CHARACTERS. 



731 



those of Homer, Virgil, Tasso, and 

 Camoens, designed to celebrate the 

 honours of his country, to display 

 in a striking light the most impor- 

 tant principles of politics and mo- 

 rality, and to inculcate these grand 

 maxims that nothing can shake our 

 state, while the true liberty of the 

 siibjeft remains united with the dig- 

 nity of the sovereign, and that in 

 all states virtue is the only sure 

 1; L^is of public and private happi- 

 ness. He reserved the completion 

 o! the poem to a period of leisure 

 and independence which never ar- 

 rived : and although, after an inter- 

 val of some years, he resumed the 

 idea of composing an epic poem on 

 the same subject, but with consider- 

 al)le alterations, he never extended 

 the execution of it beyond a few 

 lines. 



The anticipation of future pros- 

 poets, suggested by the fervor of 

 youthful imagination, is too com- 

 mon to all, but particularly to men 

 of genius, to excite much surprise ; 

 and of them it has been generally 

 ami justly remarked, that what has 

 been performed by them boars lit- 

 tle proportion to what has been 

 projected. In th "ir progress thro' 

 life, impediments occur to the exe- 

 cution of their plans, which the 

 mind at first eagerly overlooks ; 

 whilst timo,imperceptibly advancing, 

 deprives them of the power, and 

 even of the inclination, ^o complete 

 what has been designed with so 

 much ardour. They find, what 

 experience daily proves, that the 

 duties of life can only be properly 

 performed when they are the pri- 

 mary objects of our regard and at- 

 tention. 



On the 30th of April, 1772, Mr. 

 Jones was elected a fellow of the 



royal society, and admitted on May 

 the 14th of the same year. 



The kindness of a contemporary 

 student has furnished an anecdote iu 

 proof of his particular aversion to 

 the logic of the schools, that in an 

 oration which he pronounced in 

 University hall, he declaimed vio- 

 lently against Burgcrsdicius, Cra- 

 canthorpius, and the whole body of 

 logicians in the college of queen 

 Phillippa, his opposite neighbour. 



Of his uncommon industry, many 

 proofs might be enumerated, and 

 among others, the copying of seve- 

 ral Arabic manuscripts, of which 

 one was the entertaining romance 

 of Bedreddin Hassan,, or Aladdin's 

 lamp, from a most elegant specimen 

 of Arabian calligraphy. 



Nor was he less remarked for an 

 affectionate attention to his mother 

 and sister, who resided at Oxford ; 

 such portion of his time as he could 

 spare from his studies was given to 

 their society ; and during his occa- 

 sional absence from the university, 

 he was regular in his correspondence 

 with his mother. 



In the commencement of 1774 

 he published his Commentaries on 

 Asiatic Poetry. This work was re- 

 ceived with admiration and applause 

 by the oriental scholars of Europe 

 in general, as well as by the learn- 

 ed of his own country. It was per- 

 haps the first publication on eastern 

 literature, which had an equal claim 

 to elegance and erudition. This 

 work Av^as begun by Mr. JoncS in 

 1766, and finished iri 1769, when 

 he V as in his twenty-third year ; 

 but with the same solicitude which 

 he had exhibited on other occasions, 

 to lay his comjio-^itions before the 

 public in the greatest ])ossil)le per-i 

 feitjou^ he had repeatedly submit- 

 ted. 



