The Divine and Moral Songs of Isaac Watts

If the New England Primer was the “little Bible” of New England, Dr. Watts’s Divine and Moral Songs has a worthy place beside it as the “little Hymn-book”, not only of New England, but of old England as well. These two juveniles appeared in close sequence and for nearly one hundred and fifty years jointly contributed to the infant joys, and doubtless sorrows, of our sturdy ancestors. Even to-day well-nigh everyone is familiar with “Let dogs delight to bark and bite” and “How doth the little busy bee improve each shining hour”; but alas, ’tis rarely that a knowledge of their authorship is associated with a knowledge of the rhymes.

When these two little books were in vogue the principal object in teaching children to read was to open to them the advantages of the Christian religion. Therefore the children’s first essay, after learning their letters, was to acquire a knowledge of the Scriptures and the characters therein portrayed. In the Primer the rhymed alphabet began with “In Adam’s fall we sinnèd all” and ended with “Zaccheus he, did climb a tree, his Lord to see”, each illustrated with a thrilling wood-cut. The Divine Songs opens with a “General hymn of praise” and closes with the cradle hymn “Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber”, all calculated to inculcate grace and wisdom.

Before the middle of the nineteenth century modern influences toward secularization in education crowded the New England Primer into oblivion, and it has survived only on the shelves of collectors and in a few reprints as a curiosity of bygone days. The Divine Songs has fared better, as it is still kept in print by one or two of our publishing concerns, and several beautiful, illustrated editions have been issued in very recent years. The New England Primer has long been considered as having the highest record of editions and quantity published of any of the old juveniles, but I am convinced that it must yield first place to the Divine Songs. There are of record about three hundred and fifty editions of the Primer, but I have been able to gather about two hundred and fifty editions of the Divine Songs in the British list and over three hundred in the American list. It would be impossible to state the total number of copies printed, but assuming that the accepted estimate of six and one half million for the Primer is approximately correct, we must grant that the Divine Songs stands with a total number of copies to its credit considerably in excess of that number.

Isaac Watts, the eldest of nine children, was born at Southampton on the 17th of July, 1674, about sixteen years after the death of Oliver Cromwell. His father was a schoolmaster, a man of excellent mental attainments and a Dissenter who suffered persecution for his convictions, even to the extent of imprisonment. This was during the reign of Charles II, when nonconformity was looked upon as a crime. Young Isaac was reared in this atmosphere of protest, and it is of record that while the father lay in prison “Mrs. Watts was seen sitting on a stone, near the prison door, suckling her son Isaac.” Little Isaac was a precocious child, reading Latin at four, and was known as a boy who loved his books more than his play. The result was that his over-studious habits greatly militated against his health, and during most of his life he was a physical weakling.

A vivid pen-picture of this anemic boy in his school days is given in a review of a new edition of some of his later works, in the North British Review in 1857. The reviewer writes:

“In the gloomy reign of James II, the most diligent boy in the Grammar School of Southampton was a little Puritan. So tiny, that he would hardly have passed for eleven years of age, he was so grave and good, as to be at once a model and a reproof to his sturdier class-mates; and, although in repose there was nothing peculiarly prepossessing in his pale face, with its prominent cheekbones, and a forehead far from lofty, the moment that some hard question posed the form, the sparkling eye and the light nervous figure quivering with the pent-up answer, betrayed the genius and the scholar. Already he had made good proficiency in French, Latin, and Greek, and had delighted his mother, whilst he astonished his companions, by ingenious acrostics and clever impromptu stanzas; and altogether, with his quiet, docile disposition, and his precocious attainments, he made glad the heart of the Rev. Mr. Pinhorn, who, like many a disconsolate preceptor before and since, at last foresaw a dim and distant Ararat, and hailed the youth who should yet ‘comfort him concerning his work and the toil of his hands.’”

When he was twenty-two, in 1696, young Watts became tutor to the children of a wealthy friend of his family at Stoke-Newington, and two years later, while thus employed, he preached his first sermon on his twenty-fourth birthday as assistant to Dr. Chauncy, minister of the Independent congregation in Mark Lane, London. In 1702 he succeeded to Dr. Chauncy’s pastorate, taking full charge of the congregation. But his frail health soon necessitated an assistant with whom to share his burdens.

