C84 JORDAN terranean, after a total direct course of 120 in. Its mouth is 180 yards wide. Its principal af- fluents are the Zurka (Jabbok) and Sheriat el- Mandhur, or Yarmuk. Its breadth and depth greatly vary, which circumstance explains the great discrepancies in the reports of travellers. Its entire descent from Hasbeiya to its mouth is about 3,000 ft., from Banias about 2,450 ft. The Jordan flows through a deep chasm or fis- sure in the earth's crust, caused by the rending and falling in of the aqueous strata, upheaved by the eruption of the basalt which forms its bed, and belonging to the prehistoric age of the present configuration of the earth's sur- face. At the surface of the sea of Galilee it is 653 ft. below the Mediterranean; at the sur- face of the Dead sea it is 1,316 ft., and at the greatest depth of that sea 2,624 ft., below the ocean level. The sources and the course of the Jordan were partially explored in 1847 by the English Lieut. Molyneaux, and very thoroughly in 1848 by an American expedition under Lieut. Lynch, and again in 1868-'9 by Mr. Macgreg- or (see " The Rob Roy on the Jordan," Lon- don, 1869). As Christ was baptized by John in the Jordan, Christians have often regarded it as a special privilege to receive baptism in its waters, and water is even now occasionally procured from the Jordan for the baptism of princes. (See DEAD SEA, and GENNESAKET.) JORDAN, Camille, a French statesman, born in Lyons, Jan. 1], 1771, died in Paris, May 19, 1821. He was educated by the Oratorians, opposed the revolutionary government, distin- guished himself in the insurrection at Lyons, and left France on the fall of that city, Oct. 9, 1793. Returning after the 9th Thermidor, he was elected in 1797 to the council of 500, advocated the principles of religious liberty, opposed the directorial government, and was again compelled to seek refuge abroad after the 18th Fructidor. Recalled in 1800, he energet- ically opposed the designs of Bonaparte, and denounced the frauds in the election of 1802, in a pamphlet entitled Vrai sent du vote na- tional sur le eonsulat A vie. From that peri- od till the return of the Bourbons he devoted himself exclusively to literature. In 1816 he was elected to the chamber of deputies. He was one of the fathers of the doctrinaire school of politics. A collection of his speeches was published in 1818. See Camille Jordan et Ma- dame de Stael, by Sainte-Beuve (1868). JORDAN, Charles Etienne, a French author, born in Berlin, Aug. 27, 1700, died there, May 14, 1745. He belonged to a French Protestant family and became a clergyman. After the death of his wife in 1732 he travelled for some years ; and in 1736 he became a literary assist- ant of the crown prince of Prussia, who on his accession as Frederick II. (1740) made him privy councillor and curator of the national academies. He was the king's inseparable companion, Carlyle in his " History of Fred- erick the Great" makes many references to Jordan's intimate relations with the king, and to his gossiping letters to him, which are in- cluded in vol. x. of his posthumous correspon- dence ; but Carlyle ridicules Jordan's Histoire <Kun voyage litteraire en 1733 en France, An- gleterre et Ifollande, because it "awakens a kind of tragic feeling, being itself dead, and treating of matters which are all gone dead." JORDAN, Dorothy or Dora, an Irish actress, born near Waterford about 1762, supposed to have died at St. Cloud, July 3, 181 6. She was the daughter of a Capt. Bland, an Irish gentleman, who, having married her mother under age, procured the invalidation of the union. At 16 she made her debut in Dublin, under the name of Miss Francis, as Phebe in " As You Like It." She soon, under the name of Mrs. Jordan, by which she was afterward known, was engaged at the York theatre, where she remained for three years. She then went to London, and made her first appearance there Oct. 18, 1785, soon becoming immensely popular in comedy and musical farce. By her talents and remarkable beauty she attracted the attention of the duke of Clarence, afterward William IV. She was at that time under the protection of Mr. Rich- ard Ford, and had several children, but yield- ed to the admiration of the royal duke. Her children by him were ten in number, and are known under the name of Fitz-Clarence. At the termination of this connection she went to France, and died there in obscurity and pover- ty. A monument by Chantrey was erected to her memory at St. Cloud by William IV. after his accession to the throne. Her professional career was brilliant. She was of an amiable character and a kind heart, and her domestic duties were performed with devotion to the interests of her family. Her "Memoirs," by J. Boaden, were published in 1831. There is some mystery as to her retirement, which is not cleared up by her biographer, and it was generally supposed that she did not actually die at the time and place stated, but that she lived in England for seven years after under a different name. JORDAN, Rndolpb, a German painter, born in Berlin in 1810. He studied in that city and in Dusseldorf, resided for a long time in Heligo- land, and became known as a marine and genre painter. His " Interior of a Pilot's House " (1831) has been purchased for the royal gallery at Babelsberg, and his "Proposal of Marriage in Heligoland " (1834) has been often litho- graphed. His other masterpieces comprise "An Examination of Pilots," "Shipwreck on the Coast of Normandy," in the gallery of the earl of Ellesmere, and pictures of life in the Dutch islands. JORDAN, Wilhelm, a German poet, born in Insterburg, Prussia, Feb. 8, 1819. He gradu- ated at the university of Konigsberg in 1842, and published his first volume of poetry in the same year. He was a member of the Berlin national assembly in 1848, and was subsequent- ly employed for a short time in naval affairs. His works include Geschichte der Insel Haiti
