German philosopher who marked the transition from the Enlightenment to the nineteenth century. His Beobachtungen über das Gefühl des Schönen und Erhabenen (1764) was translated as Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime. Among his major works that followed, the Kritik der reinen Vernunft (1781; translated as Critique of Pure Reason, 1855) established his fame when its ideas were condensed and reformulated in Prolegomena zu einer jeden künftigen Metaphysik (1783; translated as Prolegomena to Every Future Metaphysic, 1819).

Living from approximately 55-127 CE, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, the most influential of the Roman satiric poets, is known in English as "Juvenal." Juvenal's collection of poems, Satires, has been studied for its representation of ancient Rome and its critique of Roman paganism.

Jupiter, often called Jove in English, is the king of gods in the ancient Roman pantheon. He is often considered equvalent to the Greek deity Zeus.

Born Dorothea Bland, Dorothy Jordan was an Anglo-Irish actress who changed her name to avoid rumors regarding her illegitimate child with the future King William IV. Jordan ultimately bore ten of William's children, all out of wedlock. A lively actress, Jordan was best known for her comic breeches roles.

An English playwright, poet, and literary critic, whose artistry exerted a lasting impact upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularized the comedy of humours, a genre of comedy based on characters who each show one or two overriding traits based on the dominance of corresponding bodily humours. Known for satirical plays and for his lyric poetry, he is generally regarded as the second most important English dramatist, after William Shakespeare, during the reign of James I.

English literary editor best remembered for his 1812 revision of David Erskine Baker's Biographia Dramatica.

Henry Jones was an Irish poet. Though he made promising connections in the nobility and with actor, playwright, and theatre manager Colley Cibber, his drunkenness and irascible temper often got in the way of his success. He wrote The Earl of Essex, staged in 1753.

A conjurer or magician specializing in card tricks who was active during the mid to late eighteenth century in London. He was challenged briefly by a second Mr. Jonas in 1769, and for a time advertised himself as "the famous Jonas (who is the real and only Mr. Jonas)." A third Mr. Jonas performed under royal patronage at Bath as late as 1814.

Irish novelist whose best-known work is Chrysal; or, The Adventures of a Guinea (1760-65).

Literary biographer, critic, fiction writer, moralist, and poet, Samuel Johnson was one of the two or three most important figures in eighteenth-century British literary history. His most notable poem, The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), makes its content clear in its title. His fable Rasselas, first published under the title The Prince of Abissinia (1759), narrates the story of the residents of a fictional Happy Valley, who enjoy gratification of all wants, but nevertheless find themselves discontented because they have nothing to long or hope for and so no outlet to exercise imagination.