77 S J E R 
fide during the whole time of the confliiS. This, how¬ 
ever, was quickly over; the French were?broken on all 
tides, the baron himfelf mortally wounded, and the next 
in command obliged to furrender himfelf and the whole 
party prifoners of war; while the captive governor ef- 
caped without a wound. This fecond difafter put an 
end to all hopes of the French mihillry of being able to 
reduce the illand of Jerfey, and was indeed no fmall mor¬ 
tification to them ; 800 (ro.op's having been landed at that 
time, of which not one efcaped. A monument was erefil- 
od at the public expence in the church of St. Helier, to 
the memory of major Pierfon, to whom the deliverance of 
the illand was owing ; but who unhappily fell in the mo¬ 
ment: of victory, when only 24 years of age. All the 
landing-places and creeks round the illand are now for¬ 
tified witli batteries, and feventeen or eighteen watch- 
houfes are erected on the headlands : thefe are round 
towers, with embrafures for fmall cannon, and loop-holes 
for mulketry; the entrance by a door in the wall out of 
the reach of man, and to be afeended by a ladder after¬ 
wards drawn up. 
This illand, with thefe of Guernfey, Sark, Alderney, 
and'their appendages, were parcel of the duchy of Nor¬ 
mandy, and were united to the crown of England by the 
itrll: princes of the Norman line. The language of the 
pulpit, and the bar, is the French, which is alfo that ge¬ 
nerally l'poken by the people at large. They are govern¬ 
ed by their own laws, which are for the molt part the du¬ 
cal cuftoms of Normandy, being collefted in an ancient 
book of cuftoms entitled Le grand cujlumier. The king’s 
writ, or procefs from the courts of Weftminfter, is here 
of no force ; but his commiffion is. They are not bound 
by any common acts of our parliaments, unlefs particu¬ 
larly named. All caufes are originally determined by 
their own officers, the bailiff and jurats of the iflands. 
But an appeal lies from them to the king and council in 
the laft refort. Jerfey is an earldom in the Villiers family. 
A thorough knowledge of the infinite importance of 
the iflands of Jerfey, Guernfey, &c. as fo many barriers 
againft France; a well-grounded forefight of the innu¬ 
merable mifehiefs that muff follow, on their falling under 
the power of the crown ; and a juft fenfe of the intrepid 
and fteady courage with which the inhabitants had fo of¬ 
ten defended themfelves ; induced our monarchs to give 
them many, and fome very extraordinary, marks of their 
favour, exclufive of the fortifications they railed for their 
defence, and the fleets that, from time to time, they em¬ 
ployed for their protection. Thus king Edward III. di¬ 
rected a letter, not only to the bailiff's and other magif- 
trates, but to the people of Jerfey in general, to thank 
them for the glorious ltand they made againft his enemies. 
Almoft all our princes, after him, took a pleal'ure in re¬ 
capitulating their fervices, on the renewing of their char¬ 
ters. Henry VII. gave them thisfanftion for the erection 
of two free-fchools ; "Elizabeth honoured them with larger 
and more explicit charters than any of her predeceffors; 
James I. redrelfed feveral grievances, and fliowed, in many 
cafes, an earned attention to their intereft and welfare; 
Charles I. gave lands for endowing three fellowffiips, in 
as many colleges, at Oxford; Charles II. lent a mace, 
with a moll honourable infeription, to be carried before 
the magiftrates of Jerfey; king William gave all the ar¬ 
tillery requifite for their bread-works and other fortifica¬ 
tions; and they have deferved and received many bene¬ 
fits from the crown in fucce.eding reigns. 
