JACKSON JACOBI 



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have been known to carry off spectacles from persons ' 

 who were reading. 



JACKSON ; the name of numerous counties and 

 towns in the United States of America. The Jack- 

 sons, Jacksonvilles, Jacksontowns, Jacksonboroughs, 

 &c., are chiefly in the Western States, and have 

 mostly received their names since general Jackson's 

 successful defence of New Orleans. 



JACKSON, WILLIAM, a musical composer, was 

 born in 1730, at Exeter, and received the rudiments 

 of a classical education, with a view of his following 

 one of the liberal professions. His taste for music 

 displayed itself, however, so decidedly while he was 

 yet a youth, that his friends were induced to place 

 him under Travers, the organist of the cathedral be- 

 longing to his native city. Having passed two years 

 in the metropolis, where he availed himself of the 

 instructions of some of the best musicians of his day, 

 he returned to Exeter in 1750, and, succeeding even- 

 tually to the situation of organist, there passed the 

 remainder of his life. In 1782, he published two 

 octavo volumes, containing Thirty Letters on various 

 Subjects, which went through three editions. He 

 also printed, in 1791, some Observations on the pre- 

 sent State of Music in London. His musical compo- 

 sitions are still justly popular, and are distinguished 

 by chasteness of conception, ingenuity, and truth of 

 expression. He died in 1804. 



JACOB ; the son of Isaac, and the grandson of 

 Abraham ; the last of the patriarchs, and the true 

 ancestor of the Jews. In his mother's womb, he 

 quarrelled with his brother Esau, whom he held by 

 the heel as he came into the world. Hence his name, 

 Jacob (heel-holder). Being the object of maternal 

 indulgence, lie was gentle and weak, and was dis- 

 posed to advance himself by cunning rather than by 

 courage. While a youth, he purchased of his bro- 

 ther (who returned home weary and hungry from the 

 chase) his birthright for a mess of pottage, and, at 

 the instigation of his mother, disguised like Esau, he 

 obtained from the blind and infirm Isaac, the blessing 

 of the first-born, on which depended the inheritance 

 of the promise made to Abraham. He was obliged 

 to flee from the anger of his brother ; and, on his 

 way to Laban, his mother's brother, he received the 

 first intimation that the inheritance of the divine pro- 

 mise had devolved on him. He saw in a dream a 

 ladder reaching from heaven to earth, and angels 

 ascending and descending upon it, and the guardian 

 God of his family, whom he supposed to be in the 

 tent of Isaac, conferred on him the blessing of Abra- 

 ham. After this vision, he firmly believed that 

 Jehovah had chosen him to be the father of a great 

 people. This belief, and the love of Laban' s daugh 

 ter Rachel, were his consolation during the bitter 

 years which he was obliged to devote to the flocks of 

 his uncle, in order to obtain his mistress. After 

 having served seven years, he found in his veiled 

 bride Leah (whom he did not love), the elder sister 

 of Rachel, and in order to obtain Rachel, he was 

 obliged to serve seven years more. Besides these 

 fourteen years, he served six years for a herd, and, 

 after having repaid the deceit of his father-in-law, by 

 an artifice which much increased his possessions 

 ( Gen. xxx. 27 43), he departed privately with his 

 wives and children and property. Laban pursued 

 him, and scarcely had Jacob appeased him, when, 

 after twenty years' absence from home, lie met the 

 followers of his brother Esau. In this dilemma, 

 Jacob sought relief in prayer, and a man wrestled 

 with him all night until the morning dawned. Jacob 

 came off victorious, though with a lame thigh, and lie 

 was called by his guardian God, whose hand he saw 

 in this event, Israel, i. e. the hero of God, in remem- 

 brance of the contest- This afterwards became the 



title of his house, and the Hebrews (q. v.), from him- 

 are called Israelites, i. e. strong and stout. Jacob now 

 went forth with more confidence to the much dread- 

 ed meeting with his brother, and appeased his 

 rough, but noble nature, by his submission. His 

 return to his father's tent made a great change in the 

 character of Jacob. His cunning and avarice ap- 

 peared to him, as it has since to his descendants, the 

 necessary means for making his way through the 

 difficulties of his dependent situation. Now that he 

 had become rich, and uncontrolled master of his 

 possessions, he showed himself worthy of his father ; 

 and it he did not resemble Abraham in greatness and 

 power, he did in piety and tender love for his chil- 

 dren. Yet through them he was destined to suffer 

 the greatest afflictions. As he had two lawful wives, 

 and, according to the custom of the country, two 

 concubines (Bilhah and Zilpah), with twelve sons and 

 a daughter, he could not escape domestic troubles 

 and dissensions. His beloved Rachel died soon after 

 his return home. A prince of the Hivites violated 

 his daughter Dinah, and his sons revenged the injury 

 by plundering and murdering that people. He could 

 neither prevent this nor the incest committed by 

 Reuben with Bilhah. Humiliation and repentance 

 for the sins of his youth seemed now his lot. But 

 his greatest affliction was the loss of his favourite son 

 Joseph, whose brothers, full of envy against him, had 

 sold him to a caravan of Ishmaelite merchants, and 

 brought his coat, stained with blood, to their father, 

 as a proof that he had been devoured by wild beasts. 

 This event decided the destiny of the house of Israel. 

 Joseph (q. v.) subsequently became, in consequence 

 of his wisdom, the highest officer at the court of 

 Pharaoh, and, in this capacity, recognised his brothers 

 when they came to Egypt to purchase corn, pardoned 

 them, and called the whole house of his father out of 

 Canaan to dwell in a fruitful region of Egypt. The 

 aged Jacob again embraced his favourite son, whom 

 he had, for many years, supposed dead, and enjoyed, 

 under his protection, a happy old age. A short time 

 before his death, Israel collected his sons around his 

 bed, and pronounced over each of them a blessing 

 full of prophetic anticipations of the characters and 

 future ifate of his descendants. He bestowed the 

 privileges of the first-born on his fourth son, Judah, 

 Reuben having forfeited them by the crime above- 

 mentioned, and Simeon and Levi by the murder of 

 the Hivites. To his grandsons, Manasseh and Eph- 

 raim, the sons of Joseph, he gave privileges equal to 

 those of his sons. The descendants of Judah com- 

 posed the most powerful tribe among the Hebrews, 

 who were hence called Jews. In conformity with 

 Jacob's last will, Joseph buried him in the tomb of 

 Abraham, before Mamre in Canaan. 



JACOBI, JOHN GEORGE, a German poet, was born 

 at Dusseldorf, 174(0, studied theology, in 1758, at 

 Gottingen, and, later, in Helmstadt, hen became 

 professor of philosophy and eloquence in Halle, where 

 he published the Iris (1774 to 1776, three volumes), 

 a periodical for ladies. Joseph II. appointed him 

 professor of belles-lettres in the university of Freyburg 

 in the Brisgau (1784). From 1795 to 1800, he pub- 

 lished the UberflUssiger Taschenbuch, and from 1803 

 to 1807, the Iris. An edition of all his works was 

 published at Zurich, in seven volumes. He died 

 Jan. 4, 1814. 



JACOBI, FREDERIC HENRY ; a distinguished Ger- 

 man philosopher, younger brother of the preceding, 

 born at Dusseldorf, in 1743. His father intended 

 him for a merchant. He early showed a religious 

 turn, which, on his being sent to Frankfort as an ap- 

 prentice, exposed him to ridicule. He therefore soon 

 went to Geneva, where his mind was cultivated by 

 intercourse with the most distinguished scholars, and 



