⁂ Euripides wrote two plays: Iphigenia in Aulis, and Iphigenia in Tauris.

⁂ Jephthah’s daughter has often been dramatized. Thus we have in English Jephtha his Daughter, by Plessie Morney, Jephtha (1546), by Christopherson; Jephtha, by Buchanan; and Jephthah (an opera, 1752), by Handel.

Jepson (Old), a smuggler.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Jeremi´ah (The British), Gildas, (A. D. 516-570), author of De Exidio Britanniæ, a book of lamentations over the destruction of Britain. He is so called by Gibbon.

Jer´emy (Master), head domestic of Lord Saville.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Jeremy Diddler, an adept at raising money on false pretenses.—Kenney, Raising the Wind.

Jerningham (Master Thomas), the duke of Buckingham’s gentleman.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Jerome (Don), father of Don Ferdinand and Louisa; pig-headed, passionate, and mercenary, but very fond of his daughter. He insists on her marrying Isaac Mendoza, a rich Portuguese Jew, but Louisa, being in love with Don Antonio, positively refuses to do so. She is turned out of the house by mistake, and her duenna is locked up, under the belief that she is Louisa. Isaac, being introduced to the duenna, elopes with her, supposing her to be Don Jerome’s daughter; and Louisa, taking refuge in a convent, gets married to Don Antonio. Ferdinand, at the same time, marries Clara, the daughter of Don Guzman. The old man is well content, and promises to be the friend of his children, who, he acknowledges, have chosen better for themselves than he had done for them.—Sheridan, The Duenna (1775).

Jerome (Father), abbot at St. Bride’s Convent.—Sir W. Scott, Castle Dangerous (time, Henry I.).

Jeron´imo, the principal character in The Spanish Tragedy, by Thomas Kyd (1597). On finding his application to the king ill-timed, he says to himself, “Go by! Jeronimo;” which so tickled the fancy of the audience that it became a common street jest.

Jerry, manager of a troupe of dancing dogs. He was a tall, black-whiskered man, in a velveteen coat.—C. Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop, xviii. (1840).

Jerry Sneak, a hen-pecked husband.—Foote, Mayor of Garrat (1763).

Jeru´salem, in Dryden’s Absalom and Achitophel, means London; “David” is Charles II., and “Absalom” the duke of Monmouth, etc.

Jerusalem. Henry IV. was told “he should not die but in Jerusalem.” Being in Westminster Abbey, he inquired what the chapter-house was called, and when he was told it was called the “Jerusalem Chamber,” he felt sure that he would die there “according to the prophecy,” and so he did.

Pope Sylvester II. was told the same thing, and died as he was saying mass in a church so called at Rome.—Brown, Fasciculus.

Cambyses, son of Cyrus, was told that he should die in Ecbat´ana, which he supposed meant the capital of Medĭa; but he died of his wounds in a place so called in Syria.

Jerusalem Delivered, an epic poem in twenty books, by Torquato Tasso (1575).

The crusaders, having encamped on the plains of Torto´sa, choose Godfrey for their chief. The overtures of Argantês being declined, war is declared by him in the name of the king of Egypt. The Christian army reaches Jerusalem, but it is found that the city cannot be taken without the aid of Rinaldo, who had withdrawn from the army because Godfrey had cited him for the death of Girnando, whom he had slain in a duel. Godfrey sends to the enchanted island of Armi´da to invite the hero back, and on his return Jerusalem is assailed in a night attack. The poem concludes with the triumphant entry of the Christians into the Holy City, and their adoration at the Redeemer’s tomb.

The two chief episodes are the loves of Olindo and Sophronia, and of Tancred and Corinda.

Jervis (Mrs.), the virtuous housekeeper of young Squire B. Mrs. Jervis protects Pam´ela when her young master assailsassails her.—Richardson, Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740).

Jessamy, the son of Colonel Oldboy. He changed his name in compliment to Lord Jessamy, who adopted him and left him his heir. Jessamy is an affected, conceited prig, who dresses as a fop, carries a muff to keep his hands warm, and likes old china better than a pretty girl. This popinjay proposes to Clarissa Flowerdale; but she despises him, much to his indignation and astonishment.—Bickerstaff, Lionel and Clarissa (1735-1790).

