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advocate for the practice of bodily exercises, as no less useful to invigorate his frame, than as a necessary qualification for any active exertions to which he might eventually be called. At home, his attention was directed to the modern languages; and he read the best authors in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, following in all respects the plan of education recommended by Milton, which he had by heart; and thus, to transcribe an observation of his own, with the fortune of a peasant, giving himself the education of a prince.

If the literary acquisitions of Mr. Jones at this period be compared with his years, few instances will be found, in the annals of biography, of a more successful application of time and talents, than he exhibits; and it is worthy of observation, that he was no less indebted to his uncommon industry and method for his attainments, than to his superior capacity.

A mind thus occupied in the pursuit of universal literature, was little susceptible of the passions of avarice or ambition: but, as he was sensible that the charges attending his education, notwithstanding his habitual attention to economy, must occasion a considerable deduction from the moderate income which his mother possessed, he anxiously wished for a fellowship, that he might relieve her from a burden which she could ill support. If the prospect of acquiring that advantage had not been remote, no temptation would have seduced him from the University; but at the period when he began to despair of obtaining it, he received through Mr. Arden, whose sister was married to his friend Sumner, an offer to be the private tutor of Lord Althorpe, now Earl Spencer. He had been recommended to the family of this nobleman by Dr. Shipley, to whom he was not then personally known, but who had seen and approved his compositions at Harrow, and particularly a

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Greek oration in praise of Lyon, an honest yeoman, who founded the school at that place in the reign of Elizabeth. The proposal was cheerfully accepted by Mr. Jones; and in his nineteenth year he went to London, and was so delighted with the manners of his pupil, then just seven years old, that he abandoned all thoughts of a profession, and resolved to devote himself to the faithful discharge of the important duties of his new situation. He had the satisfaction to find that this determination would probably restore him to the society of his best and most respected friend, Dr. Sumner, as he understood from Mr. Arden, that his pupil, after some preliminary instruction, would be fixed at Harrow.

He returned for the present to Oxford, where he remained for a few months, and, in the summer of 1765, went for the first time, as had been proposed, to Wimbledon Park, to take upon himself the charge of his pupil's education.

He was now placed in a sphere perfectly new to him.-If he quitted the University with a regret proportioned to his increasing attachment to it, his change of situation offered other advantages, amongst which he justly esteemed his introduction into the first ranks of society, and a residence in one of the most agreeable places in the kingdom. He had new objects to engage his observation, and an interesting occupation, from the discharge of which he derived great satisfaction; his applicattion to literature was pursued without intermission, for, although he resided at Wimbledon until the approach of the winter only, he found sufficient leisure to compose many of his English poems, and to read the greatest part of the Old Testament in Hebrew, particularly the Book of Job, and the Prophets, which he studied with great attention.

In the course of the following summer, by an unexpected concurrence of circumstances, a fellowship, which, in his estimation, gave him absolute independence, was bestowed upon him, and he went for a short time to Oxford, that he might go through the regular forms of election and admission. He was accordingly elected fellow on the foundation of Sir Simon Bennet, on the 7th of August, 1766.

The idea of deriving an absolute independence from an annual income, not exceeding, upon an average, one hundred pounds, may appear ridiculous when contrasted with the enlarged estimate of a competence in these times. But this sum, in fact, was more than the wise economy of a college life then made necessary for a single man, whose habits of prudence were formed, and Mr. Jones considered his fellowship as a freehold, in a place for which he had now contracted an enthusiastic fondness, where he had access to extensive libraries, rare manuscripts, the company of learned men, and all, as he expressed himself, that his heart could wish; and if he had obtained it a year sooner, he would probably have been induced to decline the delicate and responsible task of education.

On his return to Wimbledon, he was flattered by an offer from the Duke of Grafton, then at the head of the Treasury, of the place of Interpreter for Eastern languages: but, although the acceptance of it might not have interfered with his other pursuits, or engagements, he declined it politely, but without hesitation, earnestly requesting that it might be conferred upon Mirza, whose character he wrote. This disinterested solicitation was unnoticed; and his disappointment made him regret his ignorance of the world, in not accepting the proffered office, under a resolution to consign the entire emoluments of it to his Syrian friend.

During his summer residence at Wimbledon, he formed an acquaintance to which he owed the future happiness of his life. He there saw, for the first time, Anna Maria, the eldest daughter of Dr. Shipley, then Dean of Winchester: but whatever impressions her person and conversation made upon the heart of Mr. Jones, his fixed ideas of an honourable independence, and a determined resolution never to owe his fortune to a wife, or her kindred, excluded all ideas of a matrimonial connection. In different circumstances, he might perhaps have then solicited an alliance, which he afterwards courted and obtained.

The family of Lord Spencer removed late in Autumn to London; and Mr. Jones, with his usual avidity to acquire the accomplishments of a gentleman, as well as those of a scholar, privately arranged a plan with Gallini, who attended the younger part of the family, for receiving instructions from him in dancing; at the same time he continued his morning attendance, without intermission, at the two schools of Angelo, with whose manners he was extremely pleased. Before he left London, he had an opportunity, which he did not neglect, of learning the use of the broad-sword, from an old pensioner at Chelsea, who had been active, as his scars proved, in many engagements, and whose narrative propensity frequently amused him.

The acquisition of his new accomplishment, by Gallini's assistance, had been made with secrecy; and the display of it enabled him to participate with much satisfaction, in the evening amusements at Althorpe, where he passed the winter with his pupil. But his greatest delight was furnished by an excellent library, in which he found intellectual treasures of the highest value in his estimation ; scarcely a single book escaped his inspection; and some of the most rare he perused with indefatigable application. It was at this

period,

period, in the twenty-first year of his age, that he began his Commentaries on Asiatic Poetry, in imitation of Dr. Louth's Prelections at Oxford, on the sacred poetry of the Hebrews.

The summer of 1767, opened a new scene to him; the indisposition of Lord Spencer rendered a journey to Spa advisable for the restoration of his health, and Mr. Jones attended the family: but his residence on the Continent was too short to gratify his curiosity. At Spa he remained only three weeks, part of which he dedicated to the lessons of Janson, of Aix-la-Chapelle, a most incomparable dancing-master, and part to the acquisition of the German language, in which he so far succeeded, as to be able to read Gesner with delight, assisted only by an excellent German Grammar and Dictionary; the pronunciation he had formerly learnt from a fellow collegian, who had passed some years at Brunswick. He would gladly have availed himself of the instruction of a German master ; but none was to be found at Spa, and his finances were unequal to the expense of procuring that assistance from Aix-la-Chapelle. Notwithstanding these occupations, he found leisure to participate in all the amusements of the place.

In the winter of 1767, Mr. Jones resided with his pupil at Althorpe the attention of Lord Spencer's family was then much occupied in the contested election at Northampton; but as he had neither inclination nor inducement to take any part in it, he confined himself chiefly to the library, which never failed to supply him with increasing sources of entertainment and improvement. His excursions into the regions of literature were unlimited, and as his application was directed with his usual perseverance, he nearly completed his Commentaries, transcribed an Arabic manuscript on Egypt and the Nile, borrowed from Dr. Russel, and copied the keys of the Chinese language, which he wished to learn.

The

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