The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 265

JOHNSTON, JAMES FINLAY WEIR, agricultural chemist, born at Paisley, educated at Glasgow; acquired a fortune by his marriage in 1830, and devoted himself to studying chemistry; after some years in Sweden he was chosen lecturer in Durham University, but he resided in Edinburgh, and wrote his "Catechism of Agricultural Chemistry," since translated into most European languages, and his "Chemistry of Common Life"; he died at Durham (1796-1855).

JOHNSTONE (10), a Renfrewshire manufacturing town, on the Black Cart, 3 m. W. of Paisley; has flax, cotton, paper, and iron industries.

JOHNSTOWN (22), a city of Pennsylvania, engaged in iron and steel manufactures; was overwhelmed by the bursting of a reservoir, May 31, 1889.

JOh.o.r.e (200), a Mohammedan State in the S. of the Malayan Peninsula, 15 m. N. of Singapore; half the population are Chinese; exports gambier, pepper, and coffee.

JOINVILLE, JEAN, SIRE DE, French chronicler, seneschal of Champagne, born in Chalons-sur-Marne; author of the "Vie de St. Louis"; followed Louis IX. in the crusade of 1248, but refused to join in that of 1270; he lived through six reigns, and his biography of his sovereign is one of the most remarkable books of the Middle Ages; his "Vie de St. Louis"

deals chiefly with the Crusade, and is, says Prof. Saintsbury, "one of the most circ.u.mstantial records we have of mediaeval life and thought"; it is gossipy, and abounds in digressions (1224-1319).

JOKAI MAURICE or MORITZ, Hungarian novelist and voluminous author, born at Komorn; published his first novel, "Working Days," in 1845; in 1848 took a prominent part in the Hungarian struggle, but afterwards devoted himself to literature; wrote over 300 books, novels, romances, dramas, essays, and poems, and edited several newspapers; his work resuscitated Hungarian literature; was in his old age an able debater in the House of Representatives; _b_. 1825.

JONAH, a Hebrew prophet, who, born in Gathhepher, belonged to the northern kingdom of Israel; prophesied in the reign of Jeroboam II., and whose special mission it was, at the bidding of the Lord, to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh; his book, which records his mission and the story of it, written apparently, as by G.o.d's dealings with the Ninevites he had himself been, to admonish the Jews that the heathen nations whom they regarded as G.o.d's enemies were as much the objects of His mercy as themselves.

JONATHAN, BROTHER, an impersonation of the American people, given to them from the name of one Jonathan Trumbull, in whose judgment Washington had great confidence, and whom he said he would have to consult at a crisis of his affairs.

JONES, EBENEZER, poet, born in Islington; author of "Studies in Sensation and Event," fraught with genuine poetic feeling; published a pamphlet on "Land Monopoly," in which he advocated the nationalisation of land, apparently as a disciple of Carlyle (1820-1860).

JONES, EDWARD BURNE. See BURNE-JONES.

JONES, ERNEST, Chartist leader and poet, born at Berlin, of English parentage, educated at Gottingen; came to England in 1838, and six years later was called to the bar; in 1845 he threw himself into the Chartist movement, and devoted the rest of his life to the amelioration and elevation of the working-cla.s.ses, suffering two years' (1848-1850) solitary imprisonment for a speech made at Kensington; he wrote, besides pamphlets and papers in the Chartist cause, several poems; "The Revolt of Hindostan" was written in prison, with his own blood, he said, on the fly-leaves of a prayer-book; he never succeeded in getting into Parliament (1819-1869).

JONES, HENRY ARTHUR, dramatist, born at Grandborough, Bucks; author of the "Silver King," "Judah," the "Dancing Girl," and many other plays; _b_. 1831.

JONES, INIGO, architect, born in London, son of a cloth-worker; studied in Italy, and, returning to England, obtained the patronage of James I., and became chief architect in the country; the Royal Chapel at Whitehall is reckoned his masterpiece; Heriot's Hospital, Edinburgh, is from his design; his style follows Palladio of Venice (1573-1652).