Jessamy Bride (The), Mary Horneck, with whom Goldsmith fell in love in (1769).

Jes´sica, daughter of Shylock, the Jew. She elopes with Lorenzo.—Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice (1597).

Jessica cannot be called a sketch, or, if a sketch, she is dashed off in glowing colors from the rainbow palette of a Rubens. She has a rich tint of Orientalism shed over her.—Mrs. Jameson.

Jesters. (See Fools.)

Jests (The Father of), Joseph or Joe Miller, an English comic actor, whose name has become a household word for a stale joke (1684-1738). The book of jests which goes by his name was compiledcompiled by Mr. Mottley, the dramatist (1739). Joe Miller himself never uttered a jest in his life, and it is a lucus a non lucendo to father them on such a taciturn, commonplace dullard.

Jesus Christ and the Clay Bird. The Korân says: “O Jesus, son of Mary, remember ... when thou didst create of clay the figure of a bird ... and did breathe thereon, and it became a bird!”—Ch. v.

The allusion is to a legend that Jesus was playing with other children who amused themselves with making clay birds, but when the child Jesus breathed on the one He had made, it instantly received life and flew away.—Hone, Apocryphal New Testament (1820).

Jew (The), a comedy by R. Cumberland (1776), written to disabuse the public mind of unjust prejudices against a people who have been long “scattered and peeled.” The Jew is Sheva, who was rescued at Cadiz from an auto da fe, by Don Carlos, and from a howling London mob by the son of Don Carlos, called Charles Ratcliffe. His whole life is spent in unostentatious benevolence, but his modesty is equal to his philanthropy. He gives £10,000 as a marriage portion to Ratcliffe’s sister, who marries Frederick Bertram, and he makes Charles the heir of all his property.

Jew (The).

This couplet was written by Pope, and refers to the “Shylock” of Charles Macklin (1690-1797).

Jew (The Wandering).

1. Of Greek tradition. Aris´teas, a poet who continued to appear and disappear alternately for above 400 years, and who visited all the mythical nations of the earth.

2. Of Jewish story. Tradition says that Cartaph´ilos, the door-keeper of the judgment hall, in the service of Pontius Pilate, struck our Lord as he led Him forth, saying, “Get on! Faster, Jesus!” Whereupon the Man of Sorrows replied “I am going; but tarry thou till I come [again].” This man afterwards became a Christian, and was baptized by Ananias under the name of Joseph. Every hundred years he falls into a trance, out of which he rises again at the age of 30.

⁂ The earliest account of the Wandering Jew, is in the Book of the Chronicles of the Abbey of St. Alban’s, copied and continued by Matthew Paris (1228). In 1242 Philip Mouskes, afterwards bishop of Tournay, wrote the “rhymed chronicles.”

Another legend is that Jesus, pressed down by the weight of His cross, stopped to rest at the door of a cobbler, named Ahasue´rus, who pushed him away, saying, “Get off! Away with you! away!” Our Lord replied, “Truly, I go away, and that quickly; but tarry thou till I come.”

⁂ This is the legend given by Paul von Eitzen, bishop of Schleswig, in 1547. *—Greve, Memoirs of Paul von Eitzen (1744).

A third legend says that it was the cobbler Ahasue´rus who haled Jesus to the judgment seat; and that, as the Man of Sorrows stayed to rest awhile on a stone, he pushed Him, saying, “Get on, Jesus! Here you shall not stay!” Jesus replied, “I truly go away, and go to rest; but thou shalt go away, and never rest till I come.”

3. In German legend, the Wandering Jew is associated with John Buttadæus, seen at Antwerp in the thirteenth century, again in the fifteenth, and again in the sixteenth centuries. His last appearance was in 1774, at Brussels.

⁂ Leonard Doldius, of Nürnberg, in his Praxis Alchymiæ (1604), says that the Jew, Ahasue´rus, is sometimes called “Buttadæus.”

Signor Gualdi, who had been dead 130 years, appeared in the latter half of the eighteenth century, and had his likeness taken by Titian. One day he disappeared as mysteriously as he had come.—Turkish Spy, ii. (1682).

4. The French legend. The French call the Wandering Jew Isaac Lake´dion or Laquedem.—Mitternacht, Dissertatio in Johan., xxxi. 19.

