Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/167

 KS. ii. AUG. 26, i9i6.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

161

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUSTS, 1910.

CON TENTS.- No. 35.

NOTES : Materials for a History of the Watts Family, 161 An English Army List of 1740, 163-The Novels and Short Stories of G. P. R. James, 167 Statues and Memo- rials in the British Isles, 168 -Seals on Anglo-Saxon Charters, 169 A Suburban Fair of 1816 Kingsway, 170.

QUERIES: "To have been in the sun " " Written in sunbeams "" One's place in the sun," 170 A Stewart Ring Cromwell : St. John Francis Gregory Richard Duke Rev. Meredith Haniner, D.D. Joachim Ibarra- Mackenzie Family Shelley Genealogy" With child to ee any strange thing," 171 Thomas Cholmley, Mayor of Carlisle-" Appreciation" Portraits in Stained Glass Foreign Graves of British Authors Sir John Maynard apt. Bellains or Bellairs William Wilson, M.P. Henry Whitaker M.P. The Horse-Chestnut, 172.

REPLIES : Rev. Joseph Rann, 173 " Blue pencil " Kingsley Pedigree, 174' The Working-Man's Way in the World 'Gorges Brass The Lion Rampant of Scotland, 175 Henriette Renan Grave of Margaret Godolphin St. Luke's, Old Street : Bibliography, 176 St. Peter as the Gate-Keeper of Heaven " Feis "Perpetuation of Printed Errors, 177 Major Campbell's Duel Cleopatra and the Pearl Calverley's Charades " Hat Trick": a Cricket Term James Wilson, M.P. Remiremont Hail- stones, May, 1907, 178 Fieldingiana : Miss H and "Tadsman" Thomas Astle, 179.

"NOTES ON BOOKS: 'The English Civil Service in the

Fourteenth Century.' Jottings from Recent Book Catalogues. Notices to Correspondents.

MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF

THE WATTS FAMILY OF

SOUTHAMPTON.

(See ante, p. 101.) 2. The Parents of Dr. Isaac Watts.

ISAAC WATTS, the father of Dr. Isaac Watts, is the only child of Thomas Watts of whom we have any record. He was born, probably, -about 1650, and became a schoolmaster at 41 French Street, Southampton. This very flourishing boarding-school was in such re- pute that pupils from America and the West Indies were committed to his care.

In or shortly before 1673 he married Miss Taunton of whom hereafter.

In 1674 his eldest son, the celebrated Nonconformist minister and hymn-writer, was born. We shall see later that Dr. Isaac Watts inherited his love of poetry from his father a fact which, I believe, is not mentioned in any of his many biographies.

In 1675 Isaac Watts was fined 31. for refusing to renounce the Covenant and take the oath, having been elected one of the four beadles of Southampton. On being chosen " bidell " again for the ward of St. Michael and St. John, he was freed from the office for seven years on paying a fine of 40*.

In 1683 his nonconformity resulted in his imprisonment for six months in the gaol of Southampton, situated at the bottom of the town, and then known as the South Castle and God's House Gate. During his im- prisonment, his wife (with their child Isaac, then aged 9 years), it is related, was fre- quently seen at the door of the prison, unwilling to be comforted, eagerly awaiting a sight of her husband through the iron bars. This incident was made the subject of an oil painting, exhibited at the Royal Academy about 1870.

After this imprisonment he was banished the town for two years (16857).

On Aug. 3, 1688, he was elected Deacon of the Above Bar Congregational Chapel a church of Protestant Dissenters in South- ampton an office that he held until his death forty-eight years later.

On May 31, 1690, Robert Thorner of Baddeley, near Southampton, made his will, appointing as his trustees Bennett Swayne of London, Isaac Watts of Southampton, Thomas Holies of London, and John Brack- stone of Southampton. Robert Thorner died on July 17 of the same year.

In 1691 Isaac Watts of Southampton, described as a clothier of the age of 41 years, gave evidence in the Chancery suit " Brack- stone v. Brackstone." This is our authority for stating above that he was born probably about 1650. It is said that Isaac Watts was involved in legal proceedings which materi- ally injured his private fortune, and deprived him of the fruits of an industrious life ; further, that the paternal property possessed by the family would have been considerable but for the intolerance of the times.

On Oct. 1, 1703, he was chosen for the office of Constable of Southampton, but excused on payment of five guineas. He was not let off again under double that amount.

On Sept. 16, 1735, he made his will, of which the following is a full abstract :

" The Will of Isaac Watts of the Town and County

of Southampton.

" My now dwelling-house called Little St. Dennis in the parish of St. Michael, Southampton, with the malt-houses, garden, &c., thereunto belonging, to my son Enoch Watts, he cancelling a bond (of the penalty of 1,200, which I gave him to secure payment of 200 within one year after the death