CHARACTERS. 



733 



aud KcalouiJy discharged, than by 

 Air. Jones. To her able instru(5tion 

 he was indebted for the first rudi- 

 ments of literature ; she directed his 

 early studies, formed his habits and 

 his taste ; and, by the closest at- 

 tention to economy, was enabled 

 to promote his progress in learning, 

 by supplying the funds for this pur- 

 pose. From the period of his ob- 

 taining a fellowship, he had declined 

 receiving any assistance from her 

 purse ; and as his professional pro- 

 fits increased, his own was ever at 

 her disposal. During his residence 

 at Oxford, the time which he did 

 not employ in study or college du- 

 ties, was devoted to her : his atten- 

 tion was equally the result of prin- 

 ciple and affection. She Avas the 

 couiidant of his plans, hopes, and 

 occupations^ aud he invariably con- 

 sulted her on all occasions, where 

 his most important interests were 

 concerned. The kindness, as well 

 as the sincerity of his ad'ecVion, was 

 shewn in numberless instances, which 

 never failed to attract the .observa- 

 tion of his friends and associates, 

 although they are too minute to be 

 particularized ; and the satisfaction 

 which he derived from the distinc- 

 tion to which his abilities had raised 

 him, was re-doubled from the con- 

 sideration that his mother partici- 

 pated in it. 



In the beginning of 1783 Mr. 

 Jones published his translation of 

 the seven Arabian poems which he 

 finished in 1781. It was.his inten- 

 tion to have prefixed to this work, 

 a discourse on the antiquity of the 

 Arabian language arul diararters, 

 on the manners of the Arabs in tiie 

 age immediatelv preceding that of 

 Mahomiuvd, and otiier interesting 

 information respiVting the poems, 

 aud the live* of the autliors. with a 



critical history of their worliS ; but 

 he could not command suilicient 

 leisure for the execution of it. Some 

 of the subjects intended for this dis- 

 sertation, appeared in a discourse 

 on the Arabs, composed some years 

 afterwards; and from the manner 

 in which it was written, it is im- 

 possible not to regret the irrecover- 

 able loss of the larger dlscussioa 

 which he originally proposed. The 

 poems present us wit!i a curious 

 specimen of the manners of the na- 

 tives of Arabia, and on this account 

 must be particularly interesting to 

 those, who consider the study of 

 human nature in all its varieties, as 

 an instructive objea of contempla- 

 tion. '' They exhibit (to use the 

 words of Mr. Jones) an exact pic- 

 ture of the virtues and vices of the 

 Arabs in the age of the seven poets, 

 their wisdom and their folly, and 

 shew what may be constantly ex- 

 pefted from men of open hearts 

 and boiling passions, with no law 

 to control, and little religion io re- 

 strain them." 



The period was now arrived, 

 when Mr. Jones had the happiness 

 io gain the accomplishment of his 

 most anxious wishes. In March 

 1783, during the administration of 

 lord Sheiburnc, be was appointed 

 a judge of the supreme court of ju- 

 dicature at Fort William, at Bengal, 

 on which occasion the honour of 

 knighthood was conferred upon him ; 

 and iu the April following he mar- 

 ried Anna Maria Shipley, the eldest 

 daughter of the bishop oi St. Asaph, 

 we have rqinarked the early impres- 

 sion made ui)on the alVeCtions of sir 

 William .!oncs by this lady, and 

 the honourable determination which 

 he formed \\\w\\ that occasion ; and 

 if ((() use lord 'J'cignmoutirs words) 

 1 shouhl Ikuc iucceeded in im- 



pariin<; 



