JONES. 



posts, were continued to him under 

 Charles I. The entertainments, called 

 masques, introduced by James's queen, 

 Anne of Denmark, and in vogue during 

 the gay part of the succeeding reign, gave 

 Jones frequent employment in the inven- 

 tion of the scenery and decorations. The 

 poetical composer of most of these pieces 

 was Ben Jonson, between whom and 

 Jones a violent quarrel took place, pro- 

 ductive of much virulent abuse, in detes- 

 table verse, on the part of the testy bard. 

 It appears that the architect, too, was a 

 dabbler in poetry, which, perhaps, might 

 be the occasion of the difference between 

 them. 



The repairs of St. Paul's did not com- 

 mence till 1633. Of our architect's per- 

 formance in this business, Mr. Walpole 

 thus speaks : " In the restoration of that 

 cathedral, he made two capital faults. 

 He first renewed the sides with very bad 

 Gothic, and then added a Roman portico, 

 magnificent and beautiful indeed, but 

 which had no affinity with the ancient 

 parts that remained, and made his own 

 Gothic appear ten times heavier. He 

 committed the same error at Winchester, 

 thrusting a screen, in the Roman or Gre- 

 cian taste, into the middle of that cathe- 

 dral. Jones, indeed, was by no means suc- 

 cessful when he attempted Gothic." He 

 had much employment, both from the 

 court and among the nobility, and realized 

 a handsome fortune, which was diminish- 

 ed by sufferings during the troubles which 

 succeeded. He was obnoxious, both as a 

 favourite of his royal master, and as a Ro- 

 man Catholic. The first attack made up- 

 on him was in 1640, when he was called 

 before the House of Lords, on a com- 

 plaint of the parishioners of St. Gregory's, 

 for demolishing part of their church, in 

 order to make room for his additions to 

 St. Paul's. In 1646 he was obliged to 

 pay 5451. by way of composition as a ma- 

 lignant. 



The king's death greatly affected him; 

 and he died, worn down by grief and 

 misfortune, in July, 1651. He is said to 

 have been a skilful geometrician, and to 

 have been well acquainted with various 

 branches of knowledge. He was certain- 

 ly the greatest English architect previous 

 to Sir Christopjier Wren. His designs 

 with the pen were highly valued by Van- 

 dyke. A collection of them was engraved 

 and published by Mr. Kent, in two vo- 

 lumes folio, 1727, and some lesser designs 

 in 1744. Others were published in 1743, 

 4to. by Mr. Ware. A copy of Palladio's 

 Architecture, with manuscript notes by 

 Jones, is in the library of Worcester Col- 



VOL. VI. 



lege, Oxford. Mr. Walpole has given a 

 catalogue of the principal buildings erect* 

 ed and decorated by this architect. 



JONES (WILLIAM), in biography, a very 

 eminent mathematician in the seventeenth 

 and former part of the eighteenth centu- 

 ry, was bom in the parish of Llanfihangel 

 trer Bard, at the foot of Bodavun moun- 

 tain, in the isle of Anglesea, North Wales, 

 in the year 1680. His parents were yeo- 

 men, or small farmers, on that island, and 

 he there received the best education 

 which they were able to afford ; reading* 

 writing, and accounts, in English, and the 

 Latin grammar. Having, however, an ex* 

 traordinary turnforraathematical studies, 

 by the industrious exertion of vigorous in- 

 tellectual powers, he supplied the defects 

 of adequate instruction, and laid the foun- 

 dation of his future fame and fortune. He 

 began his career in life by teaching ma- 

 thematics on board a man of war ; and in 

 this situation he attracted the notice, and 

 obtained the friendship, of Lord Anson. 

 In his twenty-second year, Mr. Jones 

 published "A New Compendium of the 

 whole Art of Navigation," &c. 8vo. which 

 is a neat little piece, and was received 

 with great approbation. He was present 

 at the capture of Vigo, in the same year, 

 and having joined his comrades in quest 

 of pillage, he eagerly fixed upon a book- 

 seller's shop as the object of his depreda- 

 tion ; but finding in it no literary treasures, 

 which were the sole plunder that he co- 

 veted, he contented himself with a pair of 

 scissars, which he frequently exhibited to 

 his friends as a trophy of his military suc- 

 cess, relating the anecdote by which he 

 gained it. After the return of the fleet to 

 England, he immediately established him- 

 self as a teacher of mathematics in Lon- 

 don, where, in the year If 06, he publish- 

 ed his" "Synopsis Palmariorum Mathe- 

 seos ;" or, " A New Introduction to the 

 Mathematics," &c. containing a perspi- 

 cuous and useful compendium of all the 

 mathematical sciences, and affording a de- 

 cisive proof of his early and consummate 

 proficiency in his favourite studies. The 

 private character of Mr. Jones was re- 

 spectable ; his manners were agreeable 

 and inviting ; and those qualities not only 

 contributed to enlarge the circle of his 

 friends, whom his established reputation 

 for science had attracted, but also to se- 

 cure their attachment to him. 



Among others who honoured him with 

 their esteem, was the great and virtuous 

 Lord Hardwicke, whom he attended as a 

 companion on the circuit, when he was 

 Chief Justice ; and this nobleman, when 

 he afterwards held the Great Seal, avail* 



R r , 



