act iv. sc. 2 (1591).

=Jack Hamlin=. Professional gambler and lady-killer, has an engagement to elope with the wife of Brown, of Calaveras. Brown, ignorant of the friend’s treachery, confides to him his love for the woman who, he knows, is preparing to leave him with “somebody.” Moved by the man’s distress, Jack takes horse and rides away _alone_.—Bret Harte, _Luck of Roaring Camp, etc._ (1872).

=Jack and Jill=, said to be the Saxon and Norman stocks united.

Jack and Jill went up the hill, To fetch a pail of water; Jack fell down and cracked his crown, And Jill came tumbling after. _Nursery Rhyme_.

Or thus:

’Twas not on Alpine ice or snow, But homely English soil: “Excelsior!” their motto was; They spared nor time nor toil; They did not go for fame or wealth, But went at duty’s call; And tho’ united in their aim, Were severed in their fall.

=Jack and the Bean-Stalk=. Jack was a very poor lad, sent by his mother to sell a cow, which he parted with to a butcher for a few beans. His mother, in her rage, threw the beans away; but one of them grew during the night as high as the heavens. Jack climbed the stalk, and, by the direction of a fairy, came to a giant’s castle, where he begged food and rest. This he did thrice, and in his three visits stole the giant’s red hen which laid golden eggs, his money-bags, and his harp. As he ran off with the last treasure, the harp cried out, “Master! master!” which woke the giant, who ran after Jack; but the nimble lad cut the bean-stalk with an axe, and the giant was killed in his fall.

⁂ This is said to be an allegory of the Teutonic Al-fader: the “red hen” representing the all-producing sun, the “money-bags” the fertilizing rain, and the “harp” the winds.

=Jack-in-the-Green=, one of the May-day mummers.

⁂ Dr. Owen Pugh says that Jack-in-the-Green represents Melvas, king of Somersetshire, disguised in green boughs, and lying in ambush for Queen Guenever, the wife of King Arthur, as she was returning from a hunting expedition.

=Jack-o’-Lent=, a kind of Aunt Sally set up during Lent to be pitched at; hence puppet, a sheepish booby, a boy-page, a scarecrow. Mrs. Page says to Robin, Falstaff’s page:

You little Jack-a-Lent? have you been true to us?— Shakespeare, _Merry Wives of Windsor_, act iii. sc. 3 (1603).

=Jack of Newbury=, John Winchcomb, the greatest clothier of the world in the reign of Henry VIII. He kept a hundred looms in his own house at Newbury, and equipped at his own expense a hundred of his men to aid the king against the Scotch in Flodden Field (1513).

=Jack Robinson=. This famous comic song is by Hudson, tobacconist, No. 98 Shoe Lane, London, in the early part of the nineteenth century. The last line is, “And he was off before you could say ‘Jack Robinson.’” The tune to which the words are sung is the _Sailors’ Hornpipe_. Halliwell quotes these two lines from an “old play:”

A warke is ys as easie to be doone As ’tys to saye, _Jacke! robys on_, _Archaic Dictionary_.

=Jack Sprat=, of nursery rhymes.

Jack Sprat could eat no fat, His wife could eat no lean? And so betwixt ’em both, They licked the platter clean.

=Jack the Giant-Killer=, a series of nursery tales to show the mastery of skill and wit over brute strength. Jack encounters various giants, but outwits them all. The following would illustrate the sort of combat: Suppose they came to a thick iron door, the giant would belabor it with his club hour after hour without effect; but Jack would apply a delicate key, and the door would open at once. This is not one of the stories, but will serve to illustrate the sundry contests. Jack was a “valiant Cornishman,” and his first exploit was to kill the giant Cormoran, by digging a deep pit, which he filmed over with grass, etc. The giant fell into the pit, and Jack knocked him on the head with a hatchet. Jack afterwards obtained a coat of invisibility, a cap of knowledge, a resistless sword, and shoes of swiftness; and, thus armed, he almost rid Wales of its giants.

