Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 30.djvu/164

 carpenter and fisherman, often made voyages in a small boat to Liverpool, accompanied by his son, whom he treated badly. ‘Dick’ never attended school, and he was about nine years of age when he first learnt to read Welsh. He afterwards acquired a practical knowledge of English, in which he was never very proficient. At fifteen he commenced to study Latin, at nineteen Greek, and a year later Hebrew. About 1804 he accompanied his father on a voyage to Liverpool, and was presented there with some books, which he lost by shipwreck off the Carnarvon coast on the return journey. Soon afterwards Jones ran away from home. At Bangor he was befriended by Dr. William Cleaver, then bishop of the see, who gave him Greek books and employed him in his gardens. He subsequently spent a year with the Rev. John Williams at Treffos in Anglesea, devoting his time principally to the study of Greek, but also acquiring French, with the aid of some refugees in the neighbourhood. Later on in life he learned Italian and Spanish, and was able to converse freely in them. In the summer of 1807 he journeyed to London, with many books concealed about his ragged dress. He proceeded to Dover, where he was engaged in menial work, and paid Rabbi Nathan for instruction in Hebrew, at the same time gaining some acquaintance with Chaldaic and Syriac. In 1810 he returned to Wales, and was for six months supported by the Rev. Richard Davies of Bangor, for whom he copied and corrected the Hebrew words in Littleton's Latin Dictionary. A useless attempt to teach him a printer's trade in Liverpool followed, but he attracted attention there, and in 1822 his patron, William Roscoe, published an account of his career, and appealed for subscriptions. It is said that Jones compiled a Greek and English lexicon, a Hebrew grammar, and a volume of Hebrew extracts, with vocabulary, to which were added brief Latin treatises on Hebrew music and the accents of Hebrew. But his chief work was a Welsh Greek and Hebrew dictionary, which he commenced in 1821. When it was finished in 1832 he went to an Eisteddfod at Beaumaris, endeavouring unsuccessfully to obtain assistance for its publication. The remaining years of his life were spent partly in Liverpool and partly in journeys made in search of subscribers.

On 10 Oct. 1843 he left Liverpool for St. Asaph, where he died on the 18th of the following December. He was buried on the 21st in St. Asaph churchyard, and a stone with an inscription (quoted in Byegones for 16 Jan. 1889) was placed over his grave. Jones published nothing. He was at all times slovenly in his dress and unmethodical in his habits. A somewhat fanciful portrait, etched by Mrs. Dawson Turner of Norwich, was prefixed to the ‘Memoir’ written by Roscoe, and an engraving by Burt, accompanied by a short article (reprinted in Gent. Mag. 1824, i. 65), was published. An original portrait in oils by William Roose is preserved at Kinmel, Flintshire. 

JONES, ROBERT (fl. 1616), musical composer, after sixteen years' musical study, obtained at Oxford, as a member of St. Edmund Hall, a grace for the Mus. Bac. degree 29 April 1597. In 1616 he occupied a house within the precinct of Blackfriars, near Puddle Wharf, and a patent was granted to him in conjunction with Philip Rossetor, Philip Kingman, and Ralph Reeve, permitting them to erect on the site of Jones's house a theatre for the use of the Queen's children of the revels. The lord mayor and aldermen, however, procured from the privy council an order prohibiting such use being made of the building; the patentees were therefore obliged to dismantle the house and surrender their patent. Jones published: 1. ‘The First Booke of Ayres,’ London, 1601, including the song, ‘Farewell deere Love,’ alluded to by Shakespeare in ‘Twelfth Night,’ which is reprinted in J. S. Smith's ‘Musica Antiqua.’ 2. ‘The Second Booke of Songs and Ayres, set out to the Lute, the Base Violl, the Playne Way, or the Base by Tablature after the Leero [lyra] fashion,’ London, 1601, including the song, ‘My Love bound Me with a Kisse,’ also reprinted in Smith's ‘Musica Antiqua.’ 3. ‘The First Set of Madrigals of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 parts, for Viols and Voices, or for Voices alone, or as you please,’ London, 1607. 4. ‘Ultimum Vale, or the Third Booke of Ayres of 1, 2, and 4 Voyces,’ London, 1608. A unique copy of this is preserved in the library of the Royal College of Music. Several of the songs included in it were first printed in Davidson's ‘Poetical Rhapsody;’ others have been printed in Rimbault's ‘Ancient Vocal Music of England.’ 5. ‘A Musicall Dreame, or the Fourth Booke of Ayres; the first part is for the Lute, two voyces and the Viole de Gambo; the second part is for the Lute, the Viole, and four voyces to sing; the third part is for one voyce alone, or to the Lute, the Base Viole, or to both if you please, whereof two are Italian Ayres,’ London, 1609. 6. ‘The