# The Nuttall Encyclopædia/N

N
Nabob. See Nawab.
Naboth, a Jew, who was stoned by order of Ahab, king of Israel, because he refused to sell him his vineyard, an outrage for which Ahab was visited by Divine judgment; is symbol, in the regard of the Jews, of the punishment sure to overtake all rich oppressors of the poor.
Nachtigal, Gustav, German traveller and explorer; visited (1869-1874), the first European to do so, at the instance of Prussia, by way of Tripoli, the heart of Africa, and returned by way of Cairo, and wrote an account of his journey, “Sahara and Sudan”; in 1884 annexed to Germany territory in West Africa; died on his return journey, and was buried at Cape Palmas (1834-1885).
Nadir, name given to the part of the heavens directly under our feet, as zenith to that directly over our head.
Nadir Shah, king of Persia, born in Khorassan of low origin; began his career as a brigand; set himself at the head of 3000 brigands to deliver Persia from the yoke of the Afghans, and expelled them, rising by degrees to the sovereignty of Persia himself; made war on the Afghans, invaded Hindustan, and took and plundered Delhi, restoring its former dominion to the Persian monarchy; became subject to suspicion of plots against him, had recourse to violence, and was assassinated (1688-1747).
Nævius, Cneius, one of the earliest Roman poets, born in Campania; wrote dramas, and an epic poem on the first Punic War, in which he had served; satirised the aristocracy, and was obliged to leave Rome, where he had spent thirty years of his life; died at Utica (265-204 B.C.).
Nagari, the name given to the characters In Sanskrit and Hindi alphabets.
Nâgas, in the Hindu mythology “deified serpents,” sons of Kadru, a personification of darkness, are represented as more or less invested with a human form, and endowed with knowledge, strength, and beauty; live in the depths of the ocean, and their capital city exposes to the vision a display of the most dazzling riches. They are not always represented as harmful; though armed with poison they possess the elixir of strength and immortality, and form the supports of the universe. They are a reflection of the belief that the deadly powers as well as the regenerative centre in one and the same deity, in his wisdom killing that he may make alive. Also the name of a race of aborigines in North-East India.
Nagasaki (61), one of the six treaty ports of Japan, on the NW. of the island Kiushiu; has a beautiful and extensive harbour, within which lies the island of Deshima; manufactures “egg-shell” china, exports coal, tea, &c., and possesses an excellent dockyard; American and English missions are carried on.
Nagpur or Nagpore (117), capital of the Central Provinces of British India, and of a district and division of the same name; an important railway terminus, 450 m. NE. of Bombay; is noted for the manufacture of fine cloth, and carries on a brisk trade in wheat, salt, spices, &c.
Nahum, one of the minor prophets of the Old Testament; appears to have been a contemporary of Isaiah, and to have prophesied after the destruction of Samaria and the defeat of Sennacherib before Jerusalem in the reign of Hezekiah. His mission as a prophet was to console the people in the presence of the formidable power of Assyria, and to predict its downfall, and especially that of its capital city Nineveh, an event which happened under Cyaxares the Mede 603 B.C. His thought is forcible, his expression clear, and his diction pure, all three worthy of the classical age of Hebrew literature.
Naiads, nymphs of the fresh-water fountains and streams, and as such endowed with prophetic power, and associated with other deities in the sphere of nature gifted with the same power; are represented as lovely maidens in a nude or semi-nude state.
Nairn (4), chief town of its county, prettily situated at the entrance of the Nairn into the Moray Firth, 16 m. NE. of Inverness; is frequented by summer visitors, and has a harbour and golf links.
Nairne, Baroness, Scottish poetess, born at Gask, Perthshire, third daughter of Laurence Oliphant of that Ilk, of Jacobite proclivities; known for her beauty as the Flower of Strathearn; was married to the sixth Lord Nairne, whom she survived; wrote 78 songs, the most famous among them being “The Land o' the Leal,” “The Laird o' Cockpen,” “Bonnie Charlie's noo awa,” “Caller Herrin',” and “The Auld Hoose”; died at Gask (1766-1845).