=Jack-with-a-Lantern=. This meteoric phenomenon, when seen on the ground or a little above it, is called by sundry names, as Brenning-drake, Burning candle, Corpse candles, Dank Will, Death-fires, Dick-a-Tuesday, Elf-fire, the Fair maid of Ireland, Friar’s lantern, Gillion-a-burnt-tail, Gyl Burnt-tail, Ignis fatuus, Jack-o’-lantern, Jack-with-a-lantern, Kit-o’-the-canstick, Kitty-wi’-a-wisp, Mad Crisp, Peg-a-lantern, Puck, Robin Goodfellow, Shot stars, Spittle of the stars, Star jelly, a Sylham lamp, a Walking fire, Wandering fires, Wandering wild-fire, Will-with-a-wisp.

Those led astray by these “fool-fires” are said to be Elf-led, Mab-led, or Puck-led.

When seen on the tips of the fingers, the hair of the head, mast-tops, and so on, the phenomenon is called Castor and Pollux (if double), Cuerpo Santo (Spanish), Corpusanse, Dipsas, St. Elmo _or_ Fires of St. Elmo (Spanish), St. Ermyn, Feu d’Hélène (French), Fire-drakes, Fuole _or_ Looke Fuole, Haggs, Helen (if single), St. Hel´ena, St. Helme’s fires, Leda’s twins, St. Peter and St. Nicholas (Italian), _or_ Fires of St. Peter and St. Nicholas.

=Jacks= (_The Two Genial_), Jack Munden and Jack Dowton. Planché says: “They were never called anything else.” The former was Joseph Munden (1758-1832), and the latter, William Dowton (1764-1851)—Planché, _Recollections etc._, i. 28.

=Jackson Reed=, aged light-house keeper. Believes in special providences and personal deliverances. Part of his religion is to keep the “light” burning. One afternoon he is detained by an upset on the road, and a storm arises. His skeptical wife, almost bed-ridden with rheumatism, bethinks herself that her nephew is on the sea, and the light is not kindled. After hours of agony she drags herself up the stairs, praying as she goes, and finds the _lamp lighted_, she believes, miraculously. Her husband coming home, guesses that a girl once beloved by the nephew, was his guardian angel.

“Abbey Weaver lit that lamp; but _Sarah needn’t know_!”—Mary E. Wilkins, _The Bar Light-House_ (1887).

=Jacob, the Scourge of Grammar=, Giles Jacob, master of Romsey, in Southamptonshire, brought up for an attorney. Author of a _Law Dictionary, Lives and Characters of English Poets_, etc. (1686-1744).

=Jac´omo=, an irascible captain and a woman-hater. Frank (the sister of Frederick) is in love with him.—Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Captain_ (1613).

=Jacques= (1 _syl._), one of the domestic men-servants of the duke of Aranza. The duke, in order to tame down the overbearing spirit of his bride, pretends to be a peasant, and deputes Jacques to represent the duke for the nonce. Juliana, the duke’s bride, lays her grievance before “duke” Jaques, but of course receives no redress, although she learns that if a Jaques is “duke,” the “peasant” Aranza is a better man.—J. Tobin, _The Honeymoon_ (1804).

_Jacques_ (_Pauvre_), the absent sweet-heart of a love-lorn maiden. Marie Antoinette sent to Switzerland for a lass to attend the dairy of her “Swiss village” in miniature, which she arranged in the Little Trianon (Paris). The lass was heard sighing for _pauvre Jacques_, and this made a capital sentimental amusement for the court idlers. The swain was sent for, and the marriage celebrated.

Pauvre Jacques, quand j’etais près de loi Je ne sentais pas ma misère; Mais à présent que tu vis loin de moi Je manque de tout sur la terre. Marquise de Travanet, _Pauvre Jacques_.

_Jacques_. (See JAQUES.)

=Jac´ulin=, daughter of Gerrard, king of the beggars, beloved by Lord Hubert.—Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Beggar’s Bush_ (1622).

=Jael Dence=, sturdy, beautiful daughter of the people, maid and beloved companion of Grace Garden. From afar off, Jael loves Henry Little, yet it is through her intrepidity and loyalty that he is restored to her mistress.—Charles Reade, _Put Yourself in His Place_.