In Dr. Watts’s congregation was Sir Thomas Abney and his family. Sir Thomas was for many years an alderman of the city of London and at one time its mayor. Dr. Watts in 1712, at the age of thirty-eight, succumbed to the arduous tasks of his ministry and quite collapsed. Lady Abney, ever alert in good works, took the worthy parson to Theobalds, their country home at Stoke-Newington, for a few weeks’ rest and fresh air. His visit has come down to us as a record for length. The weeks sped on and then the years, and still he continued a welcome and honored guest until his death thirty-six years after his advent to that hospitable household. While under the sheltering roof of Theobalds, Dr. Watts wrote several of his justly celebrated works and in 1715 gave to the world the memorable volume of Divine Songs for Children. In graceful acknowledgment of his guestship, he dedicated that little book to Sarah, Mary and Elizabeth Abney, the three daughters of Sir Thomas and Lady Abney. One of the two known copies of the first edition of the Divine Songs bears on the inside of its front cover in Dr. Watts’s handwriting, “To Mrs. Elizabeth Abney, I. W.” Of course Elizabeth, a child of eleven, was not “Mrs.” in our present understanding of that term, but “Mistress”, used as an expression of respect even to children at that time.

This presentation copy has found a home in the sumptuous library of the late J. Pierpont Morgan, and another first edition of one of Dr. Watts’s books in that library is similarly inscribed to another daughter of the Abneys’.

The Morgan copy of the first edition of Divine Songs was specially bound in red morocco rather elaborately gold-tooled. This copy had an interesting career before reaching its present resting-place. It was picked up by a Nottingham bookseller with a handful of other old books in a country house in 1902, at a cost of less than a guinea for the lot. It had come down to its previous owner from her great-grandfather, Meredith Townsend, co-pastor with Dr. Watts at Stoke-Newington. The bookseller sold it to Mr. James Ward, a collector of Nottingham, for about £30 and by him it was sold at Sotheby’s, after spirited bidding, for £155 to Mr. Morgan’s agent. The following Christmas, in a privately printed booklet, Mr. Ward distributed to a few friends a most interesting history of this little volume.

In the thirteen pages of dedication which appears in the earlier editions of the Divine Songs, Dr. Watts pays pleasing tribute to the hospitality of the Abney family, beginning as follows:

“My Dear Young Friends, Whom I am constrain’d to love and honour by many Obligations. It was the generous and condescending Friendship of your Parents under my weak Circumstances of Health; that brought me to their Country-Seat for the Benefit of the Air; but it was an Instance of most uncommon Kindness, to supply me there so cheerfully for two Years of Sickness with the richest Conveniences of Life. Such a Favour requires my most affectionate Returns of Service to themselves, and to all that is dear to them; and meer Gratitude demands some solemn and public acknowledgment.”

The dedication then goes on to praise not only Sir Thomas and his wife, but particularly their three daughters whose education Dr. Watts superintended, and closes with the following benediction:

“May the Blessings of his Right Hand more enrich you daily, as your Capacities and your Years increase; and may he add bountifully of the Favours of his Left Hand, Riches and Honour. May his Grace make you so large a Return of all the Kindness I have received in your Family, as may prevail above the fondest Hopes of your Parents, and even exceed the warmest Prayers of

Your most Affectionate Monitor and Obliged Servant, in the daily Views of a future World, I. Watts.

Theobalds, June 18, 1715.”

This quaint dedication was omitted from those editions printed after 1750, but the preface, “To all that are concerned in the Education of Children”, has persisted to this day in nearly every edition that has come to my observation. This preface is addressed to “My Friends”, and begins “It is an awful and important Charge, that is committed to you. The Wisdom and Welfare of the succeeding Generation are entrusted with you beforehand, and depend much on your Conduct.... Verse was at first design’d for the Service of God, though it hath been wretchedly abused since.... What is learnt in Verse, is longer retained in Memory, and sooner recollected.... These Divine Songs may be a pleasant and proper Matter for their daily or weekly Worship, to sing one in the Family, at such time as the Parents or Governors shall appoint; and therefore I have confined the Verse to the most usual Psalm Tunes. The greatest Part of this little Book was composed several Years ago, at the Request of a Friend, who has been long engag’d in the Work of Catechising a very great Number of Children of all kinds, and with abundant Skill and Success. So that you will find here nothing that savours of a Party: The Children of high and low Degree, of the Church of England or Dissenters, baptized in Infancy, or not, may all join together in these Songs. And as I have endeavoured to sink the Language to a Level of a Child’s Understanding, and yet to keep it (if possible) above Contempt; so I have design’d to profit all (if possible) and offend none.”