Nairnshire (9), a northern county of Scotland, fronts the Moray Firth, wedged in between Elgin on the N. and Inverness on the W. and S.; the surface rugged and mountainous in the S. and E., slopes towards the Firth, and is traversed by the rivers Nairn and Findhorn; Loch Loy is the largest of several small lochs; scarcely one-fifth of the soil is devoted to the raising of cereals, but more attention is given to stock-raising; Cawdor and Auldearn are places in it of historic and antiquarian interest.
Nairs, Hindus of high caste, claiming to rank next the Brahmans, who lived on the Malabar coast of India; among them polyandry prevailed, and the royal power descended through the female line.
Namaquas, a pastoral people of South Africa; one of the principal branches of the Hottentot race, and inhabiting Great Namaqualand.
Namur (31), capital of a province of the same name in Belgium, is situated at the junction of the Meuse and the Sambre, 35 m. SE. of Brussels. The town is strongly fortified, but only a few of its fine old buildings have escaped the ravages of war. The citadel still stands, the cathedral, and the Jesuit church of St. Loup. Cutlery, firearms, &c., are manufactured. The Province (339) skirts the NE. border of France between Hainault and Luxembourg.
Nana Sahib, a Hindu traitor, his real name Dundhu Panth, of Brahman descent, adopted son of the ex-Peshwa of the Mahrattas, whose pension from the British Government was not continued to Nana on his death, and which rendered the latter the deadly foe to British rule in India, and the instigator, on the outbreak of the Mutiny in 1857, of the massacre of Cawnpore; he had on the outbreak of the Mutiny in question offered his services to a British general, and placed himself at the head of the mutineers; the miscreant escaped, and his fate was never known; b. 1820. See Cawnpore.
Nancy (87), capital of the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, North-East France, is prettily situated amid woodland scenery on the river Meurthe, 220 m. E. of Paris; the new town is spaciously laid out, while the old town, narrowed in its streets, has many interesting old buildings, e. g. the cathedral, the 16th-century palace; there is a university, and an active trade in embroidered cambric and muslin, besides cotton and woollen goods, &c.
Nanking (150), an ancient city, and up to the 15th century the capital of China, is situated on the Yangtse River, 130 m. from its mouth; between 1853 and 1864 its finest buildings were destroyed by the Taiping rebels; its manufactures of nankeen and satin and of its once famous pottery and artificial flowers have fallen off, but it still continues the chief seat of letters and learning in China.
Nanna, in the Norse mythology the wife of Balder, the sun-god; distinguished for her conjugal fidelity, threw herself on the funeral pyre of her husband, and descended to the shades along with him; when the pair were entreated to return, he sent his ring to Odin and she her thimble to Frigga.
Nansen, Fridtjof, Arctic explorer, born at Froen, near Christiania, son of a Norwegian advocate; explored the seas in a scientific interest round Spitzbergen in 1882, and crossed Greenland in 1888, conceived the idea of reaching the Polar regions by following the Polar ocean currents; sailed in the Fram, a ship specially constructed for a Polar voyage, in 1893, and on his return wrote an account of his expedition in “Farthest North” in 1897; b. 1861.
Nantes (116), capital of the department of Loire-Inférieure, North-West France, on the Loire, 35 m. from the sea; its fine streets, handsome buildings, and historical associations make it one of the most interesting cities in France; the cathedral and the ducal castle date from the 15th century; shipbuilding, sugar-refining, and hardware are the staple industries, while an active shipping trade is kept up with the colonies.
Nantes, Edict Of, edict granted by Henry IV. 1598, allowing to Protestants religious liberty and political enfranchisement, and confirmed by Louis XIII. in 1614, but revoked, after frequent infringements, in the shape of dragonnades and otherwise, by Louis XIV., Oct. 23, 1685, at the instance of Madame Maintenon and Père la Chaise.
Naphtha, a liquid hydro-carbon of an inflammable nature that exudes from the earth or is distilled from coal-tar, &c.
Napier, Sir Charles, the conqueror of Sinde, born at Westminster, descendant of Napier of Merchiston; entered the army, was present at Coruña, served in the Peninsular War, was in 1841 made commander-in-chief of the Bombay army, defeated the Sikhs at Meeanee in 1848 in a brilliant engagement; became governor of Sinde, returned to England, and was welcomed with enthusiasm; went to India again on the outbreak of a second Sikh War, to find it suppressed; quarrelled with the Governor-General and came home; was a brave, upright, and humane man, and a great favourite with the army (1782-1853).