=Jaffier=, a young man befriended by Priuli, a proud Venetian senator. Jaffier rescued the senator’s daughter, Belvidera, from shipwreck, and afterwards married her clandestinely. The old man now discarded both, and Pierre induced Jaffier to join a junto for the murder of the senators. Jaffier revealed the conspiracy to his wife, and Belvidera, in order to save her father, induced her husband to disclose it to Priuli, under promise of free pardon to the conspirators. The pardon, however, was limited to Jaffier, and the rest were ordered to torture and death. Jaffier now sought out his friend Pierre, and, as he was led to execution, stabbed him to prevent his being broken on the wheel, and then killed himself. Belvidera went mad and died.—T. Otway, _Venice Preserved_ (1682).

=Jaga-naut=, the seven-headed idol of the Hindûs, described by Southey in the _Curse of Kehama_, xiv. (1809).

=Jaggers=, a lawyer of Little Britain, London. He was a burly man, of an exceedingly dark complexion, with a large head and large hand. He had bushy black eyebrows that stood up bristling, sharp suspicious eyes set very deep in his head, and strong black dots where his beard and whiskers would have been if he had let them. His hands smelt strongly of scented soap, he wore a very large watch-chain, was in the constant habit of biting his fore-finger, and when he spoke to any one, he threw his fore-finger at him pointedly. A hard logical man was Mr. Jaggers, who required an answer to be “yes” or “no,” allowed no one to express an opinion, but only to state facts in the fewest possible words. Magwitch appointed him Pip’s guardian, and he was Miss Havisham’s man of business.—C. Dickens, _Great Expectations_ (1860).

=Jairus’s Daughter=, restored to life by Jesus, is called by Klopstock Cidli.—Klopstock, _The Messiah_, iv. (1771).

=Jalût=, the Arabic name for Goliath.—Sale, _Al Korân_, xvii.

=James= (_Prince_), youngest son of King Robert III. of Scotland, introduced by Sir W. Scott in _The Fair Maid of Perth_ (1828).

=James I.= of England, introduced by Sir W. Scott in _The Fortunes of Nigel_ (1822).

=Ja´mie= (_Don_), younger brother of Don Henrique (_2 syl._), by whom he is cruelly treated.—Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Spanish Curate_ (1622).

=Jamie Duffs.= Weepers are so called, from a noted Scotchman of the eighteenth century, whose craze was to follow funerals in deep mourning costume.—Kay, _Original Portraits_, i. 7; ii. 9. 17, 95.

=Ja´mieson= (_Bet_), nurse at Dr. Grey’s, surgeon at Middlemas.—Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon’s Daughter_ (time, George II.).

=Jamshid=, king of the Genii, famous for a golden cup filled with the elixir of life. The cup was hidden by the genii, but found when digging the foundations of Persep´olis.

I know, too, where the genii hid The jewelled cup of their King Jamshid, With life’s elixir sparkling high. T. Moore, _Lalla Rookh_ (“Paradise and the Peri,” 1817).

=Jane Eyre=, heroine of a novel so called by Currer Bell.

=Jane=, early and lost love of Ralph Hoyt’s nonogenarian.

“I am fleeing!—all I loved are fled; Yon green meadow was our place for playing; That old tree can tell of sweet things said, When round it Jane and I were straying.

She is dead! I am fleeing!—all I loved are fled!” Ralph Hoyt, _Old_ (1859).

=Jan´at=, the Scotch laundress of David Ramsay, the watchmaker.—Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).

=Jan´et of Tomahourich= (_Muhme_), aunt of Robin Oig M’Combich, a Highland drover.—Sir W. Scott, _The Two Drovers_ (time, George III.).

=Janey Briarley.= Twelve-year-old girl, her mother’s assistant in rearing the other children. Since her third year she has done with the follies of youth. She is given to grave speculations and sage counsels and her sharp eyes do notable service to her friends.—Frances Hodgson Burnett, _Haworth’s_ (1879).

=Jannekin= (_Little_), apprentice of Henry Smith, the armorer.—Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).

=Jannie Duff=, with her little sister and brother, were sent to gather broom, and were lost in the bush (Australia). The parents called in the aid of the native blacks to find them, and on the ninth day they were discovered. “Father,” cried the little boy, “why didn’t you come before? We cooed quite loud, but you never came.” The sister only said, “cold!” and sank in stupor. Jannie had stripped herself to cover little Frank, and had spread her frock over her sister to keep her warm, and there all three were found almost dead, lying under a bush.

