Chapter John of Hexham to Jose of J by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Sir J. “Sir!” sirrah! and why not “sir Jacob,” you rascal? Is that all your manners? Has his majesty dubbed me knight, for you to make me a mister?—Foote: The Mayor of Garratt, i. 1 (1763).

Jolter. In the agony of terror, on hearing the direction given to put on the dead-lights in a storm off Calais, Smollett tells us that Jolter went through the steps of a mathematical proposition with great fervour instead of a prayer.

Jonas, the name given, in Absalom and Achitophel, to sir William Jones, attorney-general, who conducted the prosecution of the popish plot.—Dryden: Absalom and Achitophel, i. (1681).

…bull- faced Jonas, who could statutes draw

To mean rebellion, and make treason law.

(“Mean,” the verb.)

Jonathan, a sleek old widower. He was a parish orphan, whom sir Benjamin Dove apprenticed, and then took into his family. When Jonathan married, the knight gave him a farm rent free and well stocked. On the death of his wife, he gave up the farm, and entered the knight’s service as butler. Under the evil influence of lady Dove, this old servant was inclined to neglect his kind master; but sir Benjamin soon showed him that, although the lady was allowed to peck him, the servants were not.—Cumberland: The Brothers (1769).

Jonathan, one of the servants of general Harrison.—Sir W. Scott: Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).

Jonathan, an attendant on lord Saville.—Sir W. Scott: Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Jonathan (Brother), a national nickname for an American of the United States. In the Revolutionary war, Washington used to consult his friend Jonathan Trumbull, governor of Connecticut, in all his difficulties. “We must ask brother Jonathan,” was so often on his lips, that the phrase became synonymous with the good genius of the States, and was subsequently applied to the North Americans generally.

Jonathan’s, a noted coffee-house in ‘Change Alley, described in The Tatler as the “general mart for stock-jobbers.” What is now termed “the Royal Stock Exchange” was at one time called “Jonathan’s.”

Yesterday the brokers and others … came to a resolution that [the new building], instead of being called “New Jonathan’s,” should be called “The Stock Exchange.” The brokers then collected sixpence each, and christened the house.—Newspaper paragraph (July 15, 1773).

Jones (Tom), the hero of a novel by Fielding, called The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749). Tom Jones is a model of generosity, openness, and manly spirit, mingled with thoughtless dissipation. With all this, he is not to be admired; his reputation is flawed, he sponges for a guinea, he cannot pay his landlady, and he lets out his honour to hire.

The romance of Tom Jones, that exquisite picture of human manners, will outlive the palace of the Escurial and the imperial eagle of Austria.—Gibbon.

To Tom Jones is added the charm of a plot of unrivalled skill, in which the complex threads of interest are all brought to bear upon the catastrophe in a manner equally unexpected and simple.—Encyclopædia Britannica (article “Romance”).

Jones (Mrs.), the waiting-woman of lady Penfeather.—Sir W. Scott: St. Ronan’s Well (time, George III.).

Jonson (Ben), the poet, introduced by sir Walter Scott in his Woodstock. Shakespeare is introduced in the same novel.