serious attention to the study of anatomy. He lived at first in Philadelphia, afterwards establishing himself in New York, where he enjoyed great popularity, though his conviviality and eccentric mode of life affected his work. He visited Baltimore, Charleston and New Orleans, entertaining much and painting portraits of prominent people, particularly in New Orleans, where General Andrew Jackson was one of his sitters. He had for assistants at different times both Sully and Inman. He affected singularity in dress and manners, and his mots were the talk of the day. But his work deteriorated, and he died in great poverty in New York City. Examples of his painting are in the collection of the New York Historical Society.
JASHAR, BOOK OF, in Hebrew Sepher ha-yashar, a Hebrew
composition mentioned as though well-known in Josh. x. 13
and 2 Sam. i. 18. From these two passages it seems to have
been a book of songs relating to important events, but no early
collection of the kind is now extant, nor is anything known of it.
Various speculations have been put forward as to the name: (1)
that it means the book of the upright, i.e. Israel or distinguished
Israelites, the root being the same as in Jeshurun; (2) that
Jashar (ישר) is a transposition of shîr (שיר, song); (3) that it
should be pointed Yashir (ישר, sing; cf. Exod. xv. 1) and was
so called after its first word. None of these is very convincing,
though support may be found for them all in the versions. The
Septuagint favours (1) by its rendering ἐπὶ βιβλίου τοῦ εὐθοῦς
in Samuel (it omits the words in Joshua); the Vulgate has in
libro justorum in both places; the Syriac in Samuel has Ashīr,
which suggests a Hebrew reading ha-shīr (the song), and in
Joshua it translates “book of praises.” The Targum on both
passages has “book of the law,” an explanation which is followed
by the chief Jewish commentators, making the incidents
the fulfilment of passages in the Pentateuch. Since it contained
the lament of David (2 Sam. i. 18) it cannot have been
completed till after his time. If Wellhausen’s restoration of
1 Kings viii. 12 be accepted (from Septuagint 1 Kings viii. 53,
ἐν βιβλίῳ τῆς ᾠδῆς) where the reference is to the building
of the Temple, the book must have been growing in the time of
Solomon. The attempt of Donaldson[1] to reconstruct it is
largely subjective and uncritical.
In later times when it became customary to compose midrashic works under well-known names, a book of Jashar naturally made its appearance. It need hardly be remarked that this has nothing whatever to do with the older book. It is an anonymous elaboration in Hebrew of the early part of the biblical narrative, probably composed in the 12th century. The fact that its legendary material is drawn from Arabic sources, as well as from Talmud, Midrash and later Jewish works, would seem to show that the writer lived in Spain, or, according to others, in south Italy. The first edition appeared at Venice in 1625, and it has been frequently printed since. It was translated into English by (or for) M. M. Noah (New York, 1840). A work called The Book of ... Jasher, translated ... by Alcuin (1751; 2nd ed., Bristol, 1829), has nothing to do with this or with any Hebrew original, but is a mere fabrication by the printer, Jacob Hive, who put it forward as the book “mentioned in Holy Scripture.”
Bibliography.—M. Heilprin, Historical Poetry of the Ancient Hebrews (New York, 1879), i. 128–131; Mercati, “Una congettura sopra il libro del Giusto,” in Studi e Testi (5, Roma, 1901). On the medieval work see Zunz, Gottesdienstliche Vorträge der Juden (Frankfurt a. M., 1892), 2nd ed., p. 162.
JASHPUR, a tributary state of India, in the Central Provinces,
having been transferred from Bengal in 1905. The country is
divided almost equally into high and low lands. The Uparghat
plateau on the east rises 2200 ft. above sea-level, and the hills
above it reach their highest point in Ranijula (3527 ft.). The
only river of importance is the Ib, in the bed of which diamonds
are found, while from time immemorial its sands have been
washed for gold. Jashpur iron, smelted by the Kols, is highly
prized. Jungles of sál forests abound, harbouring elephant,
bison and other wild beasts. Jungle products include lac,
silk cocoons and beeswax, which are exported. Area 1948
sq. m.; pop. (1901), 132,114; estimated revenue £8000.