=January and May.= January is an old Lombard baron, some 60 years of age, who marries a girl named May. This young wife loves Damyan, a young squire. One day, the old baron found them in close embrace; but May persuaded her husband that his eyes were so dim he had made a mistake, and the old baron, too willing to believe, allowed himself to give credit to the tale.—Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (“The Merchant’s Tale,” 1388).

⁂ Modernized by Ogle (1714).

=Jaquemart=, the automata of a clock, consisting of a man and woman who strike the hours on a bell. So called from Jean Jacquemart, of Dijon, a clockmaker, who devised this piece of mechanism. Menage erroneously derives the word from _jaccomarchiardus_ (“a coat of mail”), “because watchmen watched the clock of Dijon fitted with a jacquemart.”

=Jaquenetta=, a country wench, courted by Don Adriano de Armado.—Shakespeare, _Love’s Labor’s Lost_ (1594).

=Jaques= (_1 syl._), one of the lords attendant on the banished duke, in the forest of Arden. A philosophic idler, cynical, sullen, contemplative, and moralizing. He could “suck melancholy out of a song, as a weazel sucks eggs.” Jaques resents Orlando’s passion for Rosalind, and quits the duke as soon as he is restored to his dukedom.—Shakespeare, _As You Like It_ (1598).

Shakespeare always makes two syllables of the name Jaques; Sir Walter Scott makes one syllable of it, but Charles Lamb two. For example:

Whom humorous Jaques with envy viewed (_1 syl._). Sir W. Scott.

Where Jaques fed his solitary vein (_2 syl._).—C. Lamb.

The “Jaques” of [_Charles M. Young_, 1777-1856], is indeed most musical, most melancholy, attuned to the very wood-walks among which he muses.—_New Monthly Magazine_ (1822).

_Jaques_ (_1 syl._), the miser in a comedy by Ben Jonson, entitled _The Case is Altered_ (1584-1637).

_Jaques_ (_1 syl._), servant to Sulpit´ia, a bawd. (See JACQUES.)—Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Custom of the Country_ (1647).

=Jarley= (_Mrs._), a kind-hearted woman, mistress of a travelling wax-work exhibition, containing “one hundred figures the size of life;” the “only stupendous collection of real wax-work in the world;” “the delight of the nobility and gentry, the royal family, and crowned heads of Europe.” Mrs. Jarley was kind to little Nell, and employed her as a decoy-duck to “Jarley’s unrivalled collection.”—C. Dickens, _Old Curiosity Shop_.

=Jarnac= (_Coup de_), a cut which severs the ham-string. So called from a cut given by Jarnac to La Chateigneraie in a duel fought in the presence of Henri II., in 1547.

=Jarn´dyce= _v._ =Jarn´dyce= ( _2 syl._), a Chancery suit “never ending, still beginning,” which had dragged its slow length along over so many years that it had blighted the prospects and ruined the health of all persons interested in its settlement.—C. Dickens, _Bleak House_ (1853).

_Jarndyce_ (_Mr._), client in the great Chancery suit of “Jarndyce _v._ Jarndyce,” and guardian of Esther Summerson. He concealed the tenderest heart under a flimsy churlishness of demeanor, and could never endure to be thanked for any of his numberless acts of kindness and charity. If anything went wrong with him, or his heart was moved to melting, he would say, “I am sure the wind is in the east.”—C. Dickens, _Bleak House_ (1853).

=Jarvie= (_Bailie Nicol_), a magistrate at Glasgow, and kinsman of Rob Roy. He is petulant, conceited, purse proud, without tact, and intensely prejudiced, but kind-hearted and sincere. Jarvie marries his maid. The novel of _Rob Roy_ has been dramatized by J. Pocock, and Charles Mackay was the first to appear in the character of “Bailie Nicol Jarvie.” Talfourd says (1829): “Other actors are sophisticate, but Macay is the thing itself.”—Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).

The character of Bailie Nicol Jarvie is one of the author’s happiest conceptions, and the idea of carrying him to the wild, rugged mountains, among outlaws and desperadoes—at the same time that he retained a keen relish of the comforts of the Saltmarket of Glasgow, and a due sense of his dignity as a magistrate—complete the ludicrous effect of the picture.—Chambers, _English Literature_, ii. 587.