5. Of Dr. Croly’s novel. The name given to the Wandering Jew by Dr. Croly is Salathiel ben Sadi, who appeared and disappeared towards the close of the sixteenth century, at Venice, in so sudden a manner as to attract the attention of all Europe.

⁂ Dr. Croly, in his novel called Salathiel (1827), traces the course of the Wandering Jew; so does Eugène Sue, in Le Juif Errant (1845); but in these novels the Jew makes no figure of importance.

G Doré, in 1861, illustrated the legend of the Wandering Jew in folio wood engravings.

6. It is said in legend that Gypsies are doomed to be everlasting wanderers, because they refused the Virgin and Child hospitality in their flight into Egypt.—Adventinus, Annalium Boiorum, libri septem vii. (1554).

The legend of the Wild Huntsman, called by Shakespeare “Herne, the Hunter,” and by Father Matthieu “St Hubert,” is said to be a Jew who would not suffer Jesus to drink from a horse-trough, but pointed out to Him some water in a hoof-print, and bade Him go there and drink.—Kuhn von Schwarz, Nordd. Sagen, 499.

Jews (The), in Dryden’s Absalom and Achitophel, means those English who were loyal to Charles II. called “David” in the the satire (1681-2).

Jewkes (Mrs.), a detestable character in Richardson’s Pamela (1740).

Jez´ebel (A Painted), a flaunting woman, of brazen face, but loose morals. So called from Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, king of Israel.

Jim, the boy of Reginald Lowestoffe, the young Templar. Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).

Jin Vin, i.e. Jenkin Vincent, one of Ramsay’s apprentices, in love with Margaret Ramsay.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).

Jin´gle (Alfred), a strolling actor, who, by his powers of amusing and sharp-wittedness, imposes for a time on the members of the Pickwick Club, and is admitted to their intimacy; but being found to be an impostor, he is dropped by them. The generosity of Mr. Pickwick in rescuing Jingle from the Fleet, reclaims him, and he quits England. Alfred Jingle talks most rapidly and flippantly, but not without much native shrewdness; and he knows a “hawk from a handsaw.”—C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836).

Jingo, a corruption of Jainko, the Basque Supreme Being. “By Jingo!” or “By the living Jingo!” is an appeal to deity. Edward I. had Basque mountaineers conveyed to England to take part in his Welsh wars, and the Plantagenets held the Basque provinces in possession. This Basque oath is a land-mark of these facts.

Jingoes (The), the anti-Russians in the war between Russia and Turkey; hence the English war party. The term arose (1878) from a popular music-hall song, beginning thus:

(This song has also furnished the words jingoism (bragging war spirit, Bobadilism) and the adjective jingo).

Jiniwin (Mrs.), a widow, the mother of Mrs. Quilp. A shrewd, ill-tempered old woman, who lived with her son-in-law in Tower Street.—C. Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop (1840).

Jinker (Lieutenant Jamie), horse-dealer at Doune.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).

Jinn, plu. of Jinnee, a sort of fairy in Arabian mythology, the offspring of fire. The jinn propagate their species like human beings, and are governed by kings called suleymans. Their chief abode is the mountain Kâf, and they appear to men under the forms of serpents, dogs, cats, etc., which become invisible at pleasure. Evil jinn are hideously ugly, but good jinn are exquisitely beautiful.

⁂ Jinnistan means the country of the jinn. The connection of Solomon with the jinn is a mere blunder, arising from the similarity of suleyman and Solomon.

J.J., in Hogarth’s “Gin Lane,” written on a gibbet, is Sir Joseph Jekyll, obnoxious for his bill for increasing the duty on gin.

⁂ Jean Jacques [Rousseau] was often referred to by these initials in the eighteenth century.

Jo, a poor little outcast, living in one of the back slums of London, called “Tom All-alone.” The little human waif is hounded about from place to place, till he dies of want.—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1853).

Jo March. The author-sister of Little Women, by Louisa M. Alcott. Jo has much originality and more prankishness, writes blood-and-thunder stories because they pay, and ceases to write them when they pay best, because her conscience has awakened. Supposed to be drawn as the author’s own character.—Louisa M. Alcott, Little Women (1867).

Joan. Cromwell’s wife was always called Joan by the cavaliers, although her real name was Elizabeth.

Joan, princess of France, affianced to the duke of Orleans.—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).

