in these necessaries. During
the third voyage of the John, when fever had greatly reduced the crew,
Mungo Maxwell, a Jamaica mulatto, became mutinous, and Jones knocked him
down with a belaying pin. Jones satisfactorily cleared himself of the
resulting charge of murder, and gave, during the trial, one of the
earliest evidences of his power to express himself almost as clearly and
strongly in speech as in action.

Up to this time in Paul's career there are two facts which stand out
definitely: one, that his rough life, in association with common seamen
from the time that he was twelve years old, and his lack of previous
education, made difficult his becoming what he ardently desired to
be,--a cultivated gentleman. Stories told of his impulsive roughness in
later life, such as the quaint ones of how he used to kick his
lieutenants and then invite them to dinner, are probable enough. It is
even more clear, however, that in some way he had educated himself, not
only in seamanship and navigation, but also in naval history and in the
French and Spanish languages, to a considerable degree. On a voyage his
habit was to study late at night, and on shore, instead of carousing
with his associates, to hunt out the most distinguished person he could
find, or otherwise to improve his condition. His passion for acquisition
was enormous, but his early education was so deficient that his
handwriting always remained that of a schoolboy. He dictated many of his
innumerable letters, particularly those in French, which language he
spoke incorrectly but fluently.

It was during Paul's last voyage as captain of a merchantman that the
event took place which determined him to change his name and to live in
America. Several years previously his brother, who had been adopted by a
Virginia planter named Jones, had come at the death of the latter into
possession of the property, and Captain Paul was named as next in
succession. In 1773, when the captain reached the Rappahannock during
his final merchant voyage, he found his brother dying, and, in
accordance with the terms of old Jones's will, he took the name by which
he is famous and became the owner of the plantation. He consequently
gave up his sea life and settled down to "calm contemplation and poetic
ease," as he expressed it at a later period.

But Jones was very far from being contemplative, although he certainly
was rather fond of inflated poetry, and even as a planter, surrounded by
h