Napier, Sir Charles, admiral, cousin of preceding, born near Falkirk; entered the navy as a volunteer in 1799, assisted in two naval engagements, and for a time served as a volunteer in the Peninsular army; joined the Portuguese navy, defeated the fleet of Dom Miguel, tried to reform the navy of Portugal but failed, assisted by land and sea in driving Mehemet Ali out of Syria, and held the command of the Baltic fleet during the Crimean War, but disappointed expectations and was deprived of command (1786-1860).
Napier, John, laird of Merchiston, mathematician, born in Merchiston Castle, near Edinburgh; famed over the world as the inventor of logarithms; wrote a book on the Apocalypse, which contains some plain-spoken counsel to King James; believed in astrology, and was addicted to divination as well as mechanical invention (1550-1617).
Napier, Sir William, brother of the conqueror of Sinde; entered the army at the age of 15, served all through the Peninsular War, and wrote, besides the “Conquest of Sinde,” the “History of the Peninsular War,” a celebrated work, written from intimate knowledge of the events and with matchless graphic power (1785-1860).
Napier of Magdala, Lord, military engineer officer, born in Ceylon; distinguished himself at the sieges of Multan, Delhi, and Lucknow; commanded an expedition in Abyssinia, stormed and took Magdala in 1868, for which he was rewarded with high honours (1810-1890).
Naples (536), the largest and richest city of Italy; has a lovely situation within the bend of Naples Bay, spreading from the foreshore back upon wooded hills and rising terraces, behind which lie the snow-clad Apennines; to the E. lies the old town with its historic Via di Roma and narrow crowded thoroughfares; the newer portion on the W. is more spaciously laid out, and much has been done in recent years over the whole city to improve the sanitation and water supply; the national museum, rich in Pompeii relics, the university (4150 students), the national library (275,000 vols.), the archiepiscopal cathedral, and the four mediæval gateways are the chief architectural features; large quantities of wine, olive-oil, chemicals, perfumery, &c., are exported, while woollen, silk, linen, glove, and other factories carry on a good home trade; Naples became incorporated in the kingdom of Italy in 1861 after the Bourbon dynasty had been swept away by Garibaldi.
Napoleon I., emperor of the French, born at Ajaccio, Corsica, the second son of Charles Bonaparte and Lætitia Ramolino; trained at the military schools of Brienne and Paris; distinguished first as a captain of artillery at the siege of Toulon in 1793; elected general of brigade in the Italian campaign of 1794; he fell under suspicion, but was soon after invested with the supreme command of the army there and the conduct of the war, which was rendered memorable by the victories of Montenotte, Lodi, Rivoli, Arcole, &c.; on his return to Paris he was received with an enthusiasm which excited in him the ambition to render himself indispensable to the country; to utilise his services in their own interest the Directory determined to strike a blow at England, and Egypt being the point of attack selected, he sailed in command of an expedition for that destination in 1797, and conducted it with successes and reverses till, in 1799, the unpopularity and threatened fall of the Directory called him back; it was the occasion for a coup d'état which he had meditated, and which he accomplished on the henceforward celebrated 18th Brumaire (9th Nov. 1799), when a consulship of three was established, himself First Consul, and eventually in 1802 Consul for life; his administration in this capacity, while disgraced by several despotic acts, was in the main of a nature for the public benefit, and distinguished by its regard for the interest of law and good order, but his personal ambition the while was not asleep, for, by a Concordat with the Pope he so attached the Catholic Church to the state as to secure the clerical support to his ambitious projects, and was able on the 18th May 1804, to get himself invested with the imperial dignity, only Carnot in the Tribunate and Grégoire in the Senate protesting against the step as a violation of liberty; Napoleon owed it to his victories in the field that he attained this elevation, and the sword must maintain what the sword had won; from this date accordingly began that long array of wars against the rest of Europe, distinguished by the victories of Austerlitz, and Jena, and Eylau, and Friedland, and Eckmühl, and Wagram, and which contributed to inspire all the nations around with a sense of the terror of his name; but with the unfortunate expedition into Russia, in 1812, Napoleon's glory began to wane and the tide to turn; after the battles of Lützen and Bautzen, he might perhaps have signed an honourable peace, but he declined the terms offered, and was defeated at Lützen by the Allies, who invaded France, and entered Paris in 1814 in spite of all his efforts to keep them at bay, upon which he was compelled to abdicate at Fontainebleau and retire to Elba, 20th April 1814; it was in vain for him to return from his retreat and re-enter Paris on the 20th March following, for the Powers, with England and Prussia at their head, leagued against him and crushed him at Waterloo; by this defeat he had forfeited the throne, and was compelled to abdicate, but unable to escape from France, delivered himself up to Captain Maitland of the Bellerophon, and was shipped off to St. Helena, where, after some six years of misery, he died 5th May 1821, whence his body was disinterred and buried with great pomp under the dome of the church of St. Louis, 15th December 1840; “he believed,” says Carlyle, “too much in the dupeability of men, saw no fact deeper in man than hunger and thirst; he was mistaken; like a man that should build upon clouds, his house and he fell down a confused wreck, and departed out of the world”; the one article of his faith being “the tools to him that can handle them” (1769-1821).