Joan of Arc, surnamed La Pucelle, born in a village upon the marches of Barre, called Domremy, near Vaucouleurs. Her father was James of Arc, and her mother Isabel, poor country-folk, who brought up their children to keep their cattle. Joan professed to be inspired to liberate France from the English, and actually raised the siege of Orleans, after which Charles II. was crowned (1402-1431).

A young wench of an eighteene years old; of favor was she counted likesome, of person stronglie made and manlie, of courage great, hardie and stout, withall ... she had great semblance of chastitie both of body and behavor.—Holinshed, Chronicles, 600 (1577).

⁂ Schiller has a tragedy on the subject, Jungfrau von Orleans (1801); Soumet another, Jeanne d’Arc (1825). Besides Southey’s epic, we have one by François Cazaneaux; another by Chapelain, called La Pucelle (1656), on which he labored for thirty years. Casimir Delavigne has an admirable elegy on The Maid (1816), and Voltaire a burlesque. Shakespeare introduces her in the First Part of Henry VI.

Joanna, the “deserted daughter” of Mr. Mordent. Her father abandoned her in order to marry Lady Anne, and his money-broker placed her under the charge of Mrs. Enfield, who kept a house of intrigue. Cheveril fell in love with Joanna, and described her as having “blue eyes, auburn hair, aquiline nose, ivory teeth, carnation lips, a ravishing mouth, enchanting neck, a form divine, and the face of an angel.”—Holcroft, The Deserted Daughter (altered into The Steward).

Job and Elspat, father and mother of Sergeant Houghton.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).

Job’s Wife. Some call her Rahmat, daughter of Ephraim, son of Joseph; and others call her Makhir, daughter of Manasses.—Sale, Korân, xxi. note.

Joblillies (The), the small gentry of a village, the squire being the Grand Panjandrum.

There were present the Picninnies and the Joblillies and the Garyulies, and the Grand Panjandrum himself.—S. Foote, The Quarterly Review, xcv. 516-7.

Jobling, medical officer to the “Anglo-Bengalee Company.” Mr. Jobling was a portentous and most carefully dressed gentleman, fond of a good dinner, and said by all to be “full of anecdote.” He was far too shrewd to be concerned with the Anglo-Bengalee bubble company, except as a paid functionary.—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).

Jobson (Joseph), clerk to Squire Inglewood, the magistrate.—Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).

Jobson (Zekel), a very masterful cobbler, who ruled his wife with a rod of iron.

Neil Jobson, wife of Zekel, a patient, meek, sweet-tempered woman.—C. Coffey, The Devil to Pay (died, 1745).

Jocelyn (Martin). Man who yields gradually to the opium-habit, beggars his family, and blasts his reputation by it. Once and again he reforms for a few months, then relapses, and finally blows out his brains in a paroxysm of despairing remorse.—Edward Payson Roe, Without a Home (1881).

Jock o’ Dawston Cleugh, the quarrelsome neighbor of Dandie Dinmont, of Charlie’s Hope.

Jock Jabos, postilion to Mrs. M’Candlish, the landlady of the Golden Arms inn, Kippletringan.

Slounging Jock, one of the men of M’Guffog, the jailer.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Jock o’ Hazeldean, the young man beloved by a “ladye fair.” The lady’s father wanted her to marry Frank, “the chief of Errington and laird of Langley Dale,” rich, brave and gallant; but “aye she let the tears down fa’ for Jock of Hazeldean.” At last the wedding morn arrived, the kirk was gaily decked, the priest and bridegroom, with dame and knight, were duly assembled; but no bride could be seen; she had crossed the border and given her hand to Jock of Hazeldean.

This ballad, by Sir W. Scott, is a modernized version of an ancient ballad entitled Jock o’ Hazelgreen.

Jockey of Norfolk, Sir John Howard, a firm adherent of Richard III. On the night before the battle of Bosworth Field, he found in his tent this warning couplet:

Jodelet, valet of Du Croisy. In order to reform two silly girls, whose heads have been turned by novels, Du Croisy and his friend La Grange get their lackeys introduced to them, as the “Viscount of Jodelet,” and the “Marquis of Mascarille.” The girls are delighted with their “aristocratic visitors;” but when the game has gone far enough, the masters step in and unmask the trick. The two girls are taught a most useful lesson, but are saved from serious ill consequences.—Molière, Les Précieuses Ridicules (1659).

