water. Market on Wednesday, and two annual 
fairs; 18 miles south-south-west of Norwich.—2. A parish of 
England, in Hertfordshire; 5J miles north-north-west of 
Hertford.—3. A parish of England, in Yorkshire; 5| miles 
south-by-west of Great Driffield.—4. A large village of the 
Netherlands, in West Flanders, near Ypres. 
WATTS (Isaac), D.D. a nonconformist divine, eminent¬ 
ly distinguished for talents and piety, was born at South¬ 
ampton in 1674, where, under the tuition of a clergyman of 
the established church, he made rapid progress in the Latin 
and Greek languages, and acquired some knowledge even of 
Hebrew. At the age of sixteen he was placed under the care 
of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, who kept an academy in London. 
Twenty-two Latin dissertations on metaphysical and theolo¬ 
gical subjects, found among his papers, afford ample evi¬ 
dence of his zealous application during his connection with 
this gentleman. At the age of twenty he finished his aca¬ 
demical studies, and resided with his father for two years 
with a view to farther improvement. At this time he was 
invited to become private tutor to the son of Sir John Har- 
topp, Bart., at Stoke-Newington, near London, and in this 
situation he continued for five years. When he had com¬ 
pleted his twenty-fourth year, he was chosen assistant to Dr. 
Isaac Chauncy, whom he succeeded as pastor in the year 
1702. His constitution was so delicate that he could not 
undertake the whole service, and the attack of a fever in 
1712, disqualified him for his public duties for four years. 
In this state of debility he was kindly received in the house 
of Sir Thomas Abney, where the indulgent treatment of this 
gentleman and his lady contributed to restore his health and 
spirits. In this hospitable mansion he not only found a tem¬ 
porary asylum, but a permanent abode for the remaining 
thirty-six years of his life. Here he enjoyed every comfort 
which friendship and liberality could bestow, and which, 
by repairing his enfeebled frame, enabled him to resume his 
services in public, and to prosecute his private studies, no 
less to the improvement and satisfaction of those with whom 
he was immediately connected, than to the benefit of the 
world. His reputation attracted the notice of both the univer¬ 
sities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen; and they both conferred 
upon him the honour of the degree of doctor in divinity, in 
the year 1728. His constitution, though in some degree 
renovated by the attention and kindness which he experi¬ 
enced, was still so delicate and feeble, that he found it ne¬ 
cessary to remit, and at length to resign his ministerial duties; 
but his congregation testified their respect for him by declin¬ 
ing to accept his offer of the renunciation of his usual salary. 
However, he gradually declined, 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 comprehensive understanding, and distinguished by that 
versatility of talents and pursuits, which enabled him to ac¬ 
quire a considerable degree of reputation in various depart¬ 
ments of literature, but which prevented his arriving at a 
supereminent rank in any. The characteristic quality of his 
mind, manifested in his numerous productions, was a devo¬ 
tional spirit. Of his “ Horae Lyricae,” the greatest number 
belongs to the devotional class, and in these his ardent feelings 
and imagination have sometimes transported him beyond the 
bounds which a correct taste and sound judgment would 
have prescribed. The same observation may be also applied 
to his “Psalms and Hymns,” and more especially to the 
latter, which were juvenile compositions, and in which a 
sober reader will be disgusted with the contrast that is ex¬ 
hibited between the wrath of the Supreme Being and the 
benignity of the Son of God; as if the Deity were inclined 
to punish his offending creatures with everlasting punishment, 
and the Son were disposed to rescue and save them. Many 
of the psalms and hymns, however, are admirably adapted 
to Christian worship, and a select collection of them, which 
has been lately made by some ministers in London, and 
which they have enriched by extracts from other sources, is 
less exceptionable in a variety of respects than either the 
psalms or hymns even of Dr. Watts in their original state; 
and in these devotion and poetry are more happily combined 
for the worship of Dissenters, and even of Churchmen than 
in the psalmody of the establishment. Many of Watts’s 
lyric productions possess considerable poetical merit, and 
display a fertility and elegance of fancy. His “ Divine 
Songs for Children” have been widely circulated, and are 
well calculated to interest and impress youthful minds; and 
they are, generally speaking, unexceptionable, though not 
incapable of castigation and improvement. 
The doctor’s philosophical publications are numerous, and 
most of them are well known. Among these we may reckon 
his “ Logic,” and the supplement to it, entitled the “ Im¬ 
provement of the Mind;” “ A Discourse on Education ;” 
“ An Elementary Treatise on Astronomy and Geography;” 
“ Philosophical Essays on various Subjects, with Remarks 
on Locke’s Essay on the Human Understanding;” and “ A 
brief Scheme of Ontology.” His other works are chiefly 
theological. 