JASMIN, JACQUES (1798–1864), Provençal poet, was born at
Agen on the 6th of March 1798, his family name being Boé. His
father, who was a tailor, had a certain facility for making doggerel
verses, which he sang or recited at fairs and such-like popular
gatherings; and Jacques, who used generally to accompany him,
was thus early familiarized with the part which he afterwards so
successfully filled himself. When sixteen years of age he found
employment at a hairdresser’s shop, and subsequently started
a similar business of his own on the Gravier at Agen. In 1825
he published his first volume of Papillotos (“Curl Papers”),
containing poems in French (a language he used with a certain
sense of restraint), and in the familiar Agen patois—the popular
speech of the working classes—in which he was to achieve all
his literary triumphs. Jasmin was the most famous forerunner
in Provençal literature (q.v.) of Mistral and the Félibrige. His
influence in rehabilitating, for literary purposes, his native dialect,
was particularly exercised in the public recitals of his poems to
which he devoted himself. His poetic gift, and his flexible voice
and action, fitted him admirably for this double rôle of troubadour
and jongleur. In 1835 he recited his “Blind Girl of Castel-Cuillé”
at Bordeaux, in 1836 at Toulouse; and he met with an
enthusiastic reception in both those important cities. Most of
his public recitations were given for benevolent purposes, the
proceeds being contributed by him to the restoration of the church
of Vergt and other good works. Four successive volumes of
Papillotos were published during his lifetime, and contained
amongst others the following remarkable poems, quoted in order:
“The Charivari,” “My Recollections” (supplemented after an
interval of many years), “The Blind Girl,” “Françounetto,”
“Martha the Simple,” and “The Twin Brothers.” With the
exception of “The Charivari,” these are all touching pictures of
humble life—in most cases real episodes—carefully elaborated
by the poet till the graphic descriptions, full of light and colour,
and the admirably varied and melodious verse, seem too spontaneous
and easy to have cost an effort. Jasmin was not a prolific
writer, and, in spite of his impetuous nature, would work a long
time at one poem, striving to realize every feeling he wished to
describe, and give it its most lucid and natural expression. A
verse from his spirited poem, “The Third of May,” written in
honour of Henry IV., and published in the first volume of Papillotos,
is engraved on the base of the statue erected to that king
at Nérac. In 1852 Jasmin’s works were crowned by the Académie
Française, and a pension was awarded him. The medal
struck on the occasion bore the inscription: Au poëte moral et
populaire. His title of “Maistre ès Jeux” is a distinction only
conferred by the academy of Toulouse on illustrious writers.
Pius IX. sent him the insignia of a knight of St Gregory the
Great, and he was made chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He
spent the latter years of his life on a small estate which he had
bought near Agen and named “Papillotos,” and which he
describes in Ma Bigno (“My Vine”). Though invited to represent
his native city, he refused to do so, preferring the pleasures
and leisure of a country life, and wisely judging that he was no
really eligible candidate for electoral honours. He died on the
4th of October 1864. His last poem, an answer to Renan, was
placed between his folded hands in his coffin.
JASMINE, or Jessamine, botanically Jasminum, a genus of shrubs or climbers constituting the principal part of the tribe Jasminoideae of the natural order Oleaceae, and comprising about 150 species, of which 40 or more occur in the gardens of Britain. The plants of the genus are mostly natives of the warmer regions of the Old World; there is one South American species. The leaves are pinnate or ternate, or sometimes apparently simple, consisting of one leaflet, articulated to the petiole. The flowers, usually white or yellow, are arranged in terminal or axillary panicles, and have a tubular 5- or 8-cleft calyx, a cylindrical corolla-tube, with a spreading limb, two included stamens and a two-celled ovary.
The name is derived from the Persian yásmín. Linnaeus obtained a fancied etymology from ἴα, violets, and ὀσμή, smell, but the odour of its flowers bears no resemblance to that of the violet. The common white jasmine, Jasminum officinale, one
- ↑ Jashar: fragmenta archetypa carminum Hebraicorum (Berlin, 1854). Cf. Perowne’s Remarks on it (Lond. 1855).