Then he closes with a reference to the Moral Songs as follows: “I have added at the End an Attempt or two of Sonnets on Moral Subjects for Children, with an Air of Pleasantry, to provoke some fitter Pen to write a little Book of them.” The earliest record I have found of one so “provoked” is in the preface to Mrs. Barbauld’s “Hymns in Prose, For Children”, published about 1775. There she writes, “Among the number of Books composed for the use of children, though there are many, and some on a very rational plan, which unfold the system, and give a summary of the doctrines of Religion, it would be difficult to find one calculated to assist them in the devotional part of it, except indeed Dr. Watts’s Hymns for Children. These are in pretty general use; and the Author is deservedly honoured for the condescension of his Muse; which is very able to take a loftier flight.”

It is not, however, until the early part of the nineteenth century that I find a work in direct imitation of Dr. Watts’s little book. Then in close sequence several volumes of verses for children appeared, the authors of each of which acknowledged the impetus to their muse from Dr. Watts’s preface. The first of these was “Moral Songs for the Instruction and Amusement of Children Intended as a Companion to Dr. Watts’ Divine Songs, by John Oakman and Others.” This was published in London in 1802 by Darton and Harvey. The preface states, “Whoever follows the manner of another who has been happy in any particular way, however successful he may prove in his labours, will only gain the servile name of an imitator. A man so eminent as Dr. Watts has been in his Hymns and Moral Songs, for the edification of children, it must be granted, there is little hope of following with much success.... But as he declared himself there is much room left to proceed in the same way, and has in a manner exhorted others to pursue his ideas, the Author of this little book hopes to be excused for the attempt if not applauded.” And surely the author of these later “Moral Songs” is open to the accusation of being a “servile imitator”, as witness one extract:

The style well copied but the inspiration feeble and the moral hardly deducible from the subject. A few years later, the Taylor sisters, Jane, Ann, Mary and the rest of them, who had in 1803 been very successful with their “Original Poems for Infant Minds”, published a volume entitled “Hymns for Infant Minds”. These young women in their preface acknowledge their indebtedness to Dr. Watts as follows:

“The ‘Divine Songs’ of Dr. Watts, so beautiful, and so universally admired, almost discourage, by their excellence, a similar attempt; and lead the way, where it appears temerity to follow. But as the narrow limits to which he confined himself, excluded a number of useful subjects, the following Hymns, though with much diffidence, are presented to the public.”

It was not long after the Divine Songs rode into popularity on wave after wave of editions that itching fingers began to busy themselves with alterations and modifications of these simple and sincere verses. As early as 1720 one Cobbin, a reverend doctor, conceived the idea that the work would be more useful with Scripture references appended to each song. So he forthwith lumbered up the little volume with voluminous footnotes of references and comments, but thanks be, the dear children could skip all this dry stuff.

Then later the strong theology of some of the songs annoyed our good friends the Unitarians and they, by the hand of one who modestly subscribed herself on the title-page as “A Lady”, proceeded to take the starch out of some of the more rigid ones, to sprinkle in a little “probation after death” and entirely omit Song III, “Praise to God for redemption through Jesus Christ.” That song was a bit too Trinitarian for remodeling. Dr. Watts’s delightful preface is omitted and a new preface setting forth the reasons for revision and alteration, is substituted. This is signed “E. Y.” and dated November 17, 1785.