JONES, PAUL, a naval adventurer, whose real name was John Paul, born in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, son of a gardener; took to the sea, engaged in the slave-trade, settled in Virginia, threw in his lot with the colonists and against the mother-country, and offered his services as a sea-captain in the war with a ship of 18 guns; he in 1778 infested the British coast, and made a descent on the sh.o.r.es of his native county; his sympathies were with the French in their struggles for liberty, and he fought in their service as well, making the "proud Forth quake at his bellying sails," and capturing two British war-vessels off Flamborough Head; he died in Paris, where he languished in poverty, but the National a.s.sembly granted him a "ceremonial funeral," attended by a deputation; "as good," reflects Carlyle in his apostrophe to him--"as good had been the natural Presbyterian kirk-bell, and six feet of Scottish earth, among the dust of thy loved ones" (1747-1792).

JONES, SIR WILLIAM, English Orientalist, born in London; pa.s.sed through Oxford to the English bar in 1774, and was made a judge in Bengal in 1783; early devoted to Eastern languages and literature, he published numerous translations and other works, concluding with "Sakuntala" and "The Laws of Manu"; he founded the Asiatic Society at Calcutta, where he died (1746-1794).

JONGLEURS, were mediaeval minstrels of Provence and Northern France, who sang and often composed songs and tales, but whose jesting and buffoonery distinguished them from the knightly troubadours and trouveres.

JONSON, BEN, dramatist, born at Westminster, posthumous son of a clergyman of Scottish descent; was in his youth first a bricklayer, afterwards a soldier in the Netherlands, whence he returned about 1592; married a shrew, and became connected with the stage; he was one of the most learned men of his age, and for forty years the foremost, except Shakespeare, in the dramatic and literary world; killing his challenger in a duel nearly cost him his life in 1598; he was branded on the left thumb, imprisoned, and his goods confiscated; in prison he turned Catholic, but twelve years later reverted to Protestantism; the opening of the century brought an unpleasant difference with Dekker and Marston, and saw the famous Mermaid Club at its zenith; for nine years after Shakespeare's death he produced no dramas; in 1619 he received a degree, M.A., from Oxford, the laureateship, and a small pension from the king; now a widower, he founded with Herrick, Suckling, Carew, and others the Apollo Club at the Devil Tavern; in the new reign he turned again to dramatic work with sadly diminished power; he died in poverty, but was buried in Westminster Abbey, his tombstone bearing the words "O rare Ben Jonson"; he wrote at least sixteen plays, among them "Every Man is his Humour" (1598), in which Shakespeare acted, "The Poetaster" (1601), which vexed Dekker, the tragedy of "Seja.n.u.s" (1603), "The Silent Woman" (1609), a farcical comedy, Dryden's favourite play, and his most elaborate and masterly work, "The Alchemist" (1610); he wrote also thirty-five masques of singular richness and grace, in the production of which Inigo Jones provided the mechanism; but his best work was his lyrics, first of which stands "Drink to me only with thine eyes," whose exquisite delicacy and beauty everybody knows (1573-1637).

JOPPA, an ancient town and seaport, now Jaffa, on the coast of Palestine, 35 m. NW. from Jerusalem; a place of note in sacred and mediaeval history; here Jonah took ship to Tarshish.

JORDAENS, JAKOB, a Dutch painter and engraver, born at Antwerp; was a friend of Rubens, and ranks next him among the Flemings (1615-1678).

JORDAN, a river of Palestine, which rises on the western side of Mount Hermon, and flows S. below Caesarea-Philippi within banks, after which it expands into lagoons that collect at length into a ma.s.s in Lake Merom (Huleh), 2 m. below which it plunges into a gorge and rushes on for 9 m. in a torrent, till it collects again in the Sea of Galilee to lose itself finally in the Dead Sea after winding along a distance of 65 m. as the crow flies; at its rise it is 1080 ft. above and at the Dead Sea 1300 ft. below the sea-level.

