Chapter Jeffrey to Johnson of J by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Jeffrey to Johnson

Jeffrey, Francis (1773-1850).—Critic and political writer, son of a legal official, born in Edinburgh, educated at the High School there, and at Glasgow and Oxford, where, however, he remained for a few months only. Returning to Edinburgh he studied law, and was called to the Bar in 1794. Brought up as a Tory, he early imbibed Whig principles, and this, in the then political state of Scotland, together with his strong literary tendencies, long hindered his professional advancement. Gradually, however, his ability, acuteness, and eloquence carried him to the front of his profession. He was elected Dean of the Faculty of Advocates in 1829 and, on the accession to power of the Whigs in 1830, became Lord Advocate, and had a large share in passing the Reform Bill, in so far as it related to Scotland. In 1832 he was elected M.P. for Edinburgh, and was raised to the Bench as Lord Jeffrey in 1834. His literary fame rests on his work in connection with the Edinburgh Review, which he edited from its commencement in 1802 until 1829, and to which he was a constant contributor. The founding of this periodical by a group of young men of brilliant talents and liberal sympathies, among whom were Brougham, Sydney Smith, and F. Horner, constituted the opening of a new epoch in the literary and political progress of the country. Jeffrey’s contributions ranged over literary criticism, biography, politics, and ethics and, especially in respect of the first, exercised a profound influence; he was, in fact, regarded as the greatest literary critic of his age, and although his judgments have been far from universally supported either by the event or by later critics, it remains true that he probably did more than any of his contemporaries to diffuse a love of literature, and to raise the standard of public taste in such matters. A selection of his papers, made by himself, was published in 4 vols. in 1844 and 1853. Jeffrey was a man of brilliant conversational powers, of vast information and sparkling wit, and was universally admired and beloved for the uprightness and amiability of his character.

Jerrold, Douglas William (1803-1857).—Dramatist and miscellaneous writer, son of an actor, himself appeared as a child upon the stage. From his 10th to his 12th year he was at sea. He then became apprentice to a printer, devoting all his spare time to self-education. He early began to contribute to periodicals, and in his 18th year he was engaged by the Coburg Theatre as a writer of short dramatic pieces. In 1829 he made a great success by his drama of Black-eyed Susan, which he followed up by The Rent Day, Bubbles of the Day, Time works Wonders, etc. In 1840 he became editor of a publication, Heads of the People, to which Thackeray was a contributor, and in which some of the best of his own work appeared. He was one of the leading contributors to Punch, in which Mrs. Caudle’s Curtain Lectures came out, and from 1852 he edited Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper. Among his novels are St. Giles and St. James, and The Story of a Feather. Jerrold had a great reputation as a wit, was a genial and kindly man, and a favourite with his fellow littérateurs, who raised a fund of £2000 for his family on his death.

Jesse, John Heneage (1815-1874).—Historical writer, editor at Eton, was a clerk in the Admiralty. He wrote Memoirs of the Court of England, of G. Selwyn and his contemporaries (1843), of the Pretender (1845), etc., and Celebrated Etonians (1875).

Jevons, William Stanley (1835-1882).—Logician and economist, born in Liverpool, son of an iron merchant, his mother was the daughter of W. Roscoe (q.v.). He was educated at the Mechanics Institute High School, Liverpool, and at University Coll., London. After studying chemistry for some time he received in 1853 the appointment of assayer to the mint at Sydney, where he remained until 1859, when he resigned his appointment, and came home to study mathematics and economics. While in Australia he had been a contributor to the Empire newspaper, and soon after his return home he published Remarks on the Australian Goldfields, wrote in various scientific periodicals, and from time to time published important papers on economical subjects. The position which he had attained as a scientific thinker and writer was recognised by his being appointed in 1863 tutor, and in 1866, Professor of Logic, Political Economy, and Mental and Moral Philosophy in Owen’s Coll., Manchester. In 1864 he published Pure Logic and The Coal Question; other works were Elementary Lessons in Logic (1870), Principles of Science (1874), and Investigations in Currency and Finance (1884), posthumously. His valuable and promising life was brought to a premature close by his being drowned while bathing. His great object in his writings was to place logic and economics in the position of exact sciences, and in all his work he showed great industry and care combined with unusual analytical power.