■720 



ANNUAL REGISTER. 



cure place of considerable emolu- 

 ment. 



In this retreat he became ac- 

 quainted with Miss JNIary \ix, the 

 youngest daughter of George Six, 

 a cabinet-maker of London, who, 

 although of low extraction, had 

 raised himself to eminence in his 

 profession ; and, from the honest 

 and pleasant frankness of his conver- 

 sation, was admitted to the tables of 

 the great, and to the intimacy of 

 lord Macclesfield. The acquaint- 

 ance of Mr. Jones with Miss Nix 

 terminated in marriage, and from 

 this union sprang three children; 

 the last of whom, the late Sir Wil- 

 liam Jones, Avasborn in London, on 

 the eve of the festival of St. INlichael 

 in the year 1746 : the first son, 

 George, died in his infancy ; and 

 the second child, a daughter, Mary, 

 >vho was born in 1736, married Mr. 

 llainsford, a merchant retired from 

 business in opulent circumstances. 

 This lady perished miserably, in the 

 year 1802, in consequence of an 

 accident from her clothes 

 fire. 



Mr. Jones survived the birtJi of 

 liis son William but three years: he 

 was attacked with a disorder, which 

 the sagacity of Dr. Mead, who at- 

 tended him with the anxiety of an 

 aflecticnate friend, immediately dis- 

 covered to be a polypus in the heart, 

 and wholly incurable. He died soon 

 after, in July 174g, leaving behind 

 him a great reputation, and mode- 

 rate property. 



The care of the education of Wil- 

 liam now devolved upon his mother, 

 who, in many respects, was emi- 

 nently qualified for the task. Her 

 character, as delineated by her hus- 

 band, with somewhat of mathemati- 

 cal precision, is this: — "that she 

 was virtuous without blemish, geuc- 



catching 



rous without extravagance, frugal 

 but not niggard, cheerful but not 

 giddy, close but not sullen, ingeni- 

 ous but not conceited, of spirit but 

 not passionate, of her company 

 cautious, in her friendship trusty, 

 to her parents dutiful, and to her 

 husband ever faithful, loving, and 

 obedient." She had, by nature, a 

 strong understanding, which was 

 improved by his conversation and 

 instruction. Under his tuition she 

 became a considerable proficient in 

 algebra; and, with a view to qualify 

 herself for the office of preceptor to 

 her sister's son, w ho was destined 

 to a maritime profession, made her- 

 self perfect in trigonometry, and the 

 theory of navigation. 



In the plan adopted by Mrs. Jones 

 for the instruction of her son, she 

 proposed to reject the severity of 

 discipline, and to lead his mind, in- 

 sensibly, to knowledge and exertion, 

 by exciting his curiosity, and direct- 

 ing it to useful objects. To his in- 

 cessant importunities for infonnatiou 

 on casual topics of conversation, 

 which she watchfully stimulated, she 

 coH^antly replied, read, and tjoit 

 iciU Icnon; ; a maxim, to the obser- 

 vance of which he always acknow- 

 ledged himself indebted for his future 

 attainments. By this method, his 

 desire to learn became as eager as 

 her wish to teach ; and such was her 

 talent of instruction, and his facility 

 of retaining it, that in his fourth 

 year he was able to read, distinctly 

 and rapidly, any English book. 

 She particularly attended, at the 

 same time to the cultivation of his 

 memory, by making him learn and 

 repeat some of the popular speeches 

 in Shakespeare, and the best of 

 Gay's Fables. 



In this year of his life, Jones 

 providentally escaped from two ac- 



cidcDts> 



