was JEF versity College, Oxford, and took the degree of M.A. 9th July 1738. He had the year before taken orders; and, in 1746, was instituted to the living of Harbury, to which soon afterwards added that of Chesterton. In 1754 he had the vicarage of Snitterfield given him, where he resided the remainder of his life. In 1771 he was presented to the living of Kilmote, and died 8th of May 1781, aged 65 years. After his death, his poetical pieces were collected and printed; among which is, Adam; or, The Fatal Disobedience. Orat. Svo. 1784. JAMES, C. translated from the French of Beaumarchais, Tarare. Op. Svo. 1787. JAQUES, FRANCIS. An author of the reign of King Charles I. of whom nothing is known but that he produced one piece, now in MS. late in the library of the Marquis of Lansdowne, called The Queen of Corsica. T. 1642. JEFFREYS, GEORGE, was the son of Christopher Jeffreys, of Weldron, in Northamptonshire, and nephew to James Lord Chandos. He was born in the year 1678, was educated at Westminster school under Dr. Busby, and admitted of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1694, where he took the degrees in arts. In 1701 he was elected fellow of his college, and presided in the philosophy schools as moderator in 1706. He was also sub-orator for Dr. Ayloffe; but not going into orders within eight years, as the statutes of Trinity College require, he quitted his fellowship in 1709. In the words of one of his contemporaries (the master, Dr. Walker)," he performed his ex"ercises in the college and uni"versity with applause, which, "with a genteel modest deport JEN "ment, gained him much esteem. Though Mr. Jeffreys was called to the bar, he never practised the law; but after acting as secretary to Dr. Hartstonge, Bishop of Derry, at the latter end of Queen Anne's and the beginning of King George the First's reign, spent most of the remainder of his life in the families of the last two Dukes of Chandos, his relations. He died on the 17th day of August 1755, aged 77 years; having written, 1. Edwin. T. 8vo. 1724. 2. Merope. T. 8vo. 1731. 3. The Triumph of Truth. An Oratorio. These three dramatic performances are printed in a quarto volume of Miscellanies, in Prose and Verse, published by subscription, by Mr. Jeffreys, in the year 1754. We suppose that a number of copies remained unsubscribed for, and fell into the hands of the booksellers several years after his decease; for we have now lying before us a copy with a title-page, dated 1767; yet not professing to be a new edition. Dr. Johnson, in his Life of Addison, speaking of Cato, says, "At "the publication, the wits seemed "proud to pay their attendance "with encomiastic verses. The "best are from an unknown hand; "which will perhaps lose some"what of their praise, when the "author is known to be Jeffreys." We are wholly at a loss to know why Johnson should have spoken thus of our author (for the verses were his), whose moral character could never lessen the estimation of his poetry, because he was a man who conducted himself respectably through life. JENNENS, CHARLES, a Nonconformist gentleman, of considerable fortune, at Gopsal, in... JEN was Leicestershire, and was descended from a family which was among the many who have acquired ample fortunes at Birmingham, where they were equally famous for industry and generosity. In his youth he was so remarkable for the number of his servants, the splendour of his equipages, and the profusion of his table, that from this excess of pomp he acquired the title of Solyman the Magnificent. Not long before his death, he imprudently thrust his head into a nest of hornets, by an edition of Shakspeare; which he began by publishing King Lear, in 8vo. 1770. He published Hamlet, in 1772; and Othello and Macbeth, in 1773; and would have proceeded farther, but death prevented him. Julius Caesar, which was in his lifetime put to the press, published in 1774. His attempt, which was lame and impotent indeed, being treated with contempt by the reigning editors, he wrote, or caused to be written by some of his numerous parasites, a pamphlet against Dr. Johnson and Mr. Steevens, whom he suspected (perhaps justly enough) of having turned his commentatorial talents into ridicule. This doughty performance he is said to have had read aloud to him every day for at least a month after its publicawhile he himself kept a constant eye on the newspapers, that he might receive the earliest intelligence of the moment at which these gentlemen should have hanged or drowned themselves, in consequence of his attack on their abilities and characters. That the two now deceased critics, however, may escape the accusation of having disturbed an unoffending old man in his harmless amusement, it is necessary