17(30 



/ MM 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



In his ninth year he had the mis- 

 fortune to break his thigh-bone in 

 a scramble with his schoBl-fellows, 

 and this accident detained him from 

 school twclye months. After his 

 relief from pain, howerer, the pe- 

 riod of iiis confinement was not 

 sulfered to pass in indolence ; his 

 mother was his constant companion, 

 and amused him daily with the pe- 

 rusal of such English books as she 

 deemed adapted to his taste and ca- 

 pacity. The juvenile poems of 

 Pope, and Dryden's translation of 

 the iEneid afforded him incessant 

 d-light, and excited his poetical ta- 

 lents, -which displayed themselves 

 in the compilation of verses in imi- 

 tation of his favourite authors. 

 But his progress in classical learning, 

 during this interval, was altogether 

 suspended ; for, although he might 

 have availed himself of the protiered 

 instruction of a friend, in whose 

 house he resided, to acquire the ru- 

 diments of Latin, he was then so 

 unable to comprehend its utility, 

 and had so little relish for it, that 

 he was left unrestrained to pursue 

 his juvenile occujjations and amuse- 

 ments ; and the little which he had 

 gained in his first two years was 

 near'y lost in the third. 



On his return to school h« was, 

 however, placed in the same class 

 which he would have attained if 

 the progress of his studies had not 

 been interrupted. He was, of 

 course, far behind his fellow-labour- 

 ers of the same standing, m ho erro- 

 neously ascribed his insufficiency to 

 laziness or dullness ; while the mas- 

 ter, who had raised him to a situa- 

 tion above his powers, required ex- 

 ertions cf which he was incapable ; 

 and corporal punishment and degra- 

 dation were applied for the non- 

 p^erforaianco of tasks wbiclj he had 



never been instructed io furnish. 

 But, in fruth, he far excelled his 

 schooi-leilows in general, both in 

 diligence and quickness of appre- 

 hension ; nor was he of a tem])er to 

 submit to imputations which he 

 knew tobe unmeriteil. Punishment 

 failed to produce the intended ef- 

 fect ; but his emulation was roused. 

 lie devoted himself incessantly to 

 the perusal of various elemen'arj 

 treatises, which had never been ex- 

 plained, nor even reconnnended to 

 him; and, having thus acquired 

 principles, he applied them with 

 such skill and success, that in a few 

 months he not only recovered the 

 station from which lie had been de- 

 graded, but was at the head of his 

 class : his compositions were cor- 

 rect, his analyses accurate, and he 

 uniformly giiined every prize oftercd 

 for the best exercise. He volunta- 

 rily extended his studies beyond the 

 prescribed limits, and by solitary 

 labour, having acquired a competent 

 kno« ledge of the rules of prosody, 

 he composed verses in imitation of 

 Ovid, a task which had never been 

 required from any of the students 

 in the lower school at Harrow. 



In his twelfth year Jones was re- 

 moved into the upper school. Of 

 the retentive powers of his memory, 

 at this period, the following anec- 

 dote is a remarkable instance : his 

 $chool-fellows proposed to amuse 

 themselves with the representation 

 of a play ; and at his recommenda- 

 tion they fixed upon the Tempest: 

 as it was not readily to be procured, 

 he wrote it fur them so correctly 

 from memory, that they acted it 

 with great satisfaction to themselves, 

 and with considerable entertainment 

 to the spectators. He performed 

 the character of Prospero. 

 ^ His diligence increased with hi» 

 advanccmeiit 



