WATTS. LOVE ON A CROSS AND A THRONE. Now let my faith grow strong and rife, And view my Lord in all his love: Look back to hear his dying cries, Then mount and see his throne above. See where he languish'd on the cross; If I behold his bleeding heart, There love in floods of sorrow reigns, He triumphs o'er the killing smart, frame, to entertain his friends or himself with a divine or moral song--he hopes he shall find an easy pardon. These remarks occur in the preface to his Lyric Poems; the subjects of which are varied, although chiefly of a sacred character. They do not perhaps possess merit sufficient to establish the name of the writer among the highest order of British Poets;-but they are the productions of a healthy mind, a sound judgment, and a discriminating taste; and the versification is exceedingly easy and correct, except when he "attempts in rhyme the same variety of cadence, comma, and period, which blank verse glories in as its peculiar elegance and ornament." The "Divine Songs for Children" we are disposed to class among the rarest and most valuable works to which genius has ever given existence. If the earliest impressions are of the greatest importance, because the most effective and the most enduring, how essential is it that the bias of the young mind should be towards virtue, honesty, industry, and humanity! There is no lesson in either which Dr. Watts has left untaught. Children lisp his verses long before they can read them-the moral fixes upon the mind through the imagination, and is retained for life. The "Divine Songs" are neither too high nor-what is less easy of attainment-too low for the comprehension of a child, and they tempt perusal and thought by the graces of easy rhyme. They are simple without being weak; and they reason without being argumentative; they are just of sufficient length to be committed to memory, without being long enough to become wearisome as a task. They are indeed the most perfect examples in our language of the achievement of that which a writer desires to achieve. We regard Dr. Watts, therefore, as one of the greatest benefactors of human kind; and may search in vain through the thousand tomes of our poets for so many golden LOVE ON A CROSS AND A THRONE. Now let my faith grow strong and rife, Then mount and see his throne above. See where he languish'd on the cross; If I behold his bleeding heart, There love in floods of sorrow reigns, He triumphs o'er the killing smart, Or if I climb th' eternal hills, Where the dear Conqueror sits enthron'd, Still in his heart compassion dwells, Near the memorials of his wound. How shall a pardon'd rebel show I hate the sins that cost thy blood. I hold no more commerce with hell, Stampt as a seal upon my heart. FALSE GREATNESS. MYLO, forbear to call him blest He swells amidst his wealthy store, He spreads the balance wide to hold And cheats the beam with loads of gold So might the plough-boy climb a tree, Thus mingled still with wealth and state, FEW HAPPY MATCHES. SAY, mighty Love, and teach my song, Whose yielding hearts and joining hands, Not the wild herd of nymphs and swains If there be bliss without design, Nor sordid souls of earthly mould, So two rich mountains of Peru Not the mad tribe that hell inspires On Ætna's top let furies wed, And sheets of lightning dress the bed, Nor the dull pairs whose marble forms |