This “Revised and Altered” form evidently proved popular, as a second edition appeared in 1787, with an added note that “A large impression of the first edition of these Hymns, Revised and Altered, having been favorably received by the public, the editor has been encouraged to give further attention to their improvement, and to cause them to be printed in their present form.” The fair reviser was brave enough to retain Song XI, “Heaven and Hell”, but replaced Dr. Watts’s second stanza

with the following, much more comforting to a naughty world

And in verse 4, Dr. Watts wrote

for the last line of which she has substituted

In the first verse of Song XII, “The Advantages of early Religion”, Dr. Watts’s last line reads

and which our tender reviser changes to

In Song XIII, verse 5, Dr. Watts wrote

Our reviser changed the last line to read

are the first two lines of verse 2, Song XIV. These are changed to

The last verse of Song XV begins

The second line is altered to

In verse 4 of Song XVII Dr. Watts wrote

The revised edition reads

From the revised version of SongXVIII, “Against Scoffing and calling Names”, the reference to the children who scoffed Elisha is omitted by dropping out verses 4 and 5, as follows:

In Song XXIII, “Obedience to Parents”, verse 3 was originally written

has been softened to the following:

Listed among the Divine Songs in the British Museum are the following collateral items: “Divine Songs attempted in Easy Language. (A sequel to Dr. Watts’s divine songs for children and schools.) The Rake reformed in the House of Mourning. The Cottage Library of Christian Knowledge etc. Vol. I.” 1806 (?) 8^o; and “A Supplement to Dr. Watts’s Divine Songs for the use of Children, selected from various authors. London.” 1820 (?) 12^o.

From another source I find, “Essays adapted to Dr. Watts’ Divine Songs. For the instruction of young people. By Rev. A. Scott. 13th edition. London: Printed for Thomas Tegg. 1841. Illustrated.”

In an edition published in Exeter, in 1812, entitled “Dr. Watts’s Hymns for Children, Revised and Altered, so as to render them of General Use”, the editor, who modestly signs himself “C”, explains as follows: “Dr. Watts, in the Preface to his Divine and Moral Songs for Children, says; ‘You will see here nothing that savours of a party,’ nevertheless it cannot be denied, that, in several parts of these Hymns, expressions do occur, which are objectionable to many Christians; and which, there is reason to believe, the amiable and excellent Author would have avoided, had he written them toward the latter part of his life.” Our editor then goes on to state which obnoxious weeds he has uprooted and what new flowers he has transplanted from other gardens. Of some of the latter he says: “The next five, Nos. 9 to 13, I have taken the liberty of inserting from a very superior little publication, entitled ‘Hymns for Infant Minds’.” But even here our editor must have a slap at the theology of the gentle “Taylor sisters”, and which he does in the following terms, throwing in a sop at the end to mitigate the bitter: “I cannot agree with the respectable Authors in some of the opinions which their Hymns express, because I do not think those opinions are the doctrine of the Scriptures; but I have no hesitation in earnestly recommending the book to all judicious Parents.”

The inscriptions of presentation and ownership in some of the old copies of the Divine Songs are quaintly interesting. In one, printed in Boston in 1759, is found on the reverse of the title-page in almost illegible characters, “Bithrah norton | hur buk”, and then follows several words entirely undecipherable. Lower down on the page in a later and more readable hand is written, “Sarah Norton her | Book God Give her Grace therein to look | and when the bells do | for her tole Lord Jesus | Christ” ... and there the leaf is torn off.

In a London copy of 1773, which is thumbed well-nigh to pieces, the fly-leaf is inscribed in elaborate childish printing, “Samuel, Hovey. | Junr: & Lydia, Hovey. | Junr. our Book Given | To us By the Schoolmast | er of Buxton July y^e 21^st 1774”. Then on the inside of the front cover there appears in a crabbed running hand, “To Mehitabel | And Phebe Hovey | This with our Love to you | Both for you to remem | ber us by | Sam^ll Hovey | and Lydia Hovey”; while near the foot of the inside of the front cover is inscribed in shaky childish characters, “Ruth ShoRt | heR book | aged seven | years”. So this little volume bears records of what seem to be three generations of lovers of these old songs.

The fly-leaf of a copy printed in London in 1779 bears the inscription in bold, childishly printed letters covering the whole page, “William | shErWood | MARCh 23 | 1788”.

In another copy bearing a London imprint and dated 1780 is “William Hayward his Book | Drayton | October 16 1782”, all written the long way of the page and apparently by a grown person. Later William himself took a hand and in an upper unoccupied corner scribbled “William | Haywood | Drayton | Berks”.

