Mary Jones

Works in ECPA

alphabetical listing / listing in source editions

• After the Small Pox. ()
• ANOTHER. ()
• ANSWER to a LETTER From the Hon. Miss LOVELACE. ()
• The Author's Silence excus'd. ()
• BIRTH-DAY To the same, on Richmond-Green, Soon after her being Maid of Honour to Queen CAROLINE. ()
• BIRTH-DAY. ()
• BIRTH-DAY. ()
• Consolatory Rhymes to Mrs. East, On the Death of her Canary Bird. ()
• ELEGY, On a favourite DOG, suppos'd to be poison'd. To Miss Molly Clayton. ()
• An EPISTLE to Lady BOWYER. ()
• EPISTLE, from Fern-Hill. To the same. ()
• EPITAPH On a Young NOBLEMAN, Kill'd in an ENGAGEMENT at SEA. ()
• EPITAPH On Brigadier General HILL. ()
• EXTEMPORE. ON A Drawing of the Countess of HERTFORD's, now Duchess of SOMERSET. ()
• The FALL. ()
• From New Lodge to Fern-Hill. In a very rainy Summer Season. ()
• [From the same Opera.] ()
• HEAVEN. To STELLA. ()
• The Heel-piece of her Shoe. (Stella requiring more rhymes, and the Author at a loss for a subject.) ()
• Her EPITAPH. (Which the Author hopes will live as long as she does.) ()
• HOLT WATERS. A Tale. Extracted from the Natural History of Berkshire. ()
• In Memory of the Right Hon. NEVIL Lord LOVELACE. ()
• In MEMORY of the Rt. Hon. Lord Aubrey Beauclerk, Who was slain at CARTHAGENA. ()
• The LASS of the HILL. Humbly inscribed to Her Grace the Dutchess of MARLBOROUGH. ()
• LIFE. (Occasion'd by some lines upon Death.) ()
• MATRIMONY. ()
• ODE To the Right Hon. Lady Henry Beauclerk. ()
• Of DESIRE. An Epistle to the Hon. Miss LOVELACE. ()
• On her Bed-Chamber's Chimney Being blown down at St. JAMES's. ()
• On her BIRTH-DAY, Being the 11th of December. ()
• On Her Birth-Day, December 11. ()
• On one of her Eyes. ()
• On the Reasonableness of Her coming to the Oxford Act. ()
• On the Right Honourable Lady Betty Bertie's Birth-Day. Inserted at the Request of Norris Bertie, Esq; ()
• PATIENCE. ()
• RHYMES to the Hon. Miss LOVELACE; now Lady HENRY BEAUCLERK. On her attending Miss CHARLOT CLAYTON In the SMALL-POX. ()
• Rhymes, to Miss Charlot Clayton. ()
• Soliloquy, on an empty Purse. ()
• [SONG from the Opera of ELPIDIA.] ()
• The SPIDER. ()
• The STORY of Jacob and Rachel attempted. To the same. ()
• SUBLIME STRAINS. On the Author's walking to visit Stella, in a windy morning, at Privy Garden. ()
• To Miss CLAYTON. Occasion'd by her breaking an appointment to visit the AUTHOR. ()
• To Mrs. CLAYTON, With a HARE. ()
• To the Prince of ORANGE, On his MARRIAGE. Written at the time of the OXFORD Verses. ()
• To the Same. On her desiring the Author to write a Satire upon her. ()
• To the same. On her parting with the first copy of Heaven, and sending for another. ()
• To the same. Written at Fern-Hill, while dinner was waiting for her. ()
• VERSES TO THE Memory of Miss CLAYTON. ()
• Written at her Apartment in Windsor-Castle. ()
• WRITTEN AT THE Request of a young Divine, TO BE SENT To his MISTRESS, with the Beggar's Opera. ()
• Written in an IVORY BOOK For the Honourable Miss HAMILTON; To be sent to her MAMMA. ()
• Written on some Ivory Leaves. ()