Joe. Sick boy, to whom his brother brings a bouquet he has begged for him; and tells him of the country Joe has never seen.

Joe, “the fat boy,” page in the family of Mr. Wardle. He has an unlimited capacity for eating and sleeping.—C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836).

Joe Gargery, a smith. He was a fair man, with curls of flaxen hair on each side of his smooth face, and with eyes of “such very undecided blue, that they seemed to have got mixed with their own whites. He was a mild, good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy-going, foolish, dear fellow. A Herculês in strength, and in weakness also.” He lived in terror of his wife, but loved Pip, whom he brought up. His great word was “meantersay.” Thus: “What I meantersay, if you come a-badgering me, come out. Which I meantersay as sech, if you’re a man, come on. Which I meantersay that what I say I meantersay and stand to it” (ch. xviii.). His first wife was a shrew; but soon after her death he married Biddy, a young woman wholly suited to him.

Mrs. Joe Gargery, the smith’s first wife; a “rampageous woman,” always “on the ram-page.” By no means good-looking was Mrs. Joe, with her black hair and fierce eyes, and prevailing redness of skin, looking as if “she scrubbed herself with a nutmeg-grater instead of soap and flannel.” She “was tall and bony, and wore a coarse apron fastened over her figure behind with two loops, and having a square bib in front, stuck full of needles and pins.” She brought up Pip, but made his home as wretched as she could, always keeping a rod called “Tickler” ready for immediate use. Mrs. Joe was a very clean woman, and cleanliness is next to godliness; but Mrs. Joe had the art of making her cleanliness as disagreeable to every one as many people do their godliness. She died after a long illness.—C. Dickens, Great Expectations (1860).

John, a proverbially unhappy name for royalty.—See Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 461.

We shall see, however, that this poor king [Robert II.] remained as unfortunate as if his name had still been John [He changed it from John to Robert].—Sir W. Scott, Tales of a Grandfather, i. 17.

John, a Franciscan friar.—Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (1598).

John, the bastard brother of Don Pedro.—Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing (1600).

John, the driver of the Queen’s Ferry diligence.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).

John Andruss. Clever fellow, but weak in principles, who becomes once and again a tool in the hands of designing men and silly women, rallying after each fall, to attempt a better life. Drowned at last in rescuing a fellow-bather from the surfsurf, the bather being the “Anna” of his early idolatry, now the fat, ruddy wife of another man.—Rebecca Harding Davis, John Andruss.

John (Don), brother of Leonato, governor of Messina, whom he hates. In order to torment the governor, Don John tries to mar the happiness of his daughter Hero, who is about to be married to Lord Claudio. Don John tells Claudio that his fiancée has promised him a rendezvous by moonlight, and if Claudio will hide in the garden, he may witness it. The villain had bribed the waiting-woman of Hero to dress up in her mistress’s clothes and to give him this interview. Claudio believes the woman to be Hero, and when the bride appears at the altar next morning, he rejects her with scorn. The truth, however, comes to light; Don John takes himself to flight; and Hero is married to Lord Claudio, the man of her choice.—Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing (1600).

I have seen the great Henderson [1747-1785].... His “Don John” is a comic “Cato,” and his “Hamlet” a mixture of tragedy, comedy, pastoral, farce, and nonsense.—David Garrick 1775.

John (Friar), a tall, lean, wide-mouthed, long-nosed friar of Seville, who despatched his matins and vigils quicker than any of his fraternity. He swore like a trooper, and fought like a Trojan. When the army from Lernê pillaged the convent vineyard, Friar John seized the staff of a cross and pummelled the rogues without mercy, beating out brains, smashing limbs, cracking ribs, gashing faces, breaking jaws, dislocating joints, in the most approved Christian fashion, and never was corn so mauled by the flail as were these pillagers by “the baton of the cross.”—Rabelais, Gargantua, i. 27 (1533).

⁂ Of course, this is a satire of what are called Christian or religious wars.

John Humphreys. Pious and priggish hero of The Wide, Wide World. He is the brother of Alice Humphreys, the adopted sister of Ellen Montgomery, the little heroine of the story. He trains and molds Ellen from childhood, and finally marries her.—Susan Warner, The Wide, Wide World (1851).

