Chapter Jacobites to Jane of J by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Jagger A gentleman; a sportsman. (German, jager, a sportsman.)

Jail-bird (A). One who has been in jail as a prisoner.

"At this late period of Christianity we are brought up to abhor jail-birds as we do toads." - Beecher: The Plymouth Pulpit, August 30th, 1874, vol. ii. 557.

Jamambuxes [Soldiers of the round valleys ]. Certain fanatics of Japan, who roam about and pretend to hold converse with the Devil. They scourge themselves severely, and sometimes refrain from sleeping for several days, in order to obtain the odour of sanctity. They are employed by the people for the discovery of articles stolen or lost.

Jambon A gun, so called from its fanciful resemblance to a "betterave" or jambon. The botanical name of the root is melochia.

"What would you do to me, brigand? ... Give me fifty blows of a matraque, as your officer gave you last week for stealing his jambon?" - Ouida: Under Two Flays, chap. xvi.

Jambuscha [Jam-bus-cah ]. Adam's preceptor, according to the pre-Adamites. Sometimes called Boan, and sometime Zagtith.

James A sovereign; a jacobus. A gold coin circulated in the reign of James I. Worth about 25s.

James (St.). Patron saint of Spain. At Padron, near Compostella, they used to show a huge stone as the veritable boat in which the apostle sailed from Palestine. His body was discovered in 840 by divine revelation to Bishop Theodomirus, and King Alfonso built a church at Compostella for its shrine. According to another legend, it was the relics of St. James that were miraculously conveyed to Spain in a ship of marble from Jerusalem, where he was bishop. A knight saw the ship sailing into port, his horse took fright, and plunged with its rider into the sea. The knight saved himself by "boarding the marble vessel," but his clothes were found to be entirely covered with scallop shells.
    In the Acta Sanctorum (xi. 37, etc.) we are told, that in Clavigium scarcely a stone is found which does not bear the form of a shell; and if these stones are broken up, the broken bits have also the forms of shells.
   In Christian art this saint has sometimes the sword by which he was beheaded, and sometimes he is attired as a pilgrim, with his cloak covered with shells. (See above.)
   St. James (the Less). His attribute is a fuller's club, in allusion to the instrument by which he was put to death, after having been precipitated from the summit of the temple.
   St. James's College. So called from James I., who granted a charter to a college founded at Chelsea by Dr. Sutcliffe, Dean of Exeter, to maintain priests to answer all adversaries of religion. Laud nicknamed it "Controversy College." The college was a failure, and Charles II. gave the site to the Royal Society, who sold it for the purpose of erecting the Royal Hospital for Old Soldiers, which now exists.
   St. James's Day. July 25th, the day of his martyrdom.
   The Court of St. James or St. James's The British court. Queen Victoria holds her drawing-rooms and levés in St. James's Palace. Pall Mall; but Queen Anne, the four Georges, and William IV. resided in this palace.

Jamie or Jemmie Duffs. Weepers. So called from a noted Scotchman of the 18th century, who lived at Edinburgh. His great passion, like that of "Old Q.," was to follow funerals in mourning costume, with orthodox weepers. I myself know a gentleman of a similar morbid passion. (Kay: Original Portraits, i. 7, and ii. 9, 17, 95.)

Jamshid' King of the Genii, famous for a golden cup full of the elixir of life. This cup, hidden by the genii, was discovered while digging the foundations of Persepolis.

"I know too where the genii hid
The jewelled cup of their king Jamshid,
With life's elixir sparkling high."
Thomas Moore: Paradise and the Peri.

Jane A Genoese halfpenny, a corruption of Januensis or Genoensis.

"Because I could not give her many a jane."
Spenser: Faërie Queene, book iii. canto vii. 58.

   Jane. A most ill-starred name for rulers. To give a few examples: Lady Jane Grey, beheaded by Mary for treason; Jane Seymour; Jane or Joan Beaufort, wife or James I. of Scotland, who was infamously and savagely murdered; Jane of Burgundy, wife of Philippe le Long, who imprisoned her for adultery in 1314; Jane of Flanders, who was in ceaseless war with Jane of Penthièvre after the captivity of their husbands.