Napoleon, Louis. See Louis Napoleon, also Bonaparte.
Napoleon, Victor, son of Prince Napoleon; claimed to be head of the house of Bonaparte in 1891, though his younger brother, Prince Louis, a colonel in the Russian Imperial Guard, is preferred to him by many Bonapartists; b. 1862.
Napoleon d'Or, a French gold coin worth 20 francs, named after the Emperor Napoleon I.
Naraka, among the Hindus and the Buddhists the place of penal suffering after death.
Narcissus, a self-satisfied youth who disdained the addresses of Echo, in consequence of which she pined away and died, and who, by way of penalty, was doomed to fall in love with his own image, which he kept beholding in the mirror of a fountain till he too pined away and died, his corpse being metamorphosed into the flower that bears his name.
Narrows, The, name given to the section of the St. Lawrence River which extends between Lake Superior and Lake Huron.
Narses, a statesman and general of the old Roman empire, rose from being a slave to be keeper of the imperial privy-purse; was successful against the Goths, whom he drove out of Rome; d. 573.
Narthex, a space in early churches railed off from the rest for catechumens and penitents.
Naseby, a village in Northampton, where the Royalists under Charles I. and Prince Rupert were defeated, “shivered utterly to ruin,” by the Parliamentary forces under Fairfax and Cromwell in June 1645, the “Ironsides” bearing the brunt of the battle and winning the honours of the day.
Nash, John, English architect, born in London; besides designing plans for some of the chief streets in the city and the buildings in them, was the architect of Buckingham Palace and the Pavilion at Brighton (1752-1835).
Nash, Richard, known as “Beau Nash,” born at Swansea; installed himself as master of the ceremonies at Bath, and ruler of the assemblies of fashion in that resort; was a charitable man as well as gay; died in poverty, but was honoured with a public funeral (1674-1761).
Nash, Thomas, English satirist, born at Lowestoft, a Cambridge University wit; wrote plays, as well as pamphlets, bearing on the Marprelate controversy (q. v.) (1567-1601).
Nashville (81), capital of Tennessee, U.S., on the Cumberland River, 185 m. SW. of Louisville; a suspension bridge and railway drawbridge joins it with Edgefield suburb; it is an important railway and educational centre, the seat of the Fisk, Vanderbilt, and Nashville universities, and is actively engaged in the manufacture of cotton, tobacco, flour, paper, oil, &c.
Nasmith, Alexander, Scottish landscape painter, born in Edinburgh; did portraits also, and one of Burns in particular, deemed the best likeness we have of the poet (1757-1843).
Nasmith, James, mechanician, son of the preceding, born in Edinburgh; invented the steam-hammer and a steam pile-driver (1808-1890).
Nassau, till 1866 a duchy of Germany, now included in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau (q. v.).