=Jarvis=, a faithful old servant, who tries to save his master, Beverly, from his fatal passion of gambling.—Edward Moore, _The Gamester_ (1753).

_Jarvis (Warner)._ Cynical traveller who comes to Castle Nowhere, and loses his heart to Silver.—Constance Fennimore Woolson, _Castle Nowhere_.

=Jason.= King of Thessaly, commander of Argonautic expedition, and unfaithful husband of Medea.

=Jaspar= was poor, heartless, and wicked; he lived by highway robbery, and robbery led to murder. One day he induced a poor neighbor to waylay his landlord; but the neighbor relented, and said, “Though dark the night, there is One above who sees in darkness.” “Never fear!” said Jaspar; “for no eye above or below can pierce this darkness.” As he spoke an unnatural light gleamed on him, and he became a confirmed maniac.—R. Southey, _Jaspar_ (a ballad).

=Jasper= (_Old_), a ploughman at Glendearg Tower.—Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).

_Jasper (Sir)_, father of Charlotte. He wants her to marry a Mr. Dapper; but she loves Leander, and, to avoid a marriage she dislikes, pretends to be dumb. A mock doctor is called in who discovers the facts of the case, and employs Leander as his apothecary. Leander soon cures the lady with “pills matrimoniac.” In Molière’s _Le Médecin Malgré Lui_ (from which this play is taken) Sir Jasper is called “Géronte” (_2 syl._).—H. Fielding, _The Mock Doctor_.

=Jasper Packlemerton=, of atrocious memory, one of the chief figures in Mrs. Jarley’s wax work exhibition.

“Jasper courted and married fourteen wives, and destroyed them all by tickling the soles of their feet when they were asleep. On being brought to the scaffold and asked if he was sorry for what he had done, he replied he was only sorry for having let them off so easy. Let this,” said Mrs. Jarley, “be a warning to all young ladies to be particular in the character of the gentleman of their choice. Observe his fingers are curled as if in the act of tickling, and there is a wink in his eyes.”—C. Dickens, _The Old Curiosity Shop_, xxviii. (1840).

=Jasper Western=, otherwise _Eau Douce_. Gallant young captain of a small schooner cruising among the Thousand Islands, the fast friend of Pathfinder, and unwittingly his rival for the hand of Mabel Dunham, who becomes Mrs. Western.—James Fennimore Cooper, _The Pathfinder_ (1840).

=Jaup= (_Alison_), an old woman at Middlemas village.—Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeons’ Daughter_ (time, George II.).

_Jaup (Saunders)_, a farmer at Old St. Ronan’s.—Sir. W. Scott, _St. Ronan’s Well_ (time, George III.).

=Javan= lost his father on the day of his birth, and was brought up in the “patriarch’s glen” by his mother, till she also died. He then sojourned for ten years with the race of Cain, and became the disciple of Jubal, the great musician. He then returned to the glen and fell in love with Zillah; but the glen being invaded by giants, Zillah and Javan, with many others, were taken captives. Enoch reproved the giants; and, as he ascended up to heaven, his mantle fell on Javan, who released the captives, and conducted them back to the glen. The giants were panic-struck by a tempest, and their king was killed by some unknown hand.—James Montgomery, _The World Before the Flood_ (1812).

=Javan’s Issue,= the Ionians and Greeks generally (_Gen._ x. 2). Milton uses the expression in _Paradise Lost_, i. 508.

⁂ In _Isaiah_ lxvi. 19, and in _Ezek._ xxvii. 13, the word is used for Greeks collectively.

=Javert=, an officer of police, the impersonation of inexorable law.—Victor Hugo, _Les Miserables_.

Jay (_John_), sarcastic artist and man of the world, who seeks solitude at Misery Landing, and falls in love with little Marthy, a backwoods maiden.—Constance Fennimore Woolson, _Misery Landing_ (1875).

=Ja´zer=, a city of Gad, personified by Isaiah. “Moab shall howl for Moab, every one shall howl ... I will bewail, with the weeping of Jazer, the vine of Sibmah; I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon.”—_Isaiah_ xvi. 7-9.

