'The gateway to
ABNEY HOUSE
Which stood here 1700–1843
ISSAC [sic] WATTS
Hymn-writer and poet
stayed here
1734–1748'
Watts was known as 'the father of hymnody', and is perhaps most remembered for 'Against Idleness and Mischief' (aka 'How Doth the Little Busy Bee')* and 'O God Our Help in Ages Past'.
Abney Park was one of the ‘magnificent seven’ garden cemeteries of London, and is now a memorial park originally laid out by Lady Mary Abney and Isaac Watts. Watts's statue is in a central part of the park, in front of Abney Park Chapel.
'IN
MEMORY OF
ISAAC WATTS D.D.
AND IN TESTIMONY OF THE HIGH AND
LASTING ESTEEM IN WHICH HIS
CHARACTER AND WRITINGS ARE HELD IN
THE GREAT CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY BY
WHOM THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS SPOKEN.
OF HIS PSALMS AND HYMNS IT MAY
BE PREDICTED IN HIS OWN WORDS,
ISAAC WATTS D.D.
AND IN TESTIMONY OF THE HIGH AND
LASTING ESTEEM IN WHICH HIS
CHARACTER AND WRITINGS ARE HELD IN
THE GREAT CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY BY
WHOM THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS SPOKEN.
OF HIS PSALMS AND HYMNS IT MAY
BE PREDICTED IN HIS OWN WORDS,
"AGES UNBORN SHALL MAKE HIS SONGS
THE JOY AND LABOUR OF THEIR TONGUES."
THE JOY AND LABOUR OF THEIR TONGUES."
HE WAS BORN AT SOUTHAMPTON
JULY 17 1674. DIED NOVEMBER 25 1748
AFTER A RESIDENCE OF 36 YEARS IN THE
MANSION OF SIR THOMAS ABNEY, BART.,
THEN STANDING IN THESE GROUNDS.'
AFTER A RESIDENCE OF 36 YEARS IN THE
MANSION OF SIR THOMAS ABNEY, BART.,
THEN STANDING IN THESE GROUNDS.'
'THIS MOUNT
WAS A
FAVOURITE RETIREMENT
OF THE LATE
ISAAC WATTS, D.D.'
Abney Park did not become a cemetery until 1840. Isaac Watts was buried in Bunhill Fields with other non-Conformists.
*The words of 'Against Idleness and Mischief':
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!
How skilfully she builds her cell!
How neat she spreads the wax!
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes.
How neat she spreads the wax!
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes.
In works of labour or of skill,
I would be busy too;
For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.
I would be busy too;
For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.
In books, or work, or healthy play,
Let my first years be passed
That I may give for every day
Some good account at last.'
Let my first years be passed
That I may give for every day
Some good account at last.'
Lewis Carroll parodies 'Against Idleness and Mischief' when Alice, in Alice in Wonderland, trying to remember a well-known verse, says:
'How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!
How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spread his claws,
And welcome little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!'
In Hunger and Love, Lionel Britton suggests that Watts's expression 'For idle hands to do' is about masturbation, and I'm sure that he is in part correct.
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