" 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 "Sejanus" (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).