226 



JERICHO JEROME OF PRAGUE. 



for the fete of his country, are elegies full of touching 

 melancholy and pious resignation, which, by their 

 beautiful, harmonious structure, remind us of a better 

 era of Hebrew poetry. 



JERICHO ; a considerable town of ancient Judea, 

 on a plain north-east of Jerusalem, on tiie west of 

 Jordan, noted, especially in Solomon's time, for its 

 balsam-gardens, and its thickets of palm-trees and 

 roses, and carrying on a flourishing trade in balsam 

 and spices. It was the key of Palestine, and was 

 therefore invested by the Israelites, who had passed 

 the Jordan under Joshua to conquer this country. 

 On the seventh day it was taken in a miraculous 

 manner, and destroyed, but was rebuilt some time 

 after. Its site is now occupied by the village of 

 Italia. The gardens and thickets have disappeared ; 

 the balsam-tree alone is cultivated. There is a 

 creeping plant, with a singularly shaped and fragrant 

 flower, which we call the rose of Jericho (anastatica). 

 It was probably brought over to Europe in the times 

 of the crusades. 



JERMACK. See Siberia. 



JERMOLOFF (not Yermalojft, ALEXEI PETRO- 

 WITCH ; Russian general of infantry, governor of the 

 provinces of Georgia and Caucasus, and general in 

 chief of the army of the Caucasus. In April, 1815, 

 Jermoloff commanded the second corps of the Rus- 

 sian army, which, under Barclay de Tolly, marched 

 from Poland into France. In 1817, he was sent, 

 with 50,000 select troops, to occupy the frontiers on 

 the side of Persia. Having personally inspected all 

 the military posts, he was sent as ambassador to the 

 Persian court at Teheran, where the Russian cabinet 

 wished to counteract the influence of the British. 

 For this reason, the suite of Jermoloff was very 

 splendid. He had with him the flower of the Rus- 

 sian nobility, and, besides, some French officers, 

 whom Napoleon had sent with Gardanne on a similar 

 mission to Persia in 1807. Jermoloff also received 

 the reports made by Gardanne, and the maps drawn 

 by the French officers. A very advantageous treaty 

 of commerce and amity was soon concluded between 

 Russia and Persia, by which the peace of Tiflis, Sep- 

 tember 13, 1814, was confirmed. Russia was in- 

 trusted by the same compact, in some degree, with 

 the guarantee of the Persian succession, and Persia 

 was placed almost in the same relation to Russia, as 

 Poland had been in the time of Catharine II. Jer- 

 moloff then returned to his former station, and exerted 

 himself much for the improvement of commerce in 

 those parts. In 1819, he sent captain Murawjeff 

 to the coast of the Caspian sea, to invite the Turk- 

 mans living there to form amicable connexions with 

 Russia. Under him, the army of the Caucasus was 

 increased to 100,000 men. In 1827, he subdued the 

 Tshetchenizes mountaineers, addicted to robbery. 

 In 1826, he repulsed the Persians, who, under Abbas 

 Mirza, had broken the peace of Ghulistan. In April, 

 1 827, general Paskewitch succeeded him in the chief 

 command against the Persians. 



JEROME, ST, one of the most learned and prolific 

 authors of the early Latin church, was born about 

 331, in Dalmatia, of wealthy parents, educated with 

 care in literary studies, and made familiar with the 

 Roman and Greek classics, under the grammarian 

 Donatus at Rome. But he did not escape uncon- 

 taminated by the licentiousness of the capital; and 

 he himself confesses the excesses of his youth. He 

 soon, however, became inclined to the Christian 

 faith. The catacombs and tombs of the martyrs first 

 excited his devotion. His travels on the Rhine and 

 in Gaul, made him acquainted with several Christian 

 preachers, and before his fortieth year he was bap- 

 tiaed in Rome. After a long residence at Aquileia, 

 be went, in 373, to Antioch, in Syria, where his in- 



clination to an ascetic life became more decided. In 

 374, he retired to the deserts of Chalcis, and there 

 passed four years as a hermit, in the severest mortifi- 

 cations and laborious studies. He left his solitude 

 again to be ordained presbyter at Antioch. He did 

 not, however, confine himself to the discharge of the 

 duties of this office, but soon after went to Constan- 

 tinople, to enjoy the instruction of Gregory of Na- 

 zianzen. In Rome, whither he accompanied his 

 friend the bishop Damasus, he made his appearance 

 as a teacher. His exposition of the Holy Scriptures 

 found favour with the Roman ladies ; and, although 

 no one reprehended more than lie the manners of 

 the fashionable world, several matrons of distinction, 

 with their daughters, complied with his exhortations, 

 and became nuns. St Marcella and St Paula are 

 celebrated for the learned and ingenious theological 

 epistles he wrote them, and for their rare monastic 

 piety. Paula accompanied him to Palestine, in 386, 

 where he founded a convent at Bethlehem, with her 

 funds, and in her society: in this he remained till his 

 death, in 420. His writings show his active parti- 

 cipation in the controversies concerning the doc- 

 trines of Origen, Meletus and Pelagius ; he always 

 defended, with zeal and ability, the orthodox doc- 

 trines of the church, though his own writings are not 

 free from the vestiges of the views and opinions of 

 these different parties. His profound knowledge of 

 the Bible, which he read in the original languages, 

 frequently led him to results on which he subse- 

 quently had controversies with the church ; and his 

 method of interpreting the Scriptures borders closely 

 on the allegorical interpretations of Origen, whom lie 

 respected, studied, and attacked. His biblical labours 

 are highly valuable; his Latin version of the Old Testa- 

 ment, from the original language, is the foundation of 

 the Vulgate, and his commentary gave anew impulse 

 to the study of the Holy Scriptures. In the controversy 

 with Jovinian and Vigilantius, the opponents of the 

 ascetic bigotry, his immoderate zeal for the monastic 

 life, which contributed much towards the promotion 

 of this new institution, led him to expressions which 

 manifest more strength and fire of feeling than matu- 

 rity of judgment. On the whole, with a glowing 

 imagination, which made his style lively and attrac- 

 tive, and with an extensive knowledge of languages, 

 he possessed a less philosophical genius than his 

 more celebrated contemporary Augustine. 



JEROME OF PRAGUE; of the family of Faul- 

 fisch, educated at the universities of Prague, Paris, 

 Cologne, and Heidelberg ; in faith and sufferings, 

 the companion of the famous John Huss, whom he 

 excelled in learning and eloquence, and to whom, in 

 the bold attempt at reformation of the fifteenth cen- 

 tury, he was inferior only in moderation and pru- 

 dence. His reputation for learning was so great, 

 that he was employed by Ladislaus II. of Poland, to 

 organize the university of Cracow ; and Sigismund 

 of Hungary caused Jerome to preach before him in 

 Buda. The doctrines of Wickliff, which he intro- 

 duced into his preaching, subjected him to a short 

 imprisonment by the university of Vienna ; but he 

 was released by the people of Prague. He now took 

 a zealous part, at Prague, in the contest of his friend 

 Huss against the abuses of the hierarchy, and the 

 dissoluteness of the clergy, and not unfrequently pro- 

 ceeded to violence. He attacked the worship of relics 

 with ardour, trampled them under foot, and caused 

 the monks, who opposed him, to be arrested, and 

 even had one thrown into theMoldau. He publicly 

 burned, in 1411, the bull of the crusade against La- 

 lislaus of Naples, and the papal indulgences. When 

 fluss was imprisoned in Constance, he could not 

 remain inactive and hastened to his defence. But 

 i public letter, in which he requested a safe con- 