It did not content the congregation to weep all of them; but they howled with a loud voice, weeping with the weeping of Jazer.—_Kirkton_, 150.

=Jealous Traffick= (_Sir_), a rich merchant, who fancies everything Spanish is better than English, and intends his daughter, Isabinda, to marry Don Diego Barbinetto, who is expected to arrive forthwith. Isabinda is in love with Charles [Gripe], who dresses in a Spanish costume, passes himself off as Don Diego Barbinetto, and is married to Isabinda. Sir Jealous is irritable, headstrong, prejudiced, and wise in his own conceit.—Mrs. Centlivre, _The Busy Body_ (1709).

=Jealous Wife= (_The_), a comedy by George Colman (1761). Harriet Russet marries Mr. Oakly, and becomes “the jealous wife;” but is ultimately cured by the interposition of major Oakly, her brother-in-law.

⁂ This comedy is founded on Fielding’s _Tom Jones_.

=Jeames de la Pluche=, a flunky. Jeames means the same thing.—Thackeray, _Jeames’s Diary_ (1849).

=Jean des Vignes=, a French expression for a drunken blockhead, a good-for-nothing. The name Jean is often used in France, as synonymous with clown or fool, and _etre dans les vignes_ is a popular euphuism, meaning “to be drunk.” A more fanciful explanation of the term refers its origin to the battle of Poietiers, fought by King John, among the vines. _Un mariage de Jean des Vignes_, means an illicit marriage, or, in the English equivalent, “a hedge marriage.”

=Jean Folle Farine=, a merry Andrew, a poor fool, a Tom Noodle. So called because he comes on the stage like a great loutish boy, dressed all in white, with his face, hair, and hands thickly covered with flour. Scaramouch is a sort of Jean Folle Farine.

Ouida has a novel called _Folle Farine_, but she uses the phrase in quite another sense.

=Jean Jacques.= So J. J. Rousseau is often called (1712-1778).

That is almost the only maxim of Jean Jacques, to which I can ... subscribe.—Lord Lytton.

=Jean Paul.= J. P. Friedrich Richter, is generally so called (1763-1825).

=Jeanne of Alsace=, a girl ruined by Dubosc, the highwayman. She gives him up to justice, in order to do a good turn to Julie Lesurques (_2 syl._), who had befriended her.—E. Stirling, _The Courier of Lyons_ (1852).

=Jeddler= (_Dr._), “a great philosopher.” The heart and mystery of his philosophy was to look upon the world as a gigantic practical joke—something too absurd to be considered seriously by any rational man. A kind and generous man by nature, was Dr. Jeddler, and though he had taught himself the art of turning good to dross, and sunshine into shade, he had not taught himself to forget his warm benevolence and active love. He wore a pigtail, and had a streaked face like a winter pippin, with here and there a dimple “to express the peckings of the birds;” but the pippin was a tempting apple, a rosy, healthy apple after all.

_Grace_ and _Marion Jeddler_, daughters of the doctor, beautiful, graceful, and affectionate. They both fell in love with Alfred Heathfield; but Alfred loved the younger daughter. Marion, knowing the love of Grace, left her home clandestinely one Christmas Day, and all supposed she had eloped with Michael Warden. In due time, Alfred married Grace, and then Marion made it known to her sister that she had given up Alfred, out of love to her, and had been living in concealment with her Aunt Martha. Report says she subsequently married Michael Warden, and became the pride and honor of his country mansion.—C. Dickens, _The Battle of Life_ (1846).

=Jed´ida and Benjamin=, two of the children that Jesus took into His arms and blessed.

“Well I remember,” said Benjamin, “when we were on earth, with what loving fondness He folded us in His arms; how tenderly He pressed us to His heart. A tear was on His cheek, and I kissed it away. I see it still, and shall ever see it.” “And I, too,” answered Jedida, “remember when His arms were clasped around me, how He said to our mothers, ‘Unless ye become as little children, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.’”—Klopstock, _The Messiah_, i. (1748).

=Jehoi´achim=, the servant of Joshua Geddes, the quaker.—Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).

=Je´hu=, a coachman, one who drives at a rattling pace.

