JONES. 



wlicre he refided till the approach of winter, he found lei- 

 furc to compofe many of his Eiiglidi poems, and to read 

 the greatell "part of the Old Teftament in Hebrew, parti- 

 cularly the book of Job, and the Prophets, which he Iludied 

 with great attention. In the following fummer a fellowfhip 

 became vacant, and he was elefted to it Aug. 7, 1766. At 

 this time he was offered by the duke of Grafton, then at 

 the head of tlie trcafury, the place of interpreter for Eall- 

 ern languages, which he politely declined, apprehending that 

 it would be inconfillent with his other engagements and piir- 

 fuits. In the courfe of this fiunmer he formed an acquaint- 

 ance with a young lady, Anna Maria, the eldell daughter of 

 Dr. Ship!>-y, then dean of Winchefter, who was vifiting 

 at Wimbledon, to which he owed the happincfs of his fu- 

 ture life. Buc fuch were his views of an honourable indepen- 

 dence, and his refolution never to owe his fortune to a wife, 

 or her kindred, that, notwithllaiiding tlie impreffions made 

 upon his heart by the perfon and convcrfation of this lady, 

 he could not then admit any idea of a matrimonial connec- 

 tion. In the following wmter he attended the two fchools 

 of Angelo, and by a fecret arrangement with Gallini, ac- 

 quired the accomphfhment of dancing. Having occafion to 

 accompany lord Spencer's family to Spa in the fummer of 

 1767, he i:nprovcd himfelf, during the (liovt period of three 

 weeks' rellrience in this place, in the art of dancing, by the 

 le(li)is of Janlbn-.of Aix-la-Chapelle, and acquired a very 

 confiderable knowledge of the German language. In the 

 year 1 768 application was made to Mr. Jones by the fecre- 

 tary of Hat;, on behalf of the king of Denmark, then in 

 England, requelling him to give a literal tranflation of the 

 life of Nartir Shah in the French language. Having for 

 fome time declined the propofal, he at length accepted it ; 

 and the tranflation was publiihed, after fom.e delay, in the 

 year 1770. To the hillory of Nadir Shah, he added a trea- 

 tife on Oriental Poetry, v/hich treatife, executed by a young 

 man in his 23d year, has been juftly confidered as an extraor- 

 dinary pcrforniance ; " inftrudlive and elegant, interelling 

 from Its novelty, entertaining from its fubjeft and variety, and 

 exhibiting the combined powers of talle and erudition." 

 Being at Tunbridge in 1768, he then began to learn muiic, 

 and afterwards received lefTons from Evans on the Welih 

 harp. We may here mention his attendance on a courfe of ana- 

 tomical lectures by the celebrated Hunter, and his ftudy of 

 the mathematics, whicli he fo well underttood, as to be able 

 to read and underlland Newton's Principia. 



In the beginning of this year he had commenced an ac- 

 quaintance with Reviczki, afterwards the imperial niiniiler 

 at Warfaw, and ambaffador at the court of England, with 

 the title of count. This accompliihcd nobleman being cap- 

 tivated by the charms of oriental literature, cultivated an in- 

 timacy with Mr. Jones, which was continued by a corrc- 

 fpondence, that was carried on for many years. Many of 

 the letters that paded between them on their favourite i'ub- 

 je£l are publifhed in the Hfe by lord Teignmouth. In the 

 feimmerof 1769, Mr. Jo:ies attended his pupil to Ha;ro\v' ; 

 aad it was with pecuhar fatisfaiSlion that he renewed that in- 

 lercourfe with Dr. Sumner, which had been for fomc time 

 interrupted, though not altogether difcontinued. Here he 

 tranfcribeda Periian. gramm<ir, which three years before he 

 had compofcd for a fehool-fellow, who was deftined for 

 India ; iie alfo began a didionary of the Perfian language. 



