JENSON, Nicolas, one of the earliest printers and letter-founders, was born at Langres in France about the year 1410. He was originally an engraver of coins and medals, and was director of the mint at Tours, when about the year 1458 he was sent by Charles VII. into Germany to gain private information on the subject of the art of printing, then recently invented. By a residence of three or four years in Germany he succeeded in discovering the whole process; but hearing that his royal protector was dead, he settled and commenced business at Venice, where he acquired a high reputation in the three branches of cutting punches, founding types, and printing. Previously all the works which had issued from the presses of the German printers were in the Gothic or German character; Jenson was the first who printed in the much more legible Roman character, and may be said to have invented the form and proportion of the letters now almost universally used. In this department his skill and experience as an engraver were of great advantage to him, and his editions are still admired on account of the beauty of the typography. The first work known to have issued from his press is a quarto volume entitled Decor Puellarum, and is dated 1461, which is supposed from internal evidence to be a misprint for 1471. It is singular that in two other works which he printed in 1480, a similar blunder occurs; and errors of the same kind are common among the early printers, probably arising from the ignorance and inexperience of the compositors. From 1470 to 1481 nearly one hundred and fifty works, including editions of several of the Latin classics, issued from Jensen's press. There is evidence that he died before the year 1483. He was honoured by Sixtus IV. with the title of Comes Palatinus; and in several works which appeared many years after his death, the reader is boastingly informed that they were printed with the "renowned types of Jenson."—G. BL.
JENYNS, Soame, was born in London in 1704, the son of Sir Roger Jenyns, from whom he inherited considerable family property. He was educated at St. John's college, Cambridge, where he studied laboriously, but did not take a degree. In 1741 he was elected M.P. for Cambridgeshire, in 1754 for the borough of Dunwich, and in 1761 for the town of Cambridge, which, with the exception of two years, he represented till 1780. In 1755 he was made a lord of trade, and held his office in spite of ministerial changes; his principle being to support the party in power. He is better known as a writer, however, than as a politician. From his position his writings probably attracted more attention than they intrinsically merited. He commenced by a poem on the "Art of Dancing," and afterwards proceeded to discuss some of the most abstruse problems that can engage the human understanding. "A Free Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Evil," 1756, gave rise to a criticism by Dr. Johnson in the Literary Magazine, of which Boswell says, "Johnson's most exquisite critical essay in the Literary Magazine, and indeed anywhere, is his review of Soame Jenyns' Inquiry into the Origin of Evil." The doctor had little patience with embryo infidels, and did not hesitate to lavish his ridicule on the lord of trade. Jenyns appears not to have forgiven the castigation, at least as long as his infidel tendencies continued, which happily was not to the end of his days. His views on the subject of religion underwent a change, probably from an examination of the scriptures themselves; and in 1776 he published a "Review of the Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion," a work which passed through many editions, and excited no small amount of controversy. By some who disliked its argument it was regarded as a covert attack, and the sincerity of the author was called in question. But for this supposition there was no ground. The writer of a sceptical work in former years, Jenyns appears in his older and wiser days to have been actuated by a desire to undo the mischief he had done; and whatever judgment may be passed on his logic, his motive was unexceptionable. In addition to the above, he published dissertations on various subjects—religious and political—not characterized by any great depth of thought, but by ease and elegance of style, and aptness of illustration. His collected works were published in 1790, with a biography by Charles Nelson Cole. In politics he belonged to the tory school, approved of taxing the Americans, and ridiculed the notion of an independent parliament. He died in 1787.—P. E. D.
JEPHSON, Robert, a dramatic writer, was born in Ireland in 1736. After receiving an excellent education, he adopted the profession of arms while yet very young, and reached the rank of captain in the 73rd regiment previous to 1763. Being then placed on half-pay he reverted to his literary tastes; and being a lively and agreeable companion, an affectionate intercourse was established between him and William Gerrard Hamilton, which eventuated in his introduction to the best literary society in London, including Johnson, Garrick, Goldsmith, and Burke. When Lord Townshend was appointed to the vice-royalty of Ireland he made Jephson his master of the horse, and this post he held under twelve successive viceroys. Hamilton's friendship also procured him a provision of £300 a year, which was afterwards doubled. O'Keefe, however, asserts in his Recollections that Jephson owed his post to Garrick, and gives a circumstantial account of the occasion. Jephson also entered the Irish house of commons, where he was a stanch supporter of government, distinguishing himself by his satirical humour, which procured him the name of Mortal Momus. On occasion, however, he could be serious and eloquent. Jephson mainly devoted himself to authorship. In conjunction with Courteney, Burroughs, and others, he wrote the essays known as "The Bachelor," which made sad havoc amongst the opponents of government, and for argument, wit, and humour have rarely been equalled. "Braganza," Jephson's first tragedy, was put on the boards of Drury Lane in 1775; it had a run of fifteen nights, and was frequently reproduced. "The Law of Lombardy" followed in 1779 at the same theatre with less success. Then came the best and most successful of his tragedies, "The Count of Narbonne," at Covent Garden in 1781, and it was in this drama, when acted in Dublin, that John Kemble first distinguished himself. Five other dramas follow, of various merit. He also published a poem entitled "Roman Portraits," and a clever satire on the French revolution, "The Confessions of Jacques Baptiste Couteau." He died at Blackrock, near Dublin, May 31, 1803. He was a man of diversified acquirements, taste, judgment, and good sense.—J. F. W.
* JERDAN, William, was born in 1782 at Kelso, where his father was baron bailie under the duke of Roxburgh. On leaving the school of his native place he entered the office of a writer to the signet. In his nineteenth year he went to London and engaged himself as a clerk in the counting-house of a West India merchant. This position he quitted to return to the study of the law in the office of Mr. Elliott, a writer to the signet in Edinburgh. But neither Scotland nor her laws seem to have had any charms for him, and in 1804 he again reached London to quit it in the following year for an entirely new scene and mode of life, being appointed temporary clerk to his uncle, who was surgeon on board the Gladiator guardship in Portsmouth harbour. Once more in London in 1806 he found employment in reporting for newspapers, among others for the Aurora, the Pilot, and the British Press. He was also for a time on the staff of the Morning Post. Some of the best passages in his autobiography are sketches of his friends and companions in the gallery of the house of commons. It was on one of these reporting days that he witnessed Bellingham's assassination of Mr. Spencer Percival, on the 11th of May, 1812, and was one of the first to seize the murderer, an event which bears a prominent place in his memoirs. The following year saw an advance in his fortunes, for he became jointly with Mr. John Taylor, of theatrical celebrity, conductor of the Sun newspaper, then an important organ of the tory party. In this position he was brought into familiar intercourse with many persons of rank and eminence, notably with Mr. Canning. The mischiefs of duality in the government of a newspaper were amusingly manifested in the abuse which the two editors levelled at one another in the same paper, as each in turn held possession of its columns. Jerdan's salary as editor was £500 a year, besides a tenth share of the profits of the paper. In 1817 he gave up his connection with the Sun, sold his share for £300, and became the editor of the Literary Gazette, a new and most successful experiment in journalism. In this position, which Mr. Jerdan retained until 1850, a period of more than thirty years, his gains are said to have been often more than £1000 a year; and his social advantages in connection with men of rank and influence were greater than his fortune or literary authority might seem to warrant. These facts tell against the doctrine strongly insisted on by Mr. Jerdan in his autobiography, that literature is the most ungrateful profession that a man can engage in. When in 1850 he resigned the editorship of the Literary Gazette, it was found that he had not been very provident in pecuniary matters, and a memorial fund