The driving is like the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.—2 _Kings_ ix. 20.

_Jehu (Companions of)_. The “Chouans” were so called, from a fanciful analogy between their self-imposed task and that appointed to Jehu, on his being set over the kingdom of Israel. As Jehu was to cut off Ahab and Jezebel, with all their house; so the Chouans were to cut off Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette and all the Bourbons.

=Jekyll= (_Doctor_). He discovers the secret of transformation, by means of a potent elixir, into the embodiment of his worse nature. As Dr. Jekyll, he is beneficent and beloved. As Edward Hyde, he is a monster of vice and cruelty. Finally, the baser elements prevail, and he is forced to remain Hyde—a horror that drives him to madness and death.—Robert Louis Stevenson, _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_.

=Jel´licot= (_Old Goody_), servant at the under-keeper’s hut, Woodstock Forest.—Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).

=Jel´lyby= (_Mrs._), a sham philanthropist, who spends her time, money, and energy on foreign missions, to the neglect of her family and home duties. Untidy in dress, living in a perfect litter, she has a habit of looking “a long way off,” as if she could see nothing nearer to her than Africa. Mrs. Jellyby is quite overwhelmed with business correspondence relative to the affairs of Borrioboola Gha.—C. Dickens _Bleak House_, iv. (1852).

=Jemlikha=, the favorite Greek slave of Dakiānos of Ephesus. Nature had endowed him with every charm, “his words were sweeter than the honey of Arabia, and his wit sparkled like a diamond.” One day, Dakianos was greatly annoyed by a fly, which persisted in tormenting the king, whereupon Jemlikha said to himself, “If Dakianos cannot rule a fly, how can he be the creator of heaven and earth?” This doubt he communicated to his fellow-slaves, and they all resolved to quit Ephesus, and seek some power superior to that of the arrogator of divine honors.—Comte Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ (“Dakianos and the Seven Sleepers,” 1743).

=Jemmie Duffs=, weepers. (See JAMIE DUFFS).

=Jemmy.= This name, found on engravings of the eighteenth century, means James Worsdale (died 1767).

=Jemmy Twitcher=, a cunning and treacherous highwayman.—Gay, _The Beggar’s Opera_ (1727).

⁂ Lord Sandwich, member of the Kit-Kat Club, was called “Jemmy Twitcher” (1765).

=Jenkin=, the servant of George-a-Green. He says a fellow ordered him to hold his horse, and see that it took no cold. “No, no,” quoth Jenkin, “I’ll lay my cloak under him.” He did so, but “mark you,” he adds, “I cut four holes in my cloak first, and made his horse stand on the bare ground.”—Robert Greene, _George-a-Green, the Pinner of Wakefield_ (1584).

_Jenkin_, one of the retainers of Julian Avenel (_2 syl._), of Avenel Castle.—Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).

=Jencks= (_Mr._). Tall, well-mannered young Englishman, appointed professor in a rising fresh-water university in America. On ship-board he falls in love with Lily Floyd-Curtis, whose mother is a society leader—or would be. Jencks rises faster even than his university but fate and Floyd-Curtisism award Lily to Lord Melrose, _malgré_ his spotted reputation.—Constance Cary Harrison, _The Anglomaniacs_ (1890).

=Jenkins= (_Mrs. Winifred_), Miss Tabitha Bramble’s maid, noted for her bad spelling, misapplication of words, and ludicrous misnomers. Mrs. Winifred Jenkins is the original of Mrs. Malaprop.—Smollett, _The Expedition of Humphry Clinker_ (1771).

_Jenkins_, a vulgar lick-spittle of the aristocracy, who retails their praises and witticisms, records their movements and deeds, gives flaming accounts of their dresses and parties, either _viva voce_ or in newspaper paragraphs: “Lord and Lady Dash attended divine service last Sunday, and were very attentive to the sermon” (wonderful!). “Lord and Lady Dash took a drive _or_ walk last Monday in their magnificent park of Snobdoodleham. Lady Dash wore a mantle of rich silk, a bonnet with ostrich feathers, and shoes with rosettes.” The name is said to have been first given by Punch to a writer in the _Morning Post_.