John (King), a tragedy by Shakespeare (1508). This drama is founded on The First and Second Parts of the Troublesome Raigne of John, King of England, etc. As they were sundry times publickly acted by the Queenes Majesties players in the Honourable Citie of London (1591).

In “Macbeth,” “Hamlet,” “Wolsey,” “Coriolanus,” and “King John,” he [Edmund Kean, 1787-1833] never approached within any measurable distance of the learned, philosophical, and majestic Kemble.—Quarterly Review (1835).

W.C. Macready [1793-1873], in the scene where he suggests to “Hubert” the murder of “Arthur,” was masterly, and his representation of death by poison, was true, forcible, and terrific.—Talfourd.

⁂ Kynge Johan, a drama of the transition state between the moralities and tragedy. Of the historical persons introduced, we have King John, Pope Innocent, Cardinal Pandulphus, Stephen Langton, etc.; and of allegorical personages, we have Widowed Britannia, Imperial Majesty, Nobility, Clergy, Civil Order, Treason, Verity, and Sedition. This play was published in 1838 by the Camden Society, under the care of Mr. Collier (about 1550).

John (Little), one of the companions of Robin Hood.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

John (Prester). According to Mandeville, Prester John was a lineal descendant of Ogier, the Dane. This Ogier penetrated into the north of India, with fifteen barons of his own country, among whom he divided the land. John was made sovereign of Teneduc, and was called Prester, because he converted the natives.

Another tradition says he had seventy kings for his vassals, and was seen by his subjects only three times a year.

Marco Polo says that Prester John was the Khan Ung, who was slain in battle by Jenghiz Khan, in 1202. He was converted by the Nestorians, and his baptismal name was John. Gregory Bar-Hebræus says that God forsook him because he had taken to himself a wife of the Zinish nation, called Quarakhata.

Otto, of Freisingen, is the first author who makes mention of Prester John. His chronicle is brought down to the year 1156, and in it we are assured that this most mysterious personage was of the family of the Magi, and ruled over the country of these Wise Men. “He used” (according to Otto) “a sceptre made of emeralds.”

Bishop Jordānus, in his description of the world, sets down Abyssinia as the kingdom of Prester John. At one time Abyssinia went by the name of Middle India.

Maimonidês mentions Prester John, and calls him Preste-Cuan. The date of Maimonidês is 1135-1204.

⁂ Before 1241 a letter was addressed by Prester John to Manuel Comne´nus, emperor of Constantinople. It is to be found in the Chronicle of Albericus Trium Fontium, who gives the date as 1165.

In Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, xvii., Prester John is called Sena´pus, king of Ethiopia. He was blind. Though the richest monarch of the world, he pined “in plenty with endless famine,” because harpies carried off his food whenever the table was spread; but this plague was to cease “when a stranger came to his kingdom on a flying horse.” Astolpho came on a flying griffin, and with his magic horn chased the harpies into Cocy´tus.

John (Prince), son of Henry II., introduced by Sir W. Scott in The Betrothed (1825).

John (Prince), brother of Richard I., introduced by Sir W. Scott in The Talisman (1825).

John and the abbot of Canterbury. King John, being jealous of the state kept by the abbot of Canterbury, declared he should be put to death unless he answered these three questions: (1) “How much am I worth? (2) How long would it take me to ride round the world? (3) What are my thoughts?” The king gave the abbot three weeks for his answers. A shepherd undertook to disguise himself as the abbot, and to answer the questions. To the first he said, “The king’s worth is twenty-nine pence, for the Saviour Himself was sold for thirty pence, and his majesty is mayhap a penny worse than He.” To the second question he answered, “If you rise with the sun and ride with the sun, you will get round the world in twenty-four hours.” To the third question he replied, “Your majesty thinks me to be the abbot, but I am only his servant.”—Percy, Reliques, II. iii. 6.

John Blunt, a person who prides himself on his brusqueness, and in speaking unpleasant truths in the rudest manner possible. He not only calls a spade a spade, but he does it in an offensive tone and manner.

John Bull, the national name for an Englishman, (See Bull).

John Chinaman, a Chinese.

John Company, the old East India Company.

In old times, John Company employed nearly 4000 men in warehouses.—Old and New London, ii (185).