Natal (544, of which 47 are whites), British colony in SE. Africa, somewhat larger than Denmark, fronts the Indian Ocean on the E., having a foreshore of 180 m., between Zululand on the N. and Kaffraria on the S.; the Dragensberg Mountains form its western boundary; enjoys a fine salubrious climate, and possesses abundance of fertile land, watered by some 140 inches of rainfall; along the coast the sugar-cane is largely cultivated, as also some tea, coffee, tobacco, &c., while all kinds of fruits flourish in its sub-tropical climate; the rising ground inland produces good cereals, and large numbers of sheep and cattle find excellent pasturage on the plains and mountain slopes on the W.; excellent coal is mined in large quantities, and iron and copper promise well; wool, sugar, hides, feathers, and ivory are the chief exports, and are shipped mainly at Durban, the chief port; the colony now enjoys the advantages of good railways, schools, representative government, and a legal code based on old Dutch law; Pietermaritzburg (q. v.) is the capital; Natal was discovered in 1497 by Vasco da Gama, and after being annexed to Cape Colony in 1844, was declared, 11 years later, a separate colony.
Nathan, a Jewish prophet who had the courage to charge King David to his face with a heinous crime he had committed and convict him of his guilt, to his humiliation in the dust.
Nation of Shopkeepers, Napoleon Bonaparte's contemptuous name for the English.
National Anthem, its authorship has been long matter of controversy, and it is uncertain to this day; it has been ascribed to H. Carey and to Dr. John Bull.
National Convention, the revolutionary assembly of France, consisting of 749 members chosen by universal suffrage, which on 22nd September 1792 supplanted the Legislative Assembly, proclaimed the Republic, and condemned Louis XVI. to the guillotine; in spite of its perplexities and internal discords, it was successful in suppressing the Royalists in La Vendée and the south, and repelling the rest of Europe leagued against it, not only in arms, but in the field of diplomacy; it laid the foundation of several of the academic institutions of the country, which have since contributed to its glory as well as welfare, and collected them together in the world-famous Institute; its work done, “weary of its own existence, and all men sensibly weary of it,” it willingly deceased in an act of self-dissolution in favour of a Directory of Five on 20th October 1795.
National Covenant. See Covenant.
National Guard, The, a militia of citizens organised in the municipality of Paris in 1790, with Lafayette as commandant, but suppressed in 1827, and again suppressed in 1872, after two revivals, in consequence of their taking part with the Commune of the latter date.
Natural Selection, name given by Darwin to the survival of certain plants and animals that are fitted, and the decease contemporaneously of certain others that are not fitted, to a new environment.
Natural Supernaturalism, Carlyle's name in “Sartor” for the supernatural found latent in the natural, and manifesting itself in it, or of the miraculous in the common and everyday course of things; name of a chapter which, says Dr. Stirling, “contains the very first word of a higher philosophy as yet spoken in Great Britain, the very first English word towards the restoration and rehabilitation of the dethroned Upper Powers”; recognition at bottom, as the Hegelian philosophy teaches, and the life of Christ certifies, of the finiting of the infinite in the transitory forms of space and time.
Naturalism, a philosophical term used to denote the resolution of the supernatural into the natural, and its obliteration; the reference of everything to merely natural laws, and the denial of all supernatural interference with them.
Nature Worship, the worship of the forces of nature conceived of as personal deities.
Nausicaa, the daughter of Alcinous, king of the Phæacians, who gave welcome to Ulysses when shipwrecked on the shore, and whom Homer represents as, along with her maidens, washing the clothes of the hero and his companions.
Nauvoo, a village in Illinois, on the Mississippi, where the Mormons first settled in 1840, and from which they were expelled in 1846.
Navarino, a bay on the SW. coast of the Morea, the scene of the naval victory of the Athenians over the Spartans 425 B.C., and of the annihilation of the Turkish and Egyptian navies by the combined fleets of England, France, and Russia, under Codrington, 20th October 1827.
Navarre (304), one of the 49 provinces of Spain, comprising by far the greater portion of the old kingdom of Navarre, which lasted up to 1512, the other part of which now forms French Basses-Pyrénées; the Spanish province lies on the SW. border of France, is very varied in surface and climate; in the N. the people are chiefly Basques, and are much more energetic than the southern Spaniards; maize, wheat, and red wine are the chief products.
Nawab, a viceroy of a province in the Mogul empire, applied also to a Mohammedan chief in India, and, spelt Nabob, to a man who has made his wealth in India.
