Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 30.djvu/119

 held the office till the prince's death, 6 Nov. 1612 (Revel Accounts, Shak. Soc., 1842, p. xv). The prince employed him and Jonson to produce the masque of ‘Oberon, the Faery Prince,’ on New-year's day 1610–11. The poet again overlooks, in the printed copies, Jones's share in the representation, which is recorded in the roll of the privy purse expenses of the prince. According to some Latin rhymes by Thomas Coryat, Jones, ‘nec indoctus, nec prophanus, Ignatius architectus,’ took part with Donne, Christopher Brooke, Lionel Cranfield, and ‘Mr. Hoskins’ in a philosophical feast held at the Mitre on 2 Sept. 1611 (State Papers, Dom. lxvi. 2). Some verses by Jones figure in the eccentric introduction to ‘Coryat's Crudities’ (1611).

Jones was employed upon two of the three masques—those by Thomas Campion and George Chapman—which celebrated at court the marriage of the Palsgrave with the Princess Elizabeth in February 1612–13 (cf. Hist. MSS. Comm. 3rd Rep. p. 281). Walpole assigns to Jones at this period those buildings ‘which are less pure, and border too much upon that bastard style which one calls King James' Gothic.’ But according to the roll of Prince Henry's privy purse expenses—the only accessible authority on the point—he was merely engaged on building work ‘at Richmond, St. James, Woodstock, and other places’ (Revel Accounts, p. xvi), and although the character of the work is unspecified it probably consisted of ordinary repairs (cf. State Papers, Dom. lxiii. 85).

In the summer of 1613 Jones set out again for Italy. In the course of the journey he stayed at Vicenza 23 Sept. 1613, at Rome 19 Jan. 1613–14, at Tivoli 13 June 1614, and, after visiting Naples, returned by Vicenza, 13 Aug. 1614, to London before 26 Jan. 1614–15 (manuscript notes in sketch-book at Chiswick, and in Palladio's Architettura at Worcester College, Oxford). At Venice he saw and spoke with Scamozzi, whose depreciation of Palladio he resented, and at Rome Villamena engraved his head in an oval; ‘for what end or purpose,’ adds Vertue, ‘I know not, unless he had demonstrated to them, in some buildings or works of his when there, how great a master he was’ (Addit. MS. 23069, fol. 46). There are, however, two buildings at Leghorn popularly attributed to him, a palace and the façade of the Duomo, of which a drawing, now in the British Museum, is wrongly assigned to his hand. While on this visit to Italy Jones not only carefully studied the buildings, pictures, and statues then held in greatest esteem, but purchased works of art for the Earl of Arundel (, History of Arundel, 1834, p. 424), as well as for the Earl of Pembroke and Lord Danvers (State Papers, Dom. lxxxvi. 132, lxxxviii. 9, xc. 145;, Rubens, 1859, pp. 279, 301).

On 1 Oct. 1615 Jones succeeded Simon Basil in the office of surveyor-general of the works, to which the reversion had been granted him 27 April 1613; he received 8s. per diem for his entertainment, 80l. per annum for his ‘recompense of availes,’ and 2s. 8d. per diem for his riding and travelling charges (, Life, Shak. Soc., 1848, p. 18); but these fees appear to have varied during the reign of Charles I (Pells Issue Rolls; State Papers, Dom. ccci. 9, cccii. 94; Addit. MSS. 23077 fol. 1 v., and 23071, fol. 25). A warrant for his yearly livery, at a cost of 12l. 15s. 10d., is dated 16 March 1615–16 (ib. 5755, fol. 231; see also fol. 230), and a yearly grant of 46l. was made to him 3 April 1629, being the rent of the house which he occupied in Scotland Yard. The sum was payable to the heirs of Simon Basil, his predecessor, who had procured a lease of that part of the yard, hitherto the perquisite of the surveyor-general, and had built certain houses there for his private benefit (Audit Office Enrolments, ii. 464). To meet debts incurred by the office of works in the time of Simon Basil, Jones offered to forego his fees of entertainment, and persuaded the comptroller and paymaster to do likewise until the arrears were cleared (, Vindication of Stone-Heng Restored, 1665, p. 123; cf. State Papers, Dom. cccxviii. 82). Jones discharged his duties energetically. ‘In February 1616’ he carried out ‘certain works in the Star-chamber’ (Accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber), and in a letter dated 21 June 1617 the writer mentions ‘a design for a new Star-chamber, which the king would fain have built, if there were money’ (State Papers, Dom. xcii. 707). A model of this design was prepared (Accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber), and the plan is preserved at Worcester College, Oxford. The queen's house at Greenwich was also begun from his designs in 1617, but it was not finished till 1635 (, Villare Cantianum, 1659, p. 162). Between 1617 and 1623 the chapel of Lincoln's Inn was rebuilt from his designs (, Origines Juridiciales, 1666, p. 234). It was the only building in which he essayed a Gothic manner, unless the church of St. Alban's, Wood Street, which was destroyed in the great fire, should be assigned to him. The proportions of Lincoln's Inn Chapel have been injured by additions in recent years.