296 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794, 



veloping this character, we must 

 always have an eye on his origin. 



Bred in the humble line of u pro- 

 vincial bricklayer, v. itli a very little 

 better education than is generally 

 attached to that lir.e, ranch could 

 notrifcessarily he a;:gured from the 

 efforts of his mind. To get a little 

 forward in life by the narrow gleanr 

 ings of his profession, or perhaps 

 by some stroke of enterprize, to ar- 

 rive at the rank of a raas/er luilder, 

 speaking generally, vvould be term- 

 ed a fortunate wihd-up for such a 

 character: — but when we see a 

 young man, in the very outset of 

 life, without famil)-, fortune, or con- 

 nections — without the incitement of 

 example, or that collision of similar 

 minds which rouses and invigorates 

 the seeds of ambitious fame ; — to 

 see such a man at once abandon a 

 profession which was his daily sup-: 

 port, and courageously throw himr 

 self under the protection of the 

 muses, — we must at least allow him 

 a genius, and a force of mind very 

 pecuhnr to his situation in life. 



Such were Jones's efforts when, 

 afterfirst obtaining the patronage of 

 lord Chesterfield, he sat down to 

 his tragedy of the Earl of Essex. It 

 is idle to listen to the little tales of 

 malice and rivalship which were 

 propagated at that time, of this play 

 r.ot being his own, and tliat he was 

 greatly assisted in it by lord Chester- 

 field and Colley Gibber: whoever 

 has read the play with any degree 

 of accuracy, will look in vain for 

 the marks of two such writers ; — 

 they will neither see the long-expe- 

 rienced cramr'"? contrivance of the 

 latter, nor the eli gant pointed pe- 

 riods of the former ; they will see a 

 story^ more naturally than artfully 

 Wrawn from the hirtory of their 

 Country, combined with such inci- 



dents as were most likely to proT 

 duce effect and illustrate the fable ; 

 aided by language appropriate 

 enough to the characters, but more 

 forcible than elegant, and issuing 

 moie. from the first heat of the 

 mind, than the studied lucubrations 

 of the scholar. 



Considering, therefore, the merits 

 of this tragedy, and from the three 

 acts of his " Cave of Idra," with 

 the reports we have heard of his 

 " Harold" (a tragedy.which, in the 

 unaccountable confusion of events, 

 is now, perhi^ps, for ever lost to the 

 stage), we must pronounce Jones no 

 inconsiderable dramatist : nay, we 

 are warranted to say more — That 

 had he cultivated his talents in this 

 line with becoming assiduity aud 

 prudence, there is every reason to 

 tliink he would stand in the first 

 line of modern tragedy writers. 



Of his lighter pieces of poetry we 

 cannot say as much. They are 

 mostly written upon occasional and 

 perishable subjects it is true, but 

 then there is little of ih^x. point and 

 general reflection which preserve such 

 trifles from oblivion. Gray's "Verses 

 on a Cat being drowned in a tub of 

 gold fishes," seems to promise little 

 from the title; but when we see 

 trifling incident embcllislicd with 

 ntat allusions to the iaults of ambi- 

 tion, and the false friendships of the 

 world, we read it over and over 

 with avidity, and esteem it as one 

 of the poetical gems of a great 

 master. 



On the whole, Jones's talents 

 must be estimated by the line he set 

 out in, vi?. ajoiirneyv.an Iricklayer 

 uith a moderate share of educatio7i; 

 and, considering that he neglected 

 the means that were offered him to 

 impiove this situation, and rested 

 almost solely en those talents which 



nature 



