640 Obituary. 



service of the Earl of Aylesford, upwards of thirty years, when, the sudden 

 death of that nobleman dissolving the connection, he soon afterwards re- 

 tired upon a handsome pension, which his lamented patron had previously 

 settled upon him. 



Mr. Jones was eminently formed for social life : by his engaging man- 

 ners he had the happy facility of commanding,' even at a first interview, 

 the favourable opinion of all who saw him ; and, when a more lengthened 

 acquaintance ensued, he rarely failed to become the object of strong and 

 lasting attachment. His hospitality was unbounded, and his highest de- 

 light consisted in seeing his table surrounded with happy faces, and in 

 promoting (as none could more effectually do) " the feast of reason and 

 the flow of soul." Altiiough a most conscientious believer in the doctrines 

 of the church of Rome, yet so far was he from being bigotedly attached 

 to his own peculiar tenets, that he freely permitted all his children to 

 attend the public .services of the neighbouring parish church, there being 

 no place of worship belonging to his own communion within less than six 

 or seven miles of his residence. Nevertheless, he was himself for many 

 years, a very frequent attendant at the Catholic chapels of Coventry, 

 Solihull, and Birmingham ; and when his increasing age and infirmities 

 rendered these journeys inconvenient, he continued his devotions at home, 

 appropriating to them daily, during the last few years of his life, a consi- 

 derable portion of his time. His last visit to Birmingham was for the 

 express purpose of attending public worship at the Catholic chapel, at 

 Easter, 1880 (being then 90 years of age), on which occasion he spent a 

 week with the writer of this notice, who will ever retain a most lively 

 recollection of the pleasure it afforded him. Mr. Jones became, in early 

 life, devotedly attached to the study of natural history in all its branches, 

 and his collections were at one time very numerous, and attracted great 

 admiration; his long residence in Somersetshire affording him frequent 

 opportunities of examining the geological features of that beautiful and 

 romantic country, whence a considerable proportion of his finest specimens 

 were derived,- and the writer has frequently heard him declare that in 

 all his excursions he never once passed a stone-quarry without minutely 

 inspecting it. His contributions to the collections of the most eminent 

 naturalists of his time were extremely liberal, and obtained for him the 

 friendly regards of Sir Joseph Banks (then president of the Royal Society), 

 Sir Ashton Lever (the founder of the Leverian Museum, as it was after- 

 wards called), the Lord Chancellor Thurlow, and many other distinguished 

 persons ; among the latter was the Marquess of Donegal, who was so 

 smitten with Mr. Jones's collection, that he offered him a considerable sura 

 of money for the purchase of it, but which Mr. Jones declined. Many- 

 years afterwards, however, he presented the major part of his specimens 

 to a noble lady, to whose family he had been indebted for many acts of 

 kindness ; other portions were bestowed upon different members of his 

 own family, and the remnant of the collection has since fallen into the 

 hands of him who now records its dispersion. — Thomas Clarke, jun. Bir- 

 mingham, Sept. 8. 1831. 



We called on Mr. Jones early in May last, and found the venerable gentle- 

 man seemingly in good health, though rather deaf. We were surprised at 

 the strength of his mind and at the liberality of his observations. Li short, 

 we found nothing in his intellect which indicated the infirmities of age. He 

 mentioned a number of anecdotes respecting the celebrated landscape- 

 gardener Brown, to whom he had been foreman, and who placed him as 

 head gardener at Packington, and he made some remarkable observations 

 respecting the Gardener's Magazine, which we shall give in the details of 

 our tour. — Cond. 