Naxos (14), an island of the Cyclades, in the Ægean Sea, famed for its marble, and exports salt and emery powder.
Nayler, James, a fanatical Quaker in the time of the Commonwealth, with a following as fanatical as himself, who escorted him through Bristol on his release from prison after the manner of Christ's entry into Jerusalem; was very cruelly punished for blasphemy in fancying or seeming to fancy himself a new incarnation of Christ.
Nazareth (7), a town in a hollow of the hills on the N. of the Plain of Esdraëlon, 67 m. N. of Jerusalem and 11 m. W. of the Sea of Galilee, celebrated over Christendom as the home of the Holy Family.
Nazarites, among the Jews people consecrated by a vow to some special religious service, generally for a definite period, but sometimes for life; during its continuance they were bound to abstain not merely from strong drink, but from all fruit of the vine, to wear their hair uncut, and forbidden to approach a dead body, long hair being the symbol of their consecration; the vow was sometimes made by their parents for them before their birth; the said vow is the symbolic assertion of the right of any and every man to consecrate himself, in disregard of every other claim, to any service which God may require of him.
Neagh, Lough, the largest lake in the British Isles, lies in the NE. of Ireland, touching the borders of five counties, is 16 m. long, and has an average breadth of 10 m. and a greatest depth of 102 ft.
Neal, Daniel, Nonconformist divine, born in London, and minister there; wrote a “History of the Puritans” and a “History of New England” (1678-1743).
Neal, John Mason, hynmologist, born in London; was a zealous and advanced High Churchman, wrote a “History of the Holy Eastern Church”; is best known for his hymns, translated and original (1818-1866).
Neander, Johann August Wilhelm, eminent Church historian, born at Göttingen, of Jewish parents, his father's name Mendel, which he changed into Neander (new man) on his baptism at the age of 17; studied theology under Schleiermacher at Halle, commenced his work as a teacher of theology in Heidelberg in 1811, but was two years after called to the chair of Church History in Berlin, a post he occupied with signal distinction till his death, his fame all along attracting to him students from every quarter of Christendom; he was a devout believer in historical Christianity, and had the profoundest insight into the Christian faith, both in the root of it and the development of it in the life of the Church; besides several monographs, he wrote the history of the Church from its first starting through its after expansion, and a “Life of Christ” in answer to Strauss, which for its apprehension of the spirit of Christ and His teaching has never been surpassed, while in Christian character he was, if ever man was, “without spot and blameless” (1789-1850).
Neath (11), a borough and river port of Glamorganshire, on the navigable Neath, 6 m. NE. of Swansea; is an old town, and has interesting ruins of an abbey and of a castle (burned 1231); has prosperous copper, tin, iron, and chemical works.
Nebiim, the prophets of Israel as an organised class, who first figure as guardians of the spiritual interests of the nation to the time of Samuel, when it was threatened with extinction piecemeal at the hands of the Philistines, and whose mission it was to recall the divided tribes to a sense of their unity as the chosen of Jehovah, and to see that they were welded into one under a single king; they lived together in communities, appeared in companies, wore a distinctive dress, and were called the sons of the prophets; while they were performing and discharging their offices they were true to their calling, but when order was established they, as is usual in such cases, became more and more lax, until first Elijah, and then another and another who were for most part not of the order, had, if they would be true to their own souls, to remind the nation of what its authorised teachers, in their unfaithfulness, were failing to do, and in consequence suffering God's cause to go to wreck.
Nebraska (1,058), one of the west central States of the American Union, has Dakota on its N. and Kansas and Colorado on the S., is 1½ times the size of England; in the E. stretches of fertile land yield abundant crops of grain (maize chiefly), hemp, flax, sugar-beet, and tobacco, while in the W. rich prairie pastures favour a prosperous stock-raising; the Platte, Niobrarah, and Republican Rivers follow the eastward slope of the land; Omaha and Lincoln (capital) are the chief centres of the manufacturing industries; climate is dry and bracing; wolves, foxes, skunks, &c., abound, chiefly in the “Bad Lands” of the N.; Nebraska was incorporated in the American Union in 1867.
Nebulæ, name given to masses larger or smaller of misty light in the heavens caused by a group of stars too remote to be severally visible to the naked eye.