• Jones, Mary, d. 1778. Miscellanies in Prose and Verse. By Mary Jones. Oxford: Printed; and delivered by Mr. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, Mr. Clements in Oxford, and Mr. Frederick in Bath, MDCCL., 1750. vi,[1],xlv,[1],405p. (ESTC T115196)
  • An EPISTLE to Lady BOWYER.
  • PATIENCE.
  • Of DESIRE. An Epistle to the Hon. Miss LOVELACE.
  • In MEMORY of the Rt. Hon. Lord Aubrey Beauclerk, Who was slain at CARTHAGENA.
  • [SONG from the Opera of ELPIDIA.]
  • [From the same Opera.]
  • WRITTEN AT THE Request of a young Divine, TO BE SENT To his MISTRESS, with the Beggar's Opera.
  • MATRIMONY.
  • To Mrs. CLAYTON, With a HARE.
  • To Miss CLAYTON. Occasion'd by her breaking an appointment to visit the AUTHOR.
  • To the Same. On her desiring the Author to write a Satire upon her.
  • ELEGY, On a favourite DOG, suppos'd to be poison'd. To Miss Molly Clayton.
  • Rhymes, to Miss Charlot Clayton.
  • On one of her Eyes.
  • On Her Birth-Day, December 11.
  • On the Reasonableness of Her coming to the Oxford Act.
  • To the same. Written at Fern-Hill, while dinner was waiting for her.
  • The SPIDER.
  • HEAVEN. To STELLA.
  • To the same. On her parting with the first copy of Heaven, and sending for another.
  • After the Small Pox.
  • SUBLIME STRAINS. On the Author's walking to visit Stella, in a windy morning, at Privy Garden.
  • The Heel-piece of her Shoe. (Stella requiring more rhymes, and the Author at a loss for a subject.)
  • On her BIRTH-DAY, Being the 11th of December.
  • ANOTHER.
  • Her EPITAPH. (Which the Author hopes will live as long as she does.)
  • The LASS of the HILL. Humbly inscribed to Her Grace the Dutchess of MARLBOROUGH.
  • Consolatory Rhymes to Mrs. East, On the Death of her Canary Bird.
  • HOLT WATERS. A Tale. Extracted from the Natural History of Berkshire.
  • Soliloquy, on an empty Purse.
  • Written in an IVORY BOOK For the Honourable Miss HAMILTON; To be sent to her MAMMA.
  • EXTEMPORE. ON A Drawing of the Countess of HERTFORD's, now Duchess of SOMERSET.
  • ANSWER to a LETTER From the Hon. Miss LOVELACE.
  • To the Prince of ORANGE, On his MARRIAGE. Written at the time of the OXFORD Verses.
  • VERSES TO THE Memory of Miss CLAYTON.
  • EPITAPH On Brigadier General HILL.
  • EPITAPH On a Young NOBLEMAN, Kill'd in an ENGAGEMENT at SEA.
  • On the Right Honourable Lady Betty Bertie's Birth-Day. Inserted at the Request of Norris Bertie, Esq;
  • RHYMES to the Hon. Miss LOVELACE; now Lady HENRY BEAUCLERK. On her attending Miss CHARLOT CLAYTON In the SMALL-POX.
  • BIRTH-DAY To the same, on Richmond-Green, Soon after her being Maid of Honour to Queen CAROLINE.
  • The FALL.
  • On her Bed-Chamber's Chimney Being blown down at St. JAMES's.
  • The STORY of Jacob and Rachel attempted. To the same.
  • Written on some Ivory Leaves.
  • The Author's Silence excus'd.
  • EPISTLE, from Fern-Hill. To the same.
  • BIRTH-DAY.
  • In Memory of the Right Hon. NEVIL Lord LOVELACE.
  • LIFE. (Occasion'd by some lines upon Death.)
  • Written at her Apartment in Windsor-Castle.
  • BIRTH-DAY.
  • From New Lodge to Fern-Hill. In a very rainy Summer Season.
  • ODE To the Right Hon. Lady Henry Beauclerk.

Source editions

• Jones, Mary, d. 1778. Miscellanies in Prose and Verse. By Mary Jones. Oxford: Printed; and delivered by Mr. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, Mr. Clements in Oxford, and Mr. Frederick in Bath, MDCCL., 1750. vi,[1],xlv,[1],405p. (ESTC T115196)

Biographical note

Mary Jones was born in Oxford, the second of four children of Oliver Jones, cooper, of St Aldate's, and his second wife, descended from the Penn family of South Newington, near Banbury. She learned French and Italian and began writing verses "at a very early age". Mary Jones who never married lived with her brother Oliver (1705-1775) who was a chaplain at Christ Church Cathedral. Through his office, she came into contact with the Oxford literati who supported her literary ambitions, such as Joseph Spence and later Thomas Warton, both Oxford Professors of Poetry. Her literary acquaintances also included Samuel Johnson, who called her "the Chantress" (Boswell, Life, 1.322) in allusion to her brothers' position of Chanter at Christ Church. Jones cultivated a small devoted circle of female friends to whom most of her poems are addressed, among them Martha Lovelace (1709-1788) who in 1739 married Lord Henry Beauclerk and later became housekeeper at Windsor Castle, Mrs Charlotte Clayton (b. 1698) ("Stella" in Jones's verse), who became Lady Sundon in 1735, and Anne Bowyer (1709-1785). Jones regularly visited Martha at New Lodge, Windsor, and Charlotte at nearby Fern Hill. Mary Jones published several poems in the 1740s, and in 1748 was preparing a collection of her letters and poems. Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, a collection of 53 poems, as well as essays and letters, was published in 1750 with 1500 subscribers and an unusually high proportion of eminent patrons. Much of Jones's verse is occasional in nature, playful and humorous, and frequently addressed to her close friends. The volume was well received, extracts were published in the London Magazine throughout 1752, and sixteen poems appeared in Poems by Eminent Ladies in 1755. Jones lived in Oxford all her life, she seems to have written little in her later life. Mary Jones died on 10 February 1778.

Bibliography

ODNB 37614; DMI 1766

Reference works

• Baines, Paul, Julian Ferraro, Pat Rogers, eds. The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Eighteenth-Century Writers and Writing, 1660-1789. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. 200-201. Print.
• Todd, Janet, ed. A Dictionary of British and American Women Writers 1660-1800. Paperback edition, revised. Lanham et al.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1987. 181-182. Print.

Criticism

• Forster, Antonia. 'A Considerable Rank in the World of Belles Lettres': women, fiction, and literary history in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Binhammer, Katherine and Jeanne Wood, eds. Women and Literary History: 'For There She Was'. Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press, 2003. 106-118. Print.
• Kennedy, Deborah. Poetic Sisters: Early Eighteenth-Century Women Poets. Plymouth, England: Bucknell UP, 2013. 163-204. Print.
• Messenger, Ann. Pastoral Tradition and the Female Talent: Studies in Augustan Poetry. New York: AMS Press, 2001. Print.