JORDAN, MRS. DOROTHEA, the stage name of Miss Bland, daughter of an actress, born at Waterford; played first in Dublin, then in Yorkshire, and appeared at Drury Lane in "The Country Girl" in 1785; her popularity was immense, and she maintained it for thirty years in the roles of boys and romping girls, her wonderful laugh winning lasting fame; she attained considerable wealth, and was from 1790 to 1811 the mistress of the Duke of Clarence, who, when William IV., enn.o.bled her eldest son; she died, however, in humble circ.u.mstances in St. Cloud, near Paris (1762-1816).

JORTIN, JOHN, English divine, born in London, of Huguenot descent; held various appointments, was a prebend of St. Paul's, wrote on ecclesiastical history (1698-1770).

JORULLO, a volcano in Mexico, 150 m. SW. of Mexico city, rose one night from a high-lying plateau on Sept. 8, 1759, the central crater at a height 4625 ft. above the sea-level.

JOSEPH, the name of four persons in scripture. 1, JOSEPH, the son of Jacob and Rachel, and the story of whose life is given in Genesis.

2, JOSEPH, ST. the carpenter, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the reputed father of Jesus. 3, JOSEPH OF ARAMATHEA, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, who begged the body of Jesus to bury it in his own tomb. 4, JOSEPH, surnamed BARSABAS, one of the disciples of Jesus, and deemed worthy to be nominated to fill the place vacated by Judas.

JOSePHINE, the Empress of the French, born in Martinique; came to France at the age of 15; was in 1779 married to Viscount Beauharnais, who was one of the victims of the Revolution, and to whom she bore a daughter, Hortense, the mother of Napoleon III.; married in 1796 to Napoleon Bonaparte, to whom she proved a devoted wife as well as a wise counsellor; she became empress in 1804, but failing to bear him any children, was divorced in 1809, though she still corresponded with Napoleon and retained the t.i.tle of Empress to the last, living at Malmaison, where she died (1763-1814).

JOSEPHUS, FLAVIUS, Jewish historian, born at Jerusalem, of royal and priestly lineage; was a man of eminent ability and scholarly accomplishments, distinguished no less for his judgment than his learning; gained favour at Rome; was present with t.i.tus at the siege of Jerusalem, and by his intercession saved the lives of several of the citizens; he accompanied t.i.tus back to Rome, and received the freedom of the city; devoting himself there to literary studies, wrote the "History of the Jewish War" and "Jewish Antiquities"; he was of the Pharisaic party, but his religious views were rationalistic; he discards the miraculous; takes no note of the rise of Christianity or of the person of its Founder (37-98).

JOSHUA, a Jewish military leader, born of the tribe of Ephraim, the minister and successor of Moses, under whose leadership the Jews obtained a footing in the Land of Canaan.

JOSHUA, THE BOOK OF, a book of the Bible, is closely connected with the Pentateuch, and now regarded as the continuation and completion of it, const.i.tuting along with it what is called the Hexateuch, or sixfold book; it covers a period of 25 years, and contains a history of Israel under the guidance of Joshua, commencing with his appointment as leader and concluding with his death.

JOSIAH, a king of Judah from 639 to 609 B.C.; was zealous for the restoration of the Jewish worship according to the ritual of Moses, as recently come to light in the discovery by Hilkiah the high-priest of the "Book of the Law"; he fell in battle before an invading a.s.syrian host.

JOSS, a Chinese G.o.d or his idol.

JoTUNHEIM, the abode of the Jotuns in the Norse mythology, as Asenheim is that of the Norse deities.

JoTUNS, a race of giants in the Norse mythology, "huge, s.h.a.ggy beings of a demonic character, representing the dark hostile Powers of Nature, such as Frost, Fire, Sea-tempest, who dwelt in Jotunheim, a distant, dark chaotic land ... in perpetual internecine feud with the G.o.ds, or friendly powers, such as Summer-heat and the Sun, and who dwelt far apart."