In another London copy, 1787, in a fine feminine hand, is written “Catherine Wright | her book | The Gift of the | Rev^d Dr. Priestly”.

Inside the back cover of a copy printed in New Haven, Conn., in 1809, is pasted a presentation book-plate, home-made, and bearing a border of vine and leaves in green, while within the border is inscribed in a fine schoolmistress hand, “Hannah Kendall’s Book | given her by her Instructress | as a reward of merit”.

A Boston copy of 1818 was once “George T. Read’s Book | Presented to him by his Aunt Eliza Read 1856 | Belfast”; doubtless Belfast, Maine. But an avaricious member of the family, doubtless of a later and degenerate descent, ruthlessly crossed off this inscription and wrote the long way of the page and nearer its base, “Charlotte Read’s Book”.

The only record I have encountered to indicate that the Divine Songs was used regularly as a Sunday School song-book occurs in a copy dated “London 1828.” Pasted on the reverse of the title in this book is a label headed “The Protestant Dissenters’ | Sunday School, | at | Christchurch Meeting.” This heading is followed by a number of Biblical quotations beginning with “Suffer little children, etc.” Pasted inside the back cover is a similar label similarly headed. Then we find this admonition: “No scholar in this School to be allowed to swear, lie, nor fight;—nor to be disobedient to Masters, Parents, or Guardians”, followed by more Scripture texts, and finally, “Sabbath Schools are of the utmost importance when judiciously conducted.”

In another, a New Haven, Conn., copy, 1824, on the title-page itself is written “Master George and Miss S. E. Derby | from their affectionate mother | August 2^d 1826”. Lower down on the same page and in the same hand appears, “Suffer little children to come | unto me for of such is the kingdom of Heaven”.

And lastly, a modern copy containing numerous, most delightful, colored illustrations by Mrs. Arthur Gaskin, is inscribed by the artist to the author of this essay—a cherished possession.

Numerous memorials and biographies of Dr. Watts have been written since his death, but perhaps the most elaborate and exhaustive was published in London in 1914, written by Thomas Wright, the author of several other biographies of notable men of the past. In this work considerable space is devoted to a relation of the environment and influence under which the Divine and Moral Songs were written. Mr. Wright very circumstantially tells the story of a visit, “apparently in the spring of 1720”, by Dr. Watts to Hedingham Castle, Essex, the home of Mr. Robert Ashhurst, who had married Lady Abney’s sister. Our author states that some of the Divine and Moral Songs were written there during that visit. He further relates, “The pretty poem ‘How doth the little busy bee’ was probably not only a kindly message to children, but also a humorous compliment to the industry and taste displayed by Mr. Ashhurst in restoring his house.” But alas! in view of the fact that at least two copies of the first edition, each plainly dated 1715, are in existence, and one of which I have minutely examined, our credulity is a bit overtaxed by Mr. Wright’s narrative; and we wish he had not been so detailed and particular in his description of events and circumstances that could not possibly have occurred prior to or in connection with the writing of the Divine Songs. We also read in the preface to the first edition of 1715, “The greater part of this little book was composed several years ago at the request of a friend.”

The revised edition, first published in 1785, continued to appear over a long period, and as late as 1803, in the Guardian of Education, is found a scathing review of this emasculated work. Mrs. Trimmer, the editor of the Guardian, had previously been accused of having been the reviser, but she emphatically denies all responsibility and unequivocally censures the editor for having so radically changed the theology set forth by Dr. Watts in these small hymns. She further remarks, “The Hosannas in Dr. Watts’s original work, are perfectly agreeable to Scripture, and so impressive, that we cannot reconcile ourselves to the exchange of them for Dr. Clarke’s. Neither can we readily part either with the ‘Hymn of Praise to God for Redemption’; or with ‘The Cradle Hymn’. However, as Christians, we wish not to deprive those who are satisfied with this mutilated edition of the edification it still affords; but let them on their side allow to the children of the Church the full benefit of the author’s pious labours.”