Nebular Hypothesis, the theory that the sun and planets with their satellites in the solar system were originally one mass of nebulous matter which, gradually cooling and contracting, under violent revolution resolved itself into separate revolving orbs.
Necker, Jacques, celebrated financier, born at Geneva, banker in Paris; married the accomplished Susanne Curchod, the rejected of Gibbon, and became by her the father of Mme. de Staël; was a man of high repute for probity and business capacity; became in 1777 Director-General of Finance in France, tried hard and honestly, by borrowing and retrenchment, to restore the fallen public credit, but was after five years dismissed; was recalled in 1788, but though the funds rose, and he contributed to their relief two million livres of his own money, was again dismissed, to be once more recalled, only to expose his inability to cope with the crisis and to be forced to retire (1732-1804).
Nectar, in the regard of the Greeks the drink of the gods, which, along with ambrosia, their food, nourished the ichor, their blood, and kept them ever in the bloom of immortal youth; it was not permitted to mortals to drink of it.
Needle-gun, a breech-loading gun, the cartridge of which is exploded by a needle.
Negative, in photography a picture of an object in which the lights and shadows are reversed, so that the shady part appears white and the light in it appears dark.
Negativity, the name given in philosophy to the negative element determinative or definitive of things and all ideas of things, whereby a thing is this because it is not that, and is seen to be this because it is seen not to be that, an antagonism essential to all forms of being, spiritual as well as material, and to all definite and distinct thought.
Negritoes, Spanish name for certain distinctive tribes of a diminutive race resembling negroes, occupying the central portions of some of the Philippine Islands, also known as Aëtas or Itas; sometimes loosely used to designate Papuans and all the Melanesian peoples of Polynesia.
Negroes, the dark race of tropical Africa, distinguished by their dark woolly hair, their black eyes, their flat noses, and their thick lips; they occupy rather a low level in the scale of humanity, and are lacking in those mental and moral qualities which have impressed the stamp of greatness on the other races that have distinguished themselves in the history of the world.
Nehemiah, a Jew of the captivity, of royal degree and in high favour, being king's cup-bearer at the court of Artaxerxes, the Persian king; received a commission from the king to repair to Jerusalem and restore the Jewish worship, and ruled over it for 12 years, till he saw the walls of the city amid much opposition restored; returned afterwards to superintend the reform of the worship, of which the book of the Old Testament named after him relates the story.
Nehushtan (a piece of brass), the name given in contempt to what was alleged to be the “Serpent in the Wilderness,” which had become an object of worship among the Jews, and was destroyed by King Hezekiah among other idolatrous relics (2 Kings xviii. 4).
Neilgherry Hills, a bracing mountain district in South India, forming a triangular-shaped and somewhat isolated mass of elevated country, peaks of which attain an altitude of close upon 9000 ft.; grassy slopes alternate with thick masses of forest, amid which several small native wild tribes still dwell; Ootacamund is the chief station of the many Europeans who frequent the district as a health resort.
Nelson, 1, a Prosperous manufacturing borough of Lancashire (23), 3½ m. NE. of Burnley. 2, Capital of a district in the N. end of South Island, New Zealand (11); has a busy harbour in Blind Bay, and manufactures cloth, leather, soap, &c.
Nelson, Horatio, Lord, great English admiral, born at Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk; entered the navy as a midshipman in 1770, and after voyages to the West Indies, the Arctic regions, and the East Indies, was promoted to a lieutenancy in 1777; three years later he headed the expedition against San Juan, was invalided home, and in 1781 acted under Lord Hood in American waters; in command of the Boreas on the Leeward Islands station, here he involved himself in trouble through his severe and arbitrary enforcement of the Navigation Act against American traders, and there also he met and married in 1787 the widow of Dr. Nesbit; returning home he lived for five years in retirement, but on the eve of the French Revolutionary war he was again summoned to active service, and in command of the Agamemnon, advanced his reputation by gallant conduct in the Mediterranean operations of Lord Hood, losing his right eye during the storming of Calvi, in Corsica; conspicuous bravery at the engagement with the Spaniards off Cape St. Vincent (1797) brought him promotion to the rank of rear-admiral; in the same year he lost his right arm at Santa Cruz, and in the following year, with an inferior force, annihilated the French fleet in the Bay of Aboukir, for which he was raised to the peerage as Baron Nelson, and created Duke of Bronte by the King of Naples; at this time began his lifelong liaison with Lady Hamilton (q. v.); involving himself in Neapolitan affairs, he went beyond his commission in suppressing the rebel Jacobins, and especially in executing their leader Caracciolo; in 1800 he returned home, his never robust strength considerably impaired; as vice-admiral nominally under Sir Hugh Parker, he in 1801 sailed for the Baltic and inflicted a signal defeat on the Danish fleet off Copenhagen; for this he was made Viscount and commander-in-chief; during the scare of a Napoleonic invasion he kept a vigilant watch in the Channel, and on the resumption of war he on October 21, 1805, crowned his great career by a memorable victory off Trafalgar over the French fleet commanded by Villeneuve, but was himself mortally wounded at the very height of the battle (1758-1805).