to tion; JEN add, that hostilities were commenced by himself; he having, in his preface and notes to King Lear, charged all his predecessors, by implication at least, with negligence and infidelity. So enamoured was he of pomp, as has been before observed, that if his transit were only from Great Ormond Street, Bloomsbury, where he resided, to his printer's (Mr. Bowyer), in Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, he always travelled with four horses, and sometimes with as many servants behind his carriage. In his progress up the paved court, a footman usually preceded him, to kick oyster-shells and other impediments out of his way. The chief error of his life consisted in his perpetual association with a set of men every way inferior to himself. By these means he lost all opportunities of improvement; but gained-what he preferred to the highest gratifications of wisdom-flattery in excess. His name is recorded in this work on account of his having compiled the words of some of Handel's oratorios, and particularly those for The Messiah; an easy task, as it was only a selection of Scripture verses. He died at Gopsal, Nov. 20, 1773; and his Shakspeare has been long since consigned to book-stalls and chandler's shops. JENNER, CHARLES, was born in the year 1737, and educated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge; where he took the degrees of B. A. 1757, M. A. 1760, and obtained the Seaton prizes in the years 1767 and 1769. He was rector of Cramford St. John, in Northamp tonshire; and vicar of Claybrook, in Leicestershire; and died on the 11th of May 1774. See Biblioth. JEP Topograph. Brit. No. 51, p. 79. He was the author of several poems and novels, and of the following dramatic pieces : 1. Lucinda. D.E. 12mo. 1770. 2. The Man of Family. Sent. Com. 8vo. 1771; 12mo. 1771, Dublin. An elegant monument was erected to his memory, in Claybrook church, by a lady of very exalted rank; on which is the following epitaph: Here in the earth's cold bosom lies entomb'd A man, whose sense, by ev'ry virtue grac'd, Made each harmonious Muse obey his lyre: Nor shall th' erasing hand of powerful Time JEP ly occupied his mind. He displayed good natural parts, well improved by education; he spoke pleasingly; his language was good, and he had a vein of satirical humour, very agreeable to all but those against whom it was pointed. These qualifications recommended him to the attention of Lord Townshend, who came to the government of Ireland in 1767, and who made Captain Jephson master of the horse, and procured him a seat in the House of Commons. The Captain, grateful for these favours, constantly supported the measures of Government; and strenuously defended the character of Lord Townshend, when it was openly attacked in the House, after he had departed. February 11, 1774, when a great debate came on respecting a bill to relax the severity of the laws against the Papists, Captain Jephson took a conspicuous part, and made a very long and eloquent speech in their favour, quitting on that occasion obtained him the name of the Morhis usual satirical turn, which had tal Momus. But this restraint was not frequently used; in a debate on removing the custom-house of Dublin (March 7, 1779), and in that on a motion for sending 4000 troops from Ireland to America, he indulged his talent for humour. Lord Townshend having left Ireland, his successor, Lord Harcourt, had not that taste for wit and humour which distinguished his predecessor, and made Captain Jephson so agreeable to him. The Captain, indeed, continued in his office, but did not seem to have countenance shown him in the Castle as before; and on the general election, in 1776, he was not returned to Parliament. However, Mr. Hugh Massey being made a JEP peer, the Lord Lieutenant was convinced that Captain Jephson's talents would be useful; and he was elected, in October 1776, to fill Lord Massey's vacant seat of Old Leighlin, in the county of Carlow, a borough at the disposal of the Bishop of Leighlin and Ferns. However, Captain Jephson did not distinguish himself so much in the House as formerly, but frequently gave his silent vote. Having applied his mind to dramatic writing, he produced, 1. Braganza. T. Svo. 1775. 2. The Law of Lombardy. T. 8vo. 1779. 3. Count of Narbonne. T. 8vo. 1781. 4. The Hotel. F. 8vo. 1783. 5. The Campaign. C. O. 1785. N. P. 6. Julia. T. 8vo. 1787. 7. Love and War. M. E. 1787. N. P. 8. Two Strings to your Bow. F. 8vo. 1791. 