Of the religious principles of Mr. Jones fome account may 

 be reafonably expected. Whllil he was at Harrow, in his 

 24th year, wc have reafon to believe that hh fuith in Chrif- 

 tianjty was not unblended with doubts. Indeed no particu- 

 lar attention feems to have been paid to tliis part of liis edii- 

 'Cation ; a circumltancc- wliich, we confefs, appears to us 



furprifing, and for which we are unable to account. His 

 mind, however, was fo upright and fo well difpofed, that he 

 e.KprelTed his doubts, not in the too fafliionable mode of con- 

 ceited cavilling, but with a fincere dcfire of obtaining a folu- 

 tion of them. Finding himfelf difappointed, he determined 

 to examine the fubjecfl for himfelf, and to perufe the whole 

 fcripture in the original, that he might be enabled to form a 

 correal judgment of the connedtion between the two parts, 

 and of their evidence both internal and external. The 

 refult was a firm belief in the authenticity and infpi- 

 ration of the facred writings. About this time he drew 

 up a feries of propofitions, which have been found in 

 his own hand-writing in a Hebrew copy of tile book 

 of Hofca, and which contain the llictch of a demonftration 

 of the divine authority of the Chrillian religion. To thefe 

 propofitions, tranfcribed by his biographer, the following 

 note is fubjoined : " what muft be the importance of a 

 book," of wliich it may be tridy laid, " if this book be not 

 true, tlie religion which we profefs is falfe ?" 



Towards the end of the year 1769, Mr. Jones accompanied 

 lord Spencer's family to the continent. Soon after his return 

 he adopted the refolution of altering his plan of life. The 

 courfe which he was purfuing, however agreeable it was 

 rendered to him by the family with which he was connected, 

 did not exadly corrcfpond to that idea and fpirit of inde- 

 pendence which marked his charafter. " He united the 

 laudable delire of acquiring public diilimJlion and of making 

 his fortune by his own efforts : above all, he was ani- 

 mated with the noble ambition of being ufcful to his 

 country ;" accordingly he determined to devote himfelf to 

 the ftudy and practice of the law ; and with this view he was 

 admitted into the T-'emple on tlie 19th of September 1770. 

 His attachment to Oriental literature and to general fcience, 

 however, continued unabated, notwithllandiiig the time and 

 attention which he devoted to his new profefllon. In 1772 

 he publiihed a fmall volume of poems, confilling chiefly of 

 tranflations from the A'iatic languages, with two profe dif- 

 fertations annexed : and though he does not appear to have 

 communicated any paper for the Philofophical TranfaCtions, 

 he was, on the 30th of April 1772, elefted a fellow of 

 the Royal Society. On occafion of taking his Mafber's 

 degree in the univerfity in 1773, he compoled an oration, 

 intending to have fpoken it in the theatre. The fpeech was 

 publiihed 10 years after, and the topics that cliaraderize it 

 are, " an ardent love of liberty, an enthuliaftic veneration 

 for the univerfity, a warm and difcriminate eulogium on 

 learned men, who devoted their talents and labours to the 

 caufe of religion, fcience, and freedom.'' In the com- 

 mencement of 1 774, he publiflied his commentaries on Afialic 

 poetry, a work begun in 1766, and finifiied in ,1769, when 

 he was in his 23d year, which " was received with admira- 

 tion and applaufe by the oriental fcholars of Europe in 



general, as well as bytlje learned of his own country." To 

 thefe commentaries is annexed an elegant addrefs to the 

 Mufe, in which Mr. Jones declares hispurpofe of renouncing 

 polite literature, and devoting himfelf altogether to the ftudy 

 of the law. In January 17 74 he was called to the b:u- ; and 

 for fome years he feems to have inflexibly adhered to the 

 above-mentioned refolutions. For fome time he declined 

 pradlice, and feduloufly applied himfelf to his legal ftudies. 

 In 1775, for the firft time, he attended the fpringcJrcuit and 

 fefiions at Oxford; perhaps more as a fpeftator than anaftor; 

 and in the following year he was regular in his attendance 

 at Wellminfter-hall. In 1778 he publiflied a ti-anflalion of 

 the fpeeclies of Ifseus, in caufcs concernuig the law of fuc- 

 cefiion to property at Athen.s, with a prefatory difcourfe, 

 notes critical and liiUorical, and a commentary. Tlie year 