Nemean Games, one of the four great national festivals of Greece, and celebrated every other year.
Nemean Lion, a monstrous lion in Nemea, a valley of Argolis, which Hercules slew by throttling it with his hands, clothing himself ever after with its skin.
Nemesis, in the Greek imagination, the executioner of divine vengeance on evil-doers, conceived of as incarnated in the fear which precedes and the remorse which accompanies a guilty action.
Nennius, the reputed author of a chronicle of early British history, who appears to have lived not later perhaps than the 9th century.
Neology, the name given to the rationalist theology of Germany or the rationalisation of the Christian religion.
Neo-Platonism, a system of philosophy that originated in Alexandria at the beginning of the 3rd century, which resolved the absolute, or God, into the incarnation thereof in the Logos, or reason of man, and which aimed at “demonstrating the graduated transition from the absolute object to the personality of man”; it was a concretion of European thought and Oriental.
Nepal (about 2,500), an independent native State in North India, occupying a narrow mountainous territory along and including the southern slopes of the Himalayas, which separate it from Thibet; consists mainly of valleys and intervening mountain ridges, among which dwell various hill tribes, the dominant race being the hardy Goorkhas (q. v.).
Nepenthe, an imaginary goddess, the allayer of pain and the soother of sorrows, or the impersonation of stern retributive justice.
Nepos, Cornelius, Roman historian, born at Pavia; was a contemporary and friend of Cicero; was the author of several historical works, no longer extant, and the one still extant ascribed to him, entitled “De Viris Illustribus,” is believed to be an abridgment of an earlier work by him.
Neptune, the chief marine deity of the Romans, and identified with the Poseidon of the Greeks, is represented with a trident in his hand as his sceptre.
Neptune, the remotest planet of the solar system at present known; it is twice as far distant from the sun as Uranus (q. v.) is, deemed before its discovery the remotest; its diameter is four times greater than that of the earth, and it takes 60,126 days to revolve round the sun, accompanied by a solitary satellite; it was discovered in 1846 by Adams (q. v.) and Leverrier (q. v.), who were guided to the spot where they found it from the effect of its neighbourhood on the movements of Uranus.
Nerbudda, or Narbada, a sacred river of India; has its source in the Amarkantak plateau of the Deccan, and flows westward, a rapid body of greenish-blue water, through the great valley between the Vindhya and Satpura Mountains, reaching the Gulf of Cambay after a course of 800 m., the last 30 of which are navigable.
Nereides, nymphs of the Mediterranean Sea, daughters of Nereus, 60 in number, and attendant on Poseidon.
Nereus, the god of the Mediterranean Sea, the son of Pontus and Gaia, the husband of Doris, and father of the Nereides, represented as a sage, venerable old man.
Neri, St. Philippo di, Italian priest, born at Florence, of noble family; founder of the Congregation of the Oratory; was known from his boyhood as the Good Pippo, and he spent his life in acts of devotion and charity (1515-1592). Festival, May 26.
Nero, Roman emperor from A.D. 54 to 68, born at Antium, son of Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus and of Agrippina, daughter of Germanicus; after the murder of Claudius, instigated by Agrippina, who 4 years previously had become the emperor's wife, Nero seized the throne, excluding Britannicus, the rightful heir; during the first 5 years of his reign his old tutors, Seneca and Burrus, were his advisers