CHARACTERS. 



291 



of course was often repeated ; hence 

 the most of his time was spent in 

 the company of players, painters, 

 and artists of all descriptions, whom 

 he affected to take under his pro- 

 tection, and from some of whom, 

 it is said, he exacted tribute of 

 every kind. 



The period at which Jones came 

 to England was favourable for ac- 

 quiring an historical knowledge of 

 the drama, which is every now a- 

 mong the disiderata of literature. 

 His natural attachment to the stage, 

 his exalted patronage, and his being 

 the author of a successful tragedy, 

 gained him the friendship of many 

 of the principal performers of that 

 time, viz, BaiTy, Mossop, Sheridan, 

 Mrs. WofRngton, and, in particular, 

 old Husbands, who was said to have 

 great traditional knowledge of his 

 profession, and who used .to com- 

 municate that knowledge, with no 

 inconsiderable talent of narration, at 

 his clubs about Russel-street, Co^ 

 vent-garden. Our author availed 

 himself of these advantages, and, it 

 Is said, compiled from Husbands's 

 memoranda and conversation some 

 very valuable anecdotes of the stage : 

 but these, with his other papers, 

 either from the author's well-known 

 carelessness, or the carelessness or 

 subsequent insanity of Reddish, his 

 st/f-assumed executor, are now, per- 

 haps, for ever sunk in obscurity. 



In the midst of Jones's dissipation 

 he still kept up his intimacy with 

 lord Chesterfield, who received him 

 always very kindly, and gave him 

 a chair at his table upon all days, 

 except those assigned to very select 

 companies. It appears to be diffi- 

 cult for a man of Jones's habits and 

 natural tendencies, to throw off 

 those habits periodically, and become 

 '.Ik compauiuu of /jtm who had de- 



mands upon the first scholars^ and 

 the men of first breeding, for their 

 exertions. Our author himself has 

 in some respect solved this difficulty, 

 as he has frequently told his intimate 

 companions that he always kept 

 himself sober the day before he 

 knocked at hislordship'sdoor — took 

 care to collect all the anecdote and 

 talk of the town that he thought 

 would be most agreeable — ^was hy- 

 pocntically reserved at his bottle, and 

 took an early departure. 



But even this kind of conduct, we 

 should think, could be but a Lenten 

 entertainment for the Maecenas of 

 his 3ay. He that was so delicate 

 as to shrink from the morning visits 

 of a Johnson, to make Jones the 

 companion of his leisure hours, ap- 

 pears to be somewhat unaccount- 

 able, did we not know the effect of 

 compliances on some minds. The 

 Sturdy Moralist, though a man of 

 the first education and observation, 

 was not so ready to yield opinions, 

 or mould himself to the general cast 

 of convereation. Johnson would 

 talk upon any subject, and with a 

 force, if necessary, which made it 

 very indifferent to him what he trode 

 upon, whether the neck of a lord 

 or any other person i but Jones felt 

 himself the humble friend and pro' 

 tege — he thought it his duty to talk 

 or be silent, just as he was encou- 

 raged — he created no jealousies, 

 embarrassed no conversation — he 

 assisted at the table as the mirror of 

 his lordship's superiority, his dis- 

 cernment, his protection, and hos- 

 pitalities. 



Indeed hislordshipindirectly gives 

 another reason for leaving off Dr. 

 Johnson, in one of his " Letters to 

 his Son," where, in describing the 

 character of a very learned yet very 

 aukvvar J man, he draws . the por- 



IJ y trait 



