Life

Jones was born at Beaulieu, near Drogheda

Drogheda

Drogheda is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, 56 km north of Dublin. It is the last bridging point on the River Boyne before it enters the Irish Sea....

, co. Louth, in 1721. He was apprenticed to a bricklayer, but contrived to study privately. Some complimentary verses which he addressed to the corporation of Drogheda and some lines 'On Mr. Pope's Death,' attracted the attention of Lord-chief-justice Singleton, who lived at Beaulieu. In 1745 he obtained employment in the reparation of the parliament house at Dublin, Jones celebrated the arrival of Lord Chesterfield

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield PC KG was a British statesman and man of letters.A Whig, Lord Stanhope, as he was known until his father's death in 1726, was born in London. After being educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, he went on the Grand Tour of the continent...

 as lord-lieutenant of Ireland in a poem which was presented to Chesterfield by Singleton. Chesterfield rewarded Jones liberally, and, at his request, Jones followed him to London in 1748. With the assistance of Chesterfield and his friends, Jones published by subscription Poems on Several Occasions, 8vo, London, 1749, from which he derived a handsome profit. He finished about the end of 1752 his tragedy, The Earl of Essex. Chesterfield warmly commended it to Colley Cibber

Colley Cibber

Colley Cibber was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style...

. The latter introduced Jones to the manager of Covent Garden Theatre, and showed his regard for him by making efforts at court to secure the laureateship for Jones after his own death.
The tragedy, after being carefully revised by Chesterfield and Cibber, was brought out at Covent Garden on 21 Feb. 1753, and, thanks to the fine acting of Barry in the title-róle, was played seventeen nights during the season to crowded houses (John Genest

John Genest

-Life:He was the son of John Genest of Dunker's Hill, Devon. He was educated at Westminster School, entered 9 May 1780 as a pensioner at Trinity College, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. 1784 and M.A. 1787. He took holy orders, and was for many years curate of a Lincolnshire village...

, History of the Stage, iv. 370-1, 374, 421). It met with equal success in Dublin and the provinces. Jones's benefits brought him £500. The play was printed soon after its production, and reached a fourth edition in 1770. Its literary quality is of the poorest.

The success ruined Jones, and he took to irregular courses. His drunken habits, indolence, coarse manners, and arrogant temper soon disgusted most of his patrons, though by a carefully regulated system of hypocrisy he continued to keep on terms with Chesterfield for some years longer. At length he offended him by borrowing money of his servant. He had at that time made some progress with a tragedy called 'Harold,' and on that doubtful security managed to raise money from the booksellers. His relations with some of the leading actors were still friendly. He sponged freely on minor actors, whom in his drunken fits he would denounce as 'parrots', but he repaid them with puffs and panegyrics before their benefits. He composed a prologue for Husbands, paid some poetical compliments to Barry on his Hamlet, and wrote a eulogy on Margaret Woffington

Margaret Woffington

Margaret "Peg" Woffington was a well-known Irish actress in Georgian London.- Early life :Woffington was born of humble origins in Dublin. Her father is thought to have been a bricklayer, and after his death, the family became impoverished...

. When an inmate of sponging-house

Sponging-house

A sponging-house was a place of temporary confinement for debtors in the United Kingdom. If someone were to get into debt, their creditor would lay a complaint with the sheriff, the sheriff sent his bailiffs, and the debtor would be taken to the local sponging-house. This was not a debtor's prison,...

s he generally contrived to flatter the daughter or wife of the bailiff with verses on their beauty or talents, and thus secured comfortable quarters. His misfortunes at last excited the pity of the master of the Bedford Coffee-house, Covent Garden, who gave him free board and lodging. He left his room unobserved early one morning, and, after being in a state of intoxication for two days, was run over by a wagon in St. Martin's Lane

St. Martin's Lane

St. Martin's Lane is a street on the edge of Covent Garden in Central London, which runs from the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, after which it is named, near Trafalgar Square northwards to Long Acre.A narrow street with relatively little traffic, St...

. He died in the parish workhouse in April 1770.

Works

Reddish, the actor of Drury Lane, obtained all Jones's manuscripts, which included 'Harold' and three acts of another tragedy called 'The Cave of Idra.' The last-named drama was augmented and completed by Paul Hiffernan, and, under the title of 'The Heroine of the Cave,' was produced for Reddish's benefit on 25 March 1774 (ib. v. 450). It was printed in the following year. The fate of 'Harold' is unknown (Baker, Biog. Dram. ed. 1812, ii. 284-5).

Jones wrote also:

• Philosophy : a Poem address'd to the Ladies who attend Mr. Booth's Lectures. By the Bricklayer, 8vo, Dublin, 1746.
• An Epistle to the . . . Earl of Orrery, occasion'd by reading his Lordship's translation of Pliny's Epistles, 4to, London, 1751.
• Merit: a Poem, 4to, London, 1753.
• The Relief, or Day-Thoughts: a Poem, occasioned by The Complaint, or Night Thoughts [of E. Young] (anon.), 8vo, London, 1754.
• Verses to , . . . the Duke of Newcastle, on the Death of the Rt. Hon. Henry Pelham, 4to, London, 1754.
• The Invention of Letters, and the Utility of the Press [a poem], s. sh. fol., Dublin, 1755.
• An Address to Britain [a poem], 4to, London, 1760.
• Vectis; the Isle of Wight: a Poem, in three Cantos, 4to, London, 1766; another edition, published anonymously as The Isle of Wight, 8vo, Newport, I. W., 1781.
• Clifton: a Poem, in two Cantos, including Bristol and all its Environs, 4to, Bristol, 1667, or rather 1767; second edition, to which is added an Ode to Shakespear in honor of the Jubilee, &c., 1773.
• Kew Garden: a Poem, in two Cantos, 4to, London, 1767.
• Inoculation, or Beauty's Triumph: a Poem, 4to, Bath, 1768.