286 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



year 174^, much against the in- 

 clination of his friends, but with 

 that confidence in his own powers 

 ■which, generally speaking, if pro- 

 perly founded, and diligently pur- 

 sued, seldom misleads us. 



Had his prudence been equal to 

 this resolution, it was the luckiest 

 measure he possibly could have 

 adopted. He had an opportunity 

 of living in the capital of his coun- 

 try upon better terms than in his 

 own native place ; he had the means 

 of improving himself both in the 

 line of his profession, and as a poet ; 

 and above all, perhaps, he might 

 then have the flattering hope (which 

 afterwards came to be verified) of 

 his muse reaching the ear of a Mae- 

 cenas,* who had taste and liberality 

 to encourage and reward his la- 

 bours. 



The following circumstance soon 

 brought him to this last point of 

 success. Lord Chesterfield, who 

 had been some time before appoint- 

 ed lord-heutenant of Ireland, just 

 landed in Dublin. Jones thou<rht 

 this a good opportunity to come 

 forward. He accordingly addressed 

 his excellency in a copy of verses on 

 his amval ; wherein he not only 

 panegyrizes with some force and 

 delicacy, but towards the close thus 

 artfully insinuates his own humble 

 occupation. 



" Nor you, great sir, on these weak num- 

 bers frown, 



Which mourn a Swift, and sing thy just 

 renown ; 



Such strains, alas ! as my unhtttr'd hand, 



Trembling would reach thee on the 

 crowded strand ; 



But thronging thousands intercept my 

 way. 



And deafening lo's drown my feeble lay ; 



Yet if a moment from the toils of state. 

 And all the burthen ofakingdom'i weight. 

 Some little leisure to the muse you lend, 

 (Each leisure moment is the muse's 



friend! , 

 Permit, my lord, that niy unpolish'd lays 

 May hope for pardon, tho' they fail to 



please." 



Jones had the good fortune to 

 have these lines presented by his 

 constant friend through hfe, lord 

 chief justice Singleton; and he had 

 still the better fortune to see his 

 poem take effect. Lord Chester- 

 field v.as pleased with it, and in- 

 quiring into the origin and characi- 

 ter of the author, sent for him, li- 

 berally rewarded him, and took 

 him into his immediate protection. 



What pecuniary reward our au- 

 thor received is now uncertain ; but 

 whatever it was, " the bricklayer's 

 frock went on no more," He com- 

 menced author at large, and soon 

 after, by his lordship's desire, fol- 

 lowed Inm to Entrland, 



On his arrival here, which was 

 in the year 1748, he collected some 

 of the best of the poems he had 

 written at different times before his 

 introduction to lord Chesterfield, 

 and added others upon a variety of 

 occasional subjects, which he took 

 some pains to polish and refine. 

 With these his lordship seemed 

 highly pleased. He thought he saw 

 something in this mechanic muse 

 which in time might do credit to his 

 patronage and the repubhc of let- 

 ters; he therefore not only received 

 him at his house with kindness and 

 hospitaUty, but recommended him 

 to several noblemen and literati, by 

 whose assistance he published his 

 Poems by subscription, and was li- 

 berally rewarded. 



* The late earl cf Chcstwfield, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland, 