9. The Conspiracy. T. 8vo. 1796. JEV teau, 2 vols. 12mo. Upon the whole, Mr. Jephson was a very useful labourer in the vineyard of literature; and his productions show him to have been a man of taste, judgment, and good sense. He died at his house, Black Rock, near Dublin, May 31, 1803. An JERNINGHAM, EDWARD. author now living. He is descended from an ancient family in the county of Norfolk, at the head of which is his brother Sir William, who holds the rank of baronet. He received the first elements of education at the English college at Douay, and completed his studies under the Rev. Dr. Howard, at Paris. He returned to England in 1762, and soon distinguished himself by some compositions of the elegiac kind, as, The Nunnery, The Magdalens, The Nun, Il Latte, &c. which bear the marks of sterling merit. Three volumes of his poems are in the possession of the public, and he is also the author of the following dramas: 1. Margaret of Anjou. Hist. Int. 1777. 2. The Siege of Berwick. T. 8vo. 1794. 3. The Welch Heiress. C. 8vo. 1795. 4. The Peckham Frolic. C. 8vo. 1799. Mr. Jephson, Mr. Courtenay, the Rev. Mr. Boroughs, and others equally well qualified for the task, wrote a collection of essays during Lord Townshend's ever-memorable viceroyalty in Ireland, called The Bachelor, which completely succeeded in putting down, and JEVON, THOMAS. This author turning into ridicule, the enemies flourished in the reigns of King to his government, and enriched Charles II. and King James II. the world with a collection, which, He was an actor and a dancingfor genuine wit and humour, has master, and attained great emirarely been equalled, perhaps ne- nence in both those professions, ver excelled. Mr. Jephson also especially the former, in which published a poem, entitled Roman his general cast was that of low Portraits, 4to. 1794; and, in the comedy. He did not, however, same year, a well-meant, well-long enjoy the sunshine of poputimed, and well-executed satire on the French revolution, called The in the very prime of life, viz. at lar applause; for he was taken off Confession of James Baptiste Cou-the age of thirty-six years, on the 8vo. 20th of December 1688, and was written for private Performance interred in Hampstead church- and Country Amusement.. yard. 1787. He wrote one dramatic piece, which even in its original form met with success, but has since undergone almost as many transformations as the Brahmins of the East Indies fable their deity Vishnou to have passed through. It is entitled The Devil of a Wife. F. 4to. 1686. JODRELL, PAUL, was second son of the Solicitor General to the Prince of Wales, and is descended of a Norfolk family, seated at Bayfield, near Holt. Mr. Jodrell is M. A. and, we believe, fellow of St. John's College, and has produced two dramatic pieces, viz. 1. A Widow and no Widow. Dr. Piece. 1779; 8vo. 1780. 2. Seeing is believing. Dr. Proverb. 8vo. 1786. JODRELL, SIR RICHARD PAUL, Knt. and M. D. brother of the foregoing, was several years ago Physician Extraordinary to the Nabob of Arcot. He figured originally as a classical scholar and poet, and published Illustrations of Euripides, 8vo. 1781, &c. The Knight and Friars, an historic tale from Heywood's TuvaιELOV, 4to. 1785. He afterwards published, 1. The Persian Heroine. T. 4to. and 8vo. 1786. 2. Who's afraid? F. JOHNS, WILLIAM, was the son of Nicholas Johns, of Matherne, in Monmouthshire. He became a chorister of All Souls College, Oxford, in Michaelmas Term 1663, at the age of nineteen years, or thereabouts, but left the university without a degree. He afterwards became schoolmaster of Evesham, in Worcestershire, where he continued several years with great approbation. He at last took orders, and was living in 1691 minister of a church near the aforesaid place. He wrote The Traylor to himself; or, Man's Heart his greatest Enemy. Mor. Int. 4to. 1678. JOHNSON, Whether this gentleman is either of those of the same name hereafter mentioned we are unable to say. It is, however, subjoined in the Gentleman's Magazine, May 1735, to a translation of the following play from Voitaire, published in that month, viz. Zara. T. 8vo. 1735. JOHNSON, CHARLES, was originally bred to the law, and was a member of the Middle Temple; but being a great admirer of the Muses, and finding in himself a strong propensity to dramatic writing, he quitted the studious labour of the one, for the more spirited amusements of the other; and, by contracting an intimacy with Mr. 3. The Boarding-school Miss. C. Wilks, found means, through 4. One and All. F. 5. The Disguise. C. 6. The Musico. F. 7. The Butse. Dr. Piece. The last six are printed in a collection, entitled Select Dramatic Pieces, some of which have been acted in provincial Theatres, others 2 that gentleman's interest, to get his plays on the stage without much difficulty. Some of them met with very good success; and by being a constant frequenter of those grand rendezvous of the wits of that time, Will's and Button's Coffee-houses, he, by a polite and |