In this same volume is reviewed a little book published by Darton & Harvey, entitled “Moral Songs for the Instruction and Amusement of Children, intended as a companion to Dr. Watts’s Divine Songs, by John Oakman and others.” In reviewing this little work, Mrs. Trimmer states, “Though Dr. Watts’s Divine Songs have excited many writers to imitate them, they still remain unrivalled. No work of the kind that we have yet met with, is worthy to be compared to them, for beauty of composition and elegant simplicity of style.”

Though a bit upsetting in chronological sequence, I cannot refrain from referring here to another much later tribute by Mrs. S. C. Hall, who in her “Pilgrimages to English Shrines” (Appleton, 1854), says of Dr. Watts, “But after all, his popularity is based on the universal knowledge of his Divine and Moral Songs; and never was popularity more widely diffused, better merited or productive of more glorious results.”

Unscrupulous publishers continued to mutilate this little work, and there are also some interesting differences between British and American editions. In Song V as originally published God is praised

“That I was born on British ground.”

While in some of the American editions this form was retained, still as early as 1799 in the Boston edition of Coverly it is changed to

“That I was born on Christian ground.”

In the Cambridge (U.S.) edition published by the trustees of Phillips’ Academy, the last line of the fifth verse reads

“Teach me thy goodness to admire.”

while the original reads

“Warn me to ’scape eternal fire.”

The editor of this Cambridge edition fell into an error in the last line of verse 1, Song XVI, that has persisted in many, many editions. In the original this first verse reads:

The Cambridge error consisted in printing the last word of the verse “to”.

In many of the modern editions the old form “that” is changed to “which”.

The learned editor in Cambridge blundered in punctuation also. In Song XV, verse 1, he inserted a comma in the last line after “all” that quite destroys the sense; and again in the last line of verse 2, Song XX, the comma inserted after “food” is worse than superfluous.

Many publishers of juvenile books drew generously upon the storehouse of the Divine and Moral Songs. In the 1781 Boston edition of Janeway’s “Token for Children” are included Songs XII, XIII and XIV. In “Choice Poetry” published at Derby, England, in 1835, are four of the Divine Songs, two of the Moral Songs and the Cradle Hymn. In “Reading Made Easy” published by J. Weatherly, Berwick, about 1820, under the general heading “Lessons in Verse”, are printed eight of the Divine Songs. A number of editions of the New England Primer contain selections from the same source.

Dr. Watts in his preface states that the Divine and Moral Songs were intended to be sung to well-known psalm tunes, but before the end of the eighteenth century editions with special music began to appear. In 1800 Dr. Jackson published an edition wherein words and music were engraved throughout on copper plates.

Although early in the eighteenth century many children’s books were issued with illustrations, usually crude wood-cuts, I have been unable to find an illustrated edition of the Divine and Moral Songs in England earlier than 1760 and in America earlier than 1773. In the beginning of the nineteenth century illustrated editions were more frequent, and one published in London in 1823 has an ornate folding frontispiece in colors. With the revival of wood engraving between 1840 and 1850, there appeared a number of elaborately illustrated editions with pictures by eminent artists. Perhaps the most beautifully illustrated edition of this period was that published by John Van Voorst in London. This appeared in 1848 and contains thirty pictures drawn on the wood by C. W. Cope, A.R.A., and cut by John Thompson. They are definitely illustrative of the text and are most daintily conceived and executed. These illustrations were extensively copied in later editions by other publishers, particularly in America. The first issue of this edition contained on page 28 the “Death Print” as a tailpiece to the song “Heaven and Hell”. This picture was evidently too realistic and too fully illustrative of the song, so it was promptly suppressed and replaced by one from a now blank page farther on in the book.

The size of the Divine Songs has varied greatly, from the little books published by Rusher of Banbury, 4½ by 2¾ inches, to the huge volume 10¾ by 8½ inches, issued by Nisbet and Company, London. This Nisbet edition is undated, but appears to have been published between 1870 and 1880, and is illustrated by such eminent artists as W. Holman Hunt, George Du Maurier, H. K. Brown, Marcus Stone and others. The pictures were reproduced by the “New Graphotype Engraving Process”, apparently zinc etching. As early as 1810 selections from the Divine Songs with illustrations were engraved on copper and arranged as a broadside school piece, the pictures being carefully hand-colored. These “school pieces” were large sheets, 19 by 15 inches, with a border of pictures and a blank space in the middle in which the child wrote his “school piece” or composition.

