Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/702

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JONSON JOODPOOR some reflections on the Scottish nation, in con- sequence of which the three dramatists were imprisoned and threatened with the loss of their ears and noses. After a short confine- ment they were pardoned, and Jonson made his peace with James, who employed him in writing masques and other court entertain- ments. Between 1005 and 1611 appeared his comedies of " Volpone," "Epicocne, or the Si- lent Woman," and "The Alchemist," and the tragedy of " Catiline." In 1613 he visited the continent as travelling tutor to a son of Sir Walter Raleigh. Among his favorite haunts at this time was the Mermaid club, where he was thrown into the society of Shakespeare and the great Elizabethan dramatists, and of Raleigh, Oamden, Selden, Donne, and others. The Apollo club, which met at the Devil tavern in Fleet street, was founded by Ben Jonson him- self at a later date. In 1619 he received the ap- pointment of poet laureate with a pension of 100 marks, and about the same time made a pedestrian excursion to Scotland, in the course of which he visited Drummond of Hawthorn- den, who has preserved some curious notes of his conversation. In 1628 he was attacked by palsy, and compelled also by poverty to write for the stage. His " New Inn " was unsuccess- ful, but Charles I., hearing of his necessities, sent him a present of 100, and raised his salary to that sum, adding a tierce of canary annually. Notwithstanding this assistance, his improvi- dent habits kept him always in difficulties. He wrote two or three more dramas, which Dry- den calls his "dotages," and left "The Sad Shepherd," a fragment of great beauty. Jon- son's pride of learning, which obtrudes itself into some of his best works, has interfered not a little with their popularity as literary per- formances. In the opinion of some of his critics his genius was more poetic than drama- tic. His delineations of character are striking, original, and artistic, rather than natural. His comedies are esteemed his best performances. His tragedies, founded on classic history, and burdened with long extracts from Sallust, Tacitus, and other Latin authors, are correct in form, but lack vivacity. He published in 1616 a folio edition of most of his works produced previous to that date, carefully revised and corrected. Various collective editions subse- quently appeared, the first good one being that of Gifford (9 vols. 8vo, 1816), accompanied with notes critical and explanatory, and a biographical memoir, written with ability, but in a partisan spirit. Moxon's reprint, the latest, prefaced by Gifford's memoir (royal 8vo, 1853), contains 17 plays, 15 of which were performed on the stage ; over 30 masques and interludes ; epigrams, translations from Horace, an English grammar, and a variety of miscel- lanies in prose and verse. He was buried in Westminster abbey, and the pithy inscription upon his tomb, " O rare Ben Jonson," was added at the expense of an eccentric Oxford- shire squire, called Jack Young, who, observing the tomb to be destitute of an epitaph, gave a mason 18 pence to carve the words upon it. The stone has since been removed. JOJiSSOJf, Finn, an Icelandic historian, born in Hitardal, Jan. 16, 1704, died July 23, 1789. In 1725 he entered the university of Copen- hagen, and in 1728 was present at the fire which destroyed the great collection of Ice- landic MSS. formed by his patron Arni Mag- nusson. In his endeavors to save these MSS. he neglected his own effects and library, which were burned. On returning to Iceland he ob- tained a benefice, and in 1754 was appointed bishop of Skalholt. He wrote many works in Latin and Icelandic, the principal of which is the Hutoria Ecclesiastica Islandia, published under the care of his son Hannes Finsson at Copenhagen (4 vols. 4to, 1772-'9). The latter, who succeeded his father in the bishopric, made important additions to this work, edited several sagas, and was the founder of the Ice- land agricultural society. JOODPOOR, or Marwar. I. The largest of the native Rajpoot states of India, between lat. 24 36' and 27 40' N., and Ion. 70 4' and 75 23' E. ; area, about 36,000 sq. m. ; pop. estimated at 1,800,000, chiefly Hindoos. The Loonee riv- er divides it into two parts; the S. E. or left bank is fertile, and the N. W. or right bank is a continuation of the desert of Sinde. It is traversed in the east by the Aravulli range of mountains, from 3,000 to 4,000 ft. high, the torrents of which irrigate the south, and favor the cultivation of grain. The chief products are wheat and cotton, but frosts often destroy the latter in a single night. Millet and a pulse called moth are the principal food. Camels, horses, cattle, and sheep abound, as well as many wild animals, and snakes to such an ex- tent that thick gaiters are worn as a protec- tion. Salt is plentiful. Iron is worked to some extent, and there are large deposits of hard red sandstone adapted for building; and fine quarries of marble at Mukrana, 120 m. N. E. of Joodpoor. Various woollen articles are manufactured, and trade is active, the natives, chiefly Jains, excelling as merchants and bank- ers. The revenue is about 175,000, and the maharajah or ruler of Joodpoor pays to Great Britain a considerable annual tribute. II. A town, capital of the state, 300 m. S. W. of Delhi ; pop., including suburbs, estimated as high as 150,000, but supposed to be rather less than 80,000. It is enclosed by a rampart 5 m. in circuit, which is in a dilapidated con- dition. The town is well built ; several streets and the tanks are bordered by trees, and some of the houses are built of red freestone. The greater part of the area of the citadel is occu- pied by the royal palace and premises, and there are many temples. The Mahumandir suburb outside the walls, enclosed by a for- tified wall with a distinct settlement of 1,000 houses, derives its name from a great sanctuary which has a lofty spire and rich interior deco- rations, one of the most conspicuous of which