=Jenkinson= (_Ephraim_), a green old swindler, whom Dr. Primrose met in a public tavern. Imposed on by his venerable appearance, apparent devoutness, learned talk about “cosmogony,” and still more so by his flattery of the doctor’s work on the subject of monogamy, Dr. Primrose sold the swindler his horse, Old Blackberry, for a draft upon Farmer Flamborough. When the draft was presented for payment, the farmer told the vicar that Ephraim Jenkinson “was the greatest rascal under heaven,” and that he was the very rogue who had sold Moses Primrose the spectacles. Subsequently the vicar found him in the county jail, where he showed Dr. Primrose great kindness, did him valuable service, became a reformed character, and probably married one of the daughters of Farmer Flamborough.—Goldsmith, _Vicar of Wakefield_ (1765).

=Jenness= (_Captain_). Master of the _Aroostook_, in which Lydia Blood (unchaperoned) takes passage for Venice. Has “a girl just about her age up at Deer Isle.”

“Good land! I know what girls are, I hope!”

After which, the young lady needs no duenna, although she is the only woman on board.—W.D. Howells, _The Lady of the Aroostook_ (1879).

=Jennie=, housekeeper to the old laird of Dumbiedikes.—Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).

=Jenny= [DIVER]. Captain Macheath says, “What, my pretty Jenny! as prim and demure as ever? There’s not a prude, though ever so high bred, hath a more sanctified look, with a more mischievous heart.” She pretends to love Macheath, but craftily secures one of his pistols, that his other “pals” may the more easily betray him into the hands of the constables (act ii. 1.).—J. Gay, _The Beggar’s Opera_ (1727).

=Jenny l’Ouvrière=, the type of a hard-working Parisian needle-woman. She is contented with a few window-flowers which she terms “her garden,” a caged bird which she calls “her songster,” and when she gives the fragments of her food to some one poorer than herself, she calls it “her delight.”

Entendez-vous un oiseau familier? C’est le chanteur de Jenny l’Ouvrière, Au cœur content, content de peu Elle pourrait être riche, et préfére Ce qui vient de Dieu. Emile Barateau (1847).

=Jeph´thah’s Daughter.= When Jephthah went forth against the Ammonites, he vowed that if he returned victorious he would sacrifice, as a burnt offering, whatever first met him on his entrance into his native city. He gained a splendid victory, and at the news thereof his only daughter came forth dancing to give him welcome. The miserable father rent his clothes in agony, but the noble-spirited maiden would not hear of his violating his vow. She demanded a short respite, to bewail upon the mountains her blighted hope of becoming a mother, and then submitted to her fate.—_Judges_, xi.

An almost identical tale is told of Idomeneus, king of Crete. On his return from the Trojan war, he made a vow in a tempest that, if he escaped, he would offer to Neptune the first living creature that presented itself to his eye on the Cretan shore. His own son was there to welcome him home, and Idomeneus offered him up a sacrifice to the sea-god, according to his vow. Fénelon has introduced this legend in his _Télémaque_, v.

Agamemnon vowed to Diana, if he might be blessed with a child, that he would sacrifice to her the dearest of all his possessions. Iphigenīa, his infant daughter, was, of course, his “dearest possession;” but he refused to sacrifice her, and thus incurred the wrath of the goddess, which resulted in the detention of the Trojan fleet at Aulis. Iphigenia being offered in sacrifice, the offended deity was satisfied, and interposed at the critical moment, by carrying the princess to Tauris and substituting a stag in her stead.

The latter part of this tale cannot fail to call to mind the offering of Abraham. As he was about to take the life of Isaac, Jehovah interposed, and a ram was substituted for the human victim.—_Gen._ xxii.

[_Be_] not bent as Jephthah once, Blindly to execute a rash resolve; Whom better it had suited to exclaim, “I have done ill!” than to redeem his pledge By doing worse. Not unlike to him In folly that great leader of the Greeks— Whence, on the altar, Iphigenia mourned Her virgin beauty. Dantê, _Paradise_, v. (1311).

⁂ 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 assails 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).

He’s a coxcomb, a fop, a dainty milksop, Who essenced and dizened from bottom to top, And looked like a doll from a milliner’s shop... He shrugs and takes snuff, and carries a muff, A minickin, finicking, French powdered puff.