Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/591

J A N J A N 565 Paris in June 1874. His father was a lawyer, and he was well educated, first at St Etienne, and then at the famous College Louis-le-Grand at Paris. He betook himself to journalism very early, and worked on different papers, the Figaro, the Quotidienne, &,c., until in 1836 he fixed himself as dramatic critic of the DZbats. Long before this, how ever, he had made a considerable^ literary reputation, for which indeed his strange novel L Ane Mori et la Femme Gaillotinee (1829) would have sufficed. La Confession, which followed, was less remarkable in substance but even more so in style; and Barnave, in 1831, sustained the literary reputation of the author, though the violent attacks it contained on the Orleans family did not, when they were taken with his subsequent conduct, increase his reputation for consistency. From the day, however, when Janin became the theatrical critic of the Debats, though he continued to write books indefatigably, he was to most Frenchmen a dramatic critic and nothing more. His system was odd enough. He called himself " prince of critics," a self-presented testimonial in which the mixture of irony and vanity (in all senses of the word) which marked all his work may be detected. He was outrageously incon sistent, and judged things from no general point of view whatsoever, though at least latterly his judgment was usually good-natured. But few journalists have ever been misters of a more attractive fashion of saying the first thing that came into their heads, and if he had called himself a prince of journalists he would not have been far wrong. After many years offeuitteton writing he collected some of his articles in the work called Histoire de la littera- ture dramat i jue, which, as may be gathered frozn what has been said, by no means deserves the title. In 1865 he made his first attempt upon the Acacleni} r , but was not successful till five years later. Meanwhile he had not been content with his faiilletom*, written persistently about all m inner of things. No one was more in request with the Paris publishers for prefaces, letterpress to illustrated books, and all the other hackwork which usually engages in France men of letters of a somewhat higher cliss than those who generally devote themselves to it in England. He travelled (picking up in one of his journeys a curious windfall, a country house at Lucca, which fell to him in a lottery), and wrote accounts of his travels ; he wrote numer ous tales and novels, for the titles of which we have no space here, and composed many other works, of which by far the best is the oddly entitled Fin d nn Monde et du Neveu de Rameau, in which, under the guise of a sequel to Diderot s masterpiece, he showed to considerable advantage his great familiarity with the late 18th century. He married in 1841 ; his wife had money, and he was always in easy circumstances. In the early part of his career he had many quarrels, notably one with Felix Pyat, but latterly, partly owing to his critical authority and partly to his good temper and hospitality, he was a very popular man with his craft, and at his death his library was said to contain the greatest number of gift and dedication copies of con temporary works that had ever been brought to the hammer. Even in the few years since his death, however, his reputation has rapidly faded, and except with those who know how to look at literature in the largest and most tolerant way, it is not likely to revive. His Ane Mort h really a most remarkable book. Written half in parody, half in deliberate pursuance of the romantic ideas, it anticipated by fifty years in point of time and far excelled in point of literary value the recent performances of the naturalist school. Those who wish to know what Janin might have been should read this, Barnave, and the Fin dun Monde. But for the most part his work is mere improvisation, and has no elements of vitality in it except a light and vivid style. JANINA, JANNINA, JOANMNA, or, as the name is fre quently written according to its actual Albanian pronuncia tion, YANINA, a town of European Turkey in southern Albania, or to retain the ancient designation Epirus. The position of Janina is strikingly picturesque. At the fyot of the grey limestone mass of Mount Mitzekeli (1500 ft.), which forms part of the fine range of hills running north from the Gulf of Arta, there lies a valley (the Hellopia of antiquity) partly occupied by a lake ; and on the slopes of a slight eminence, stretching down to the western shore, stands this town of St John. It has greatly declined from the state of barbaric prosperity which it enjoyed in the beginning of this century, when it was the seat of Ali Pasha, estimated to have from 30,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. The fortress Demir-Kule or Iron Castle, which like the principal seraglio was built on a promontory jutting down into the lake is now in ruins. But the town still possesses fourteen mosques, each embosomed by a cluster of trees, and there are also seven churches, two synagogues, a Greek college, a library, and a hospital. As the centre of a vilayet it contains a governor s residence (rebuilt in 1870). Sayades (opposite Corfu) and Arta are the places through which it receives its imports. A considerable activity in trade and industry is maintained by the Greek population, the rich gold and silver embroidery for which the town has long been famous being still one of the notable articles in its bazaar. According to M. Moreau, the French consul (Bull, de la Soc. de G.eogr., Paris, 1876), Janina contained 16,230 inhabitants in 1875, of whom 4136 were Mahome tans, 8989 Christians, and 3105 Jews. Synvet (Les Grecs de I Umpire Ottoman, Constantinople, 1878) reckons the Greeks alone at 14,362 (the island on the lake being included). The vilayet of Janina, previous to the cessions made to Greece in 1881, comprised the sandjaks of Janina, Argyrocastro, Berat (Avlona), Prevesa, and Thessaly, and the sandjak contains the districts of Janina (town and country), Aidwat, Prevena, Cognitza, Metzovo, and Philates. The lake (perhaps to be identified with the Pambotus of antiquity) is 6 miles long, and has an extreme breadth of 3 miles. In time of flood it is united with the smaller lake of Labchistas, which lies to the north. According to Guido Cora s investigations in 1878, the greatest depth does not exceed 32 feet. There are no affluents of any considerable size, and the only outlets are underground passages or katavothra extending for many miles through the calcareous rocks. The theory supported by Leake (Northern Greece) that the citadel of Janina is to be identified with Dodona, is now generally sur rendered in favour of the claims of a more southern site. As Anna Comnena, in describing the capture of the town (TO. lodvviva) by Bohemond in 1082, speaks of the walls as being dilapidated, it may be supposed that the place existed before the llth century. It is mentioned from time to time in the Byzantine annals, and on the establishment of the lordship of Epirus by Michael Angelus Com- nenus Ducas, it became his capital. During the 14th century it was frequently attacked by the Albanians ; but it was still in pos session of the successors of Michael when the forces of Sultan Anmrath appeared before it in 1430 (cf. Halm, Alban. Studicn, pp. 319-322). Since 1431 it has continued under Turkish rule. In modern times it became famous as the seat of the tyrant Ali (1788-1822). See ALI PASHA, vol. i. p. 573. Descriptions of Janina will be found in Holland s Travels, 1815; Hughes, Travels in Greece, dr., 1830; Tozer, The Highlands of Turkey, 1869. See also Major R. Stewart, "On the Thys. Geogr. of Epirus," in Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soc., 1869. JANIZARIES, or JANISSARIES (Turkish, Yeiii, new, and askari, soldier). See ARMY, vol. ii. p. 617. JANSEN [JANSENIUS], CORNELIUS (1585-1638), bishop of Ypres, and the author of the celebrated Augus- tinus, was born, of humble Catholic parentage, at Acquoy or Ackooi, a small village near Leerdam, and 7 miles to the north-east of Gorcum, Holland, on 28th October 1585. After completing his preliminary studies at Leerdam and