John Grueby, the honest, faithful servant of Lord George Gordon, who wished “the blessed old creatur, named Bloody Mary, had never been born.” He had the habit of looking “a long way off.” John loved his master, but hated his religious craze.

“Between Bloody Marys, and blue cockades, and glorious Queen Besses, and no poperys, and Protestant associations,” said Grueby to himself, “I believe my lord’s half off his head.”—Dickens, Barnaby Rudge, xxxvi.

John of Bruges, (1 syl.) John Van Eyck, the Flemish painter (1370-1441).

John o’ Groat, a Dutchman, who settled in the most northerly part of Scotland, in the reign of James IV. He is immortalized by the way he settled an open dispute among his nine sons respecting precedency. He had nine doors made to his cottage, one for each son, and they sat at a round table.

From John o’ Groat’s house to the Land’s End, from furthest north to furthest south of the island, i. e. through its entire length.

John of Hexham, Johannes Hagustaldensis, a chronicler (twelfth century).

John of Leyden, John Bockhold or Boccold, a fanatic (1510-1536).

In the opera he is called “the prophet.” Being about to marry Bertha, three anabaptists meet him, and observe in him a strong likeness to a picture of David in Munster Cathedral. Having induced him to join the rebels, they take Munster, and crown him “Ruler of Westphalia.” His mother meets him while he is going in procession, but he disowns her; subsequently, however, he visits her in prison, and is forgiven. When the emperor arrives the anabaptists fall off, and John, setting fire to the banquet-room of the palace, perishes with his mother in the flames.—Meyerbeer, Le Prophète (1849).

John with the Leaden Sword. The duke of Bedford, who acted as regent for Henry VI. in France, was so called by Earl Douglas (surnamed Tine-man).

Johnny, the infant son of Mrs. Betty Higden’s “daughter’s daughter.” Mrs. Boffin wished to adopt the child, and to call him John Harmon, but it died. During its illness, Bella Wilfer went to see it, and the child murmured, “Who is the boofer lady?” The sick child was placed in the Children’s Hospital, and, just at the moment of death, gave his toys to a little boy with a broken leg in an adjoining bed, and sent “a kiss to the boofer lady.”—C. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend (1864).

Johnny Crapaud. A Frenchman was so called by English sailors in the time of Napoleon I. The Flemings called the French “Crapaud Franchos.” The allusion is to the toads borne in the ancient arms of France.

John Ridd, herculean hero of Exmoor, and lover of Lorna Doone. By various exploits, he achieves knighthood, and marries Lorna.—R. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone.

Johnson (Dr. Samuel), lexicographer, essayist, and poet (1709-1784).

Johnstone (Auld Willie), an old fisherman, father to Peggy, the laundry-maid at Woodburne.

Young Johnstone, his son.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Joliffe (2 syl.), footman to Lady Penfeather.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well (time, George III.).

Joliffe (Joceline), under-keeper of Woodstock Forest.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).

Joliquet (Bibo), the garçon of the White Lion Inn, held by Jerome Lesurgues (2 syl.).—Edward Stirling, The Courier of Lyons (1852).

Jollup (Sir Jacob), father of Mrs. Jerry Sneak and Mrs. Bruin. Jollup is the vulgar, pomposo landlord of Garratt, who insists on being always addressed as “Sir Jacob.”

Jolter. In the agony of terror, on hearing the direction given to put on the headlights in a storm off Calais, Smollett tells us that Jolter went through the steps of a mathematical proposition with great fervor instead of a prayer.

Jonas, the name given in Absalom and Achitophel, to Sir William Jones, judge of the Irish Court of Common Pleas under James I. It is a pun on the name.—Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, i. (1681).

Jonas, “smart,” capable and somewhat priggish factotum of the Holliday family. Sui generis as regards learning, when one reflects that he entered his employer’s service as a tramp. Equally remarkable as to virtue. Rollo’s mentor; a New England Harry Sandford.—Jacob Abbott, The Rollo Books.

Jonathan, a sleek old widower. He was a parish orphan, whom Sir Benjamin Dove apprenticed, and then took into his family. When Jonathan married, the knight gave him a farm, rent-free and well stocked. On the death of his wife, he gave up the farm, and entered the knight’s service as butler. Under the evil influence of Lady Dove, this old servant was inclined to neglect his kind master; but Sir Benjamin soon showed him that, although the lady was allowed to peck him, the servants were not.—R. Cumberland, The Brothers (1769).

