# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jones, David (fl.1676-1720)

​JONES, DAVID (fl. 1676–1720), captain in the horse guards, historical writer, and translator, born at Llwynrhys, in the parish of Llanbadarn-Odwyn, Cardiganshire, was the son of the Rev. John Jones of the same place, one of the earliest nonconformist ministers in that part of Wales. He was educated at a school conducted by an elder brother, Samuel, near Richmond, Middlesex. According to Dunton, he was ‘designed for the ministry, but began to teach school, and from that employment turned author and corrector for the press’ (Life and Errors, ed. Nichols, i. 181). He himself states that he went to France in 1675, and shortly afterwards was appointed secretary interpreter to the Marquis of Louvois (Secret Hist. pt. i. Pref.) He certainly entered the English army, and is said to have become captain in the 1st or royal regiment of dragoons soon after its formation, and to have been with that regiment in the battle of the Boyne in 1690. He appears to have spent much of his time on the continent, where he acquired an accurate and extensive knowledge of modern languages.
The chief work connected with his name is ‘The Secret History of White Hall from the Restoration of Charles II down to the Abdication of the late King James,’ 6 parts, London, 1697, 8vo. He also wrote ‘A Continuation of the Secret History, &c., to 1696 … together with the Tragical History of the Stuarts,’ London, 1697, 8vo; a second edition of both volumes was published, London, 1717, 12mo, and another edition, Nassau, pt. i. 1813, 8vo. The history consists of a series of letters purporting to have been written by Jones to an English peer between January 1676 and February 1689, and professes to divulge the secret diplomatic transactions that had passed between the English and French courts during the previous twenty years. Little reliance can, however, be placed on these pretensions. From 1705 to 1720 Jones published annually ‘A Compleat History of Europe,’ which reached a total of eighteen volumes. A dedicatory epistle in vol. xvi. is subscribed ‘D. J.’ Volume vi. of the series is only another edition of ‘The Compleat History of Europe, from 1676 to 1697, written by a Gentleman who kept an exact Journal of all transactions for above these twenty years,’ London, 1698, 8vo.
Other works by the same author are the following: 1. ‘The Wars and Causes of them between England and France from William I to William III, with a Treatise of the Salique Law. By D. J., and revised by R. C., Esq.,’ 1698; reprinted in vol. i. of ‘Harleian Miscellany’ in 1744; another edition, London, 1808, 4to. 2. ‘History of the Turks, 1655–1701,’ 2 vols., London (Bell & Harris), 1701, 8vo. The title-page has no author's name, but the dedication to John, lord Cutts, is subscribed by D. Jones. Another history of the Turks, by Savage, was issued almost contemporaneously, and an epigram on the two rival historians is preserved in ‘Notes and Queries,’ 3rd ser. x. 349. 3. ‘Life of James II, late King of England, &c.,’ illustrated with medals, London, 1702, 8vo; 3rd edit., London, 1705. 4. ‘Pezron's Antiquities of Nations,’ translated from the French and dedicated to Lord Halifax, London, 1706, 8vo. 5. ‘The History of the House of Brunswick, &c.,’ London, 1715, 8vo. Jones also states, in his introduction to his ‘Tragical History of the Stuart Family’ (appended to his ‘Continuation of his Secret History’), that he had revised and made additions to ‘The Detection of Court and State of England by Roger Coke,’ 2nd edit., London, 8vo, 1696 (cf. Dunton, Life and Errors, loc. cit.) According to James Crossley [q. v.], Jones was the author of separately published biographies of Sir Stephen Fox (London, 1717), of Dr. South, of the Earl of Halifax, and of Dr. Radcliffe (Williams, Enwogion Ceredigion, p. 122). A ‘Vindication against the Athenian Mercury concerning ​Usury,’ attributed by Watt to Captain David Jones, is a reply to a sermon of David Jones (1663–1724?) [q. v.], and there is nothing to show that the captain was its author.
[Introductions, &c., to Jones's different works; Notes and Queries, 1st ser. xii. 267, 4th ser. xi. 155; Williams's Enwogion Ceredigion; British Museum Catalogue.]
D. Ll. T.