_Later Versions of the Legend._--_Les fais et prouesses du noble et vaillant chevalier Jason_ was composed in the middle of the 15th century by Raoul Lefèvre on the basis of Benoît's _Roman de Troie_, and presented to Philip of Burgundy, founder of the order of the Golden Fleece. The manners and sentiments of the 15th century are made to harmonize with the classical legends after the fashion of the Italian pre-Raphaelite painters, who equipped Jewish warriors with knightly lance and armour. The story is well told; the digressions are few; and there are many touches of domestic life and natural sympathy. The first edition is believed to have been printed at Bruges in 1474. Caxton translated the book under the title of _A Boke of the hoole Lyf of Jason_, at the command of the duchess of Burgundy. A Flemish translation appeared at Haarlem in 1495. The Benedictine Bernard de Montfaucon (1655-1741) refers to a MS. by Guido delle Colonne, _Historia Medeae et Jasonis_ (unpublished). The _Histoire de la Thoison d'Or_ (Paris, 1516) by Guillaume Fillastre (1400-1473), written about 1440-1450, is an historical compilation dealing with the exploits of the _très chrétiennes maisons_ of France, Burgundy and Flanders. JASON OF CYRENE, a Hellenistic Jew, who lived about 100 B.C. and wrote a history of the times of the Maccabees down to the victory over Nicanor (175-161 B.C.). This work is said to have been in five books and formed the basis of the present 2 Macc. (see ch. ii. 19-32). JASPER, an opaque compact variety of quartz, variously coloured and often containing argillaceous matter. The colours are usually red, brown, yellow or green, and are due to admixture with compounds of iron, either oxides or silicates. Although the term jasper is now restricted to opaque quartz it is certain that the ancient _jaspis_ or [Greek: iaspis] was a stone of considerable translucency. The jasper of antiquity was in many cases distinctly green, for it is often compared with the emerald and other green objects. Jasper is referred to in the _Niebelungenlied_ as being clear and green. Probably the jasper of the ancients included stones which would now be classed as chalcedony, and the emerald-like jasper may have been akin to our chrysoprase. The Hebrew word _yashefeh_ may have designated a green jasper (cf. Assyrian _yashpu_). Professor Flinders Petrie has suggested that the _odem_, the first stone on the High Priest's breastplate, translated "sard," was a red jasper, whilst _tarshish_, the tenth stone, may have been a yellow jasper (Hastings's _Dict. Bible_, 1902).