In 1855 an edition in book form was printed on cloth as an aid to durability, while in 1849 an edition was issued with phonetic spelling. Early in the nineteenth century “The Beggar’s Petition” and “The Universal Prayer” were added and carried through numerous editions.

For many years following the first edition, this little book of songs was of uniform size, carefully printed, well sewed, and bound in full calf. It was a sturdy little volume and many copies of these early editions have come down to us in excellent condition.

A copy of the eighth edition, 1729, is cherished by its owner for the following inscription on the fly-leaf, by the hand of Dr. Watts:

This Sarah was a daughter of Dr. Watts’s sister Sarah, who married a Brackstone. Later, James Brackstone, a brother to Sarah the daughter, was a London printer. The fifteenth edition of the Divine Songs, 1739, was published by R. Hett and J. Brackstone, and the sixteenth edition, 1740, bears Brackstone’s name alone, as publisher. But alas, James proved a black sheep; in a letter written by Dr. Watts in 1746 to his brother Enoch Watts, is the sad record that James Brackstone was ejected from the church for “damning and cursing in a shocking manner” his uncle Dr. Watts, and for declaring that he would no longer be a member of his church.

This presentation copy evidently soon descended to a younger member of the family, as on the same fly-leaf that bears the inscription by Dr. Watts is written in a childish hand, “Bety Brackstone Her Book 1730”, and on the fly-leaf at the back of the book appears “Bety Brackstone, Her Book, God Give Grace therein to Look, but wen the bel be gins to tole, Lord Jesus Christ reseive her Sole. A Men.”

In the “English Primer” published by Mosley, Derby and London, about 1825, is printed the only rhyme directed to these songs, which I have discovered. It is as follows:

These verses, with a wood-cut above, occupy the whole of page 29. The illustration is of a prig of a boy in chimney-pot hat, leaning against a sun-dial in a garden. In the boy’s hands is the precious volume which he is studiously perusing.

A comparison of the Divine Songs with other portions of Dr. Watts’s writings reveals in many instances a correspondence in subject-matter. The thought of Song XVIII, “Against scoffing and calling names”, is used as part of one of his sermons; and Song XXII, “Against pride in clothes”, appears in a slightly different dress in another sermon. Song XXV, beginning “My God who makes the sun to know”, is a simplified rendering of one of the hymns in his larger hymn book.

It is interesting to note that the Divine and Moral Songs were not composed during Dr. Watts’s youth, but after he had arrived at middle life, a bachelor, a student and an invalid. It would not have been surprising if he had at that time lost interest in children, even if he did not find their company a burden. But his heart kept its youthfulness, as the sweetness and simplicity of many of these songs will testify, in spite of the rigid theology of others of them. And so his Michaelmas summer brought up again the blossoms of spring and wove therefrom a fragrant garland.

One appreciative biographer, referring to the tender sentiments of the Cradle Hymn, writes: “‘Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber’, was written not by a young and loving mother bending over her baby whom she all but stifles with kindness and kisses, but by a little weazened retired bachelor, whose heart, however, was as warm, whose ways were as gentle as those of the happiest and fondest mother.”

The Divine and Moral Songs was not by any means the only book for children written by Dr. Watts. He was the author of several little catechisms, graded from one for the smallest infants to others for older children. In 1720 he published “The Art of Reading and Writing English” and he also in 1725 wrote for the perusal of their elders, “A Discourse on the Education of Children and Youth”; while in 1728 was issued his “Prayers Composed For the Use and Imitation of Children, Suited to their different Ages and their various Occasions.”

Editions of the Divine Songs appeared in Dutch and Welsh and one was printed in India in English.

The largest collection in a public library is that in the British Museum where there are eighty-seven specimens, the earliest being a copy of the ninth edition, dated 1728. The Bodleian Library at Oxford has examples of thirty-three editions while in this country the Boston Public Library and the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Mass., each has a dozen, and the library of the General Theological Seminary in New York nearly as many.

And so may this little book of appreciation renew, at least in a few hearts, the love and memory of those dear, quaint and sometimes frightful songs that contributed so much of entertainment and joy to the lives of nearly two centuries of English-speaking children both in the old world and the new.

VALE