After all, thefe iflands are not improved to the utmoft: 
on the contrary, if they fought, dilcovered, and wrought, 
mines, which the emery formerly brought from Guernfey, 
and a celebrated mineral fpring which is in Jerfey, feem 
to fhow they poffefs; if they cultivated flax, and intro¬ 
duced the linen or even the thread manufacture ; it would 
produce infinite advantages to the inhabitants ; and if 
one or two ports, capable of receiving large Blips, were 
opened in the larger iflands, it would contribute io the 
J E R 
extending tlieir navigation and commerce, and induce 
them to concur effectually in eradicating that pernicious 
practice of fmuggling, which is equally inconfiftent with 
good government and found morals. In all or in any of 
thefe attempts, they have a juft right to the affiftance of 
England ; becaufe whatever acceffion of flrength they can 
attain muff redound to our fecurity, and whatever aug¬ 
ments their wealth muff finally turn to our profit. " 6 
As a concluding remark upon Jerfey, it is to be ob- 
ferved, that the Aland very much abounds with toads, 
which will not live in Guernfey, though the diftance is fo 
fmall between them : they have been frequently carried 
over to try the experiment, but have 'always died in a 
fnort time. Thofe who have lived-in the Weft Indies 
have remarked a like incongruity between the climates of 
the iflands of Martinique and Guadaloupe; in one of which 
ferpents greatly abound, while in the. other, though dif- 
tant but a very few leagues, no reptile of that nature will 
live four-and-twenty hours. 
JER'SEY (New.) See New Jersey. 
JERSEY, f. [from the ifland of Jerfey, where muck 
yarn is fpuu.] Fine yarn of wool. 
JERSEY, adj. Belonging to Jerfey ; made of jerfev. 
JER'SEY-COMBER, /. One who ccmbs jerfey. 
JER'SEY-WHEEL, { The wheel with which jerfey is 
fpun. 
JERUBBA'AL, [Heb. a difputer.J A man’s name. 
JERUB'BESHE TH, [Heb. let the idol of confufion 
defend itfelf.] A man’s name. 2 Sam. 
JERU'EL, [Hebrew.] The name of a place. 2 Chron. xx. 
JERUSALEM, a very famous and ancient city, capital 
of Judea or Paleftine, now a province of Turkey in Alia. 
According to Manetho, an Egyptian hiftorian, it was 
founded by the fhepherds who invaded Egypt in an un¬ 
known period of antiquity. According to Jofephus, it 
was the capital of Melchifedek’s kingdom, called Salem, in 
the book of Genefis; and the Arabians affert, that it was 
built in honour of Melchifedek by twelve neighbouring 
kings; which when they had done, he called it Jerufalem. 
Its firft buildings were erected on the loweflpart of Mount 
Sion, that is to fay, Mount Acra ; the northern moun J 
tain, and this part, was therefore called the Lower City. 
The Jebufites, a people of the land of Canaan, made them¬ 
felves mafters of it; and it was ftill fubjed: to them at the 
.time the Hebrews were under the proteftion of Mofes. 
Thefe people afterwards built, on the higheft part of 
Mount Sion, that divifion diftinguiffied by the name of the 
Upper City, and which, by its inhabitants, was called Je¬ 
hus ; they built there, likewife, a fortrefs, to defend them¬ 
felves againft the attacks of the Hebrews. When the 
Hebrews entered the Land of Promife, under the conduct 
of Joffiua, in the year 2584, in the divifion of it, jerufa¬ 
lem fell to the lot of the tribe of Benjamin. After the 
death of Joffiua, .which happened in the year 2601, the 
lower city was. taken and burnt by the tribe of Judah ; 
but not being able to make themfelves mafters of the up¬ 
per city, to which the Jebufites had retired for ihelter, 
the latter recovered the lower city, and re flowed it to its 
former conditiofi. It appears that the city of Jerufalem be¬ 
longed fqmetimes to the tribe of Benjamin, and fiometimes 
to the tribe of Judah ; but, according to the diftribution 
of the Land of Promife made by Jofhua, it .certainly, as 
before mentioned/fell to the lot of the tribe of Benjamin. 
The glory of entirely fubjecling the Jebufites, however, 
was referved for David, who, in the year 2988, expelled 
thefe people, feized their fortrefs and city, and called the 
latter, after his own name, The City of David. The city 
then occupied two mountains, that is to fay, Mount Sion, 
which formed the upper city, and Acra, which formed 
the lower city. Thefe David had already furrounded with 
a fingle wall, though they were divided from each other j 
for the city of Sion was inclofed by a leparate wall, and 
between it and the inferior city there were valleys and 
two other little hills. In the year of the world 3009, Je- 
1 , rata leva 