Jonathan, one of the servants of General Harrison.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).

Jonathan, an attendant on Lord Saville.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Jonathan (Brother), a national nickname for an American of the United States. In the Revolutionary war, Washington used to consult his friend, Jonathan Trumbull, governor of Connecticut, in all his difficulties. “We must ask brother Jonathan,” was so often on his lips, that the phrase became synonymous with the good genius of the States, and was subsequently applied to the North Americans generally.

Jones (Tom), the hero of a novel by Fielding, called The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749). Tom Jones is a model of generosity, openness, and manly spirit, mingled with thoughtless dissipation. With all this, he is not to be admired; his reputation is flawed, he sponges for a guinea, he cannot pay his landlady, and he lets out his honor to hire.

Jones (Mrs.), the waiting-woman of Lady Penfeather.—Sir. W. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well (time, George III.).

Jonson (Ben), the poet, introduced by Sir Walter Scott in his Woodstock. Shakespeare is introduced in the same novel.

Jopson (Jacob), farmer at the village near Clifton.

Cicely Jopson, Jacob’s daughter. She marries Ned Williams.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).

Jordan (Mrs.), the actress, who lived with the duke of Clarence, was Miss Dorothea Bland. She called herself Dora, first appeared in York as Miss Francis, and changed her name at the request of an aunt who left her a little property. When the change of name was debated between her and the manager, Tate suggested “Mrs. Jordan,” and gave this very pertinent reason:

“You have crossed the water,” said Tate, “so I’ll call you ‘Jordan.’”

Jorkins, the partner of Mr. Spenlow, in Doctor’s Commons. Mr. Jorkins is really a retiring, soft-hearted man, but to clients he is referred to by Spenlow as the stern martinet, whose consent will be most difficult to obtain.—C. Dickens, David Copperfield (1849).

Jorworth-ap-Jevan, envoy of Gwenwyn, prince of Powys-land.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

Josaphat, a young Indian prince, of whom it had been predicted that he would embrace Christianity and become a devotee. His father tried to seclude him from all knowledge of misery and evil, and to attach him only to pleasurable pursuits. At length the young prince took three drives, in one of which he saw Old Age, in another sickness, and in the third Death. This had such an effect upon him that he became a hermit, and at death was canonized both by the Eastern and Western Churches.—Johannes Damascenus, Balaam and Josaphat (eight century).

Josceline (Sir), an English knight and crusader in the army of Richard I.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

José (Don), father of Don Juan, and husband of Donna Inez. He was henpecked and worried to death by his wife’s “proprieties.” To the world they were “models of respectability,” but at home they were “cat and dog.” Donna Inez tried to prove him mad, in order to obtain a divorce, and “kept a journal where all his faults were noted.” “She witnessed his agonies with great magnanimity;” but, while seeking a divorce, Don José died.—Byron Don Juan, i. 26, 33 (1819).

Joseph, the old gardener at Shaw’s Castle.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well (time, George III.).

Joseph, a Jew of the noblest type; with unbounded benevolence and most excellent charity. He sets a splendid example of “Christian ethics” to those who despised him for not believing the “Christian creed.” Joseph the Jew was the good friend of the Christian minister of Mariendorpt.—S. Knowles, The Maid of Mariendorpt (1838).

Joseph Frowenfeld, apothecary of German extraction, settled in Louisiana, and patronized by the Grandissimes. “As hard to move as a cow in the moonlight,” Dr. Keene says of him, “and knows just about as much of the world.” Yet Dr. Keene trusts him where simple loyality and true manliness are required, and it is a heart worth the keeping that Professor Frowenfeld gives into the care of Clotilde Nuncanou.—George W. Cable, The Grandissimes (1880).

Joseph (A), a young man not to be seduced from his continency by any temptation. The reference is to Joseph in Potiphar’s house (Gen. xxxix.).

Joseph (St.) of Arimathe´a, said to have brought to Glastonbury in a mystic vessel some of the blood which trickled from the wounds of Christ at the Crucifixion, and some of the wine left at the Last Supper. This vessel plays a very prominent part in the Arthurian legends.