Chapter Joseph to Juan Fernandez of J by Brewer's Readers Handbook

819-822 (1681).

Jotunheim, the abode of the frost giants in Scandinavian mythology. One of the roots of the ash tree yggdrasil descended into it.

Jour des Morts (All Souls’ Day). A Dieppoise legend explains the phrase thus—

Le guetteur de la jetée voit au milieu de la nuit arriver un bateau à le hèle, il s’empresse de lui jeter le grelin; mais à ce moment même le bateau disparait; on entend des cris plaintifs qui font frissonner, car on les reconnait c’est la voix des marins qui ont naufragé dans l’année.—Chapus: Dieppe et ses Environs (1853)-

Jour king of Mambrant, the person who carried off Josian the wife of sir Bevis of Southampton, his sword “Morglay,” and his steed “Ar’undel.” Sir Bevis, disguised as a pilgrim, recovered all three.—Drayton: Polyolbion, ii. (1612).

Jourdain (Mons.), an elderly tradesman, who has suddenly fallen into a large fortune, and wishes to educate himself up to his new position in society. He employs masters of dancing, fencing, philology, and so on; and the fun of the drama turns on the ridiculous remarks that he makes, and the awkward figure he cuts as the pupil of these professors. One remark is especially noted: he says he had been talking prose all his life, and never knew it till his professor told him.—Molière: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (1670).

Journalists. Napoleon I. said—

A journalist is a grumbler, a censurer, a giver of advice, a regent of sovereigns, a tutor of nations. Four hostile newspapers are more formidable than a thousand bayonets.

Journey from this World to the Next, a tract by Fielding, the novelist (1743).

Jovian, emperor of Rome, was bathing one day, when a person stole his clothes and passed himself off as the emperor. Jovian, naked and ashamed, went to a knight, said he was emperor, and begged the loan of a few garments for the nonce; but the knight called him an impostor, and had him scourged from the gate. He next went to a duke, who was his chief minister; but the duke had him confined, and fed on bread and water as a vagrant and a madman. He then applied at the palace, but no one recognized him there. Lastly, he went to his confessor, and humbled himself, confessing his sins. The priest took him to the palace, and the sham emperor proved to be an angel sent to reform the proud monarch. The story says that Jovian thenceforth reigned with mercy and justice, till he died.—Evenings with the Old Story-tellers.

Jowler, in Smollett’s History and Adventures of an Atom, a political satire, is meant for the earl of Chatham (1769).

Joyeuse, Charlemagne’s sword, which bore the inscription, Decem præceptorum custos Carolus. It was buried with the king, as Tizona (the Cid’s sword) was buried with the Cid, and the sword Durindana with Orlando.

Joyeuse-Garde or Garde-Jo-yeuse, the estate given by king Arthur to sir Launcelot du Lac for defending the queen’s honour against sir Mador. Here sir Launcelot was buried.

Joyous Entrance (The), the constitution granted to the city of Brabant by Philip II. of Spain, in 1564. It provided (I) that the ecclesiastical power shall not be further augmented; (2) that no subject shall in any wise be prosecuted except in the ordinary civil law courts; (3) that no foreigner shall be appointed to any office in Brabant; and (4) if any sovereign violates these provisions, the oath of allegiance shall be no longer binding.—Motley: The Dutch Republic, pt. i. 2.

Joyous Isle, the place to which sir Launcelot retired during his fit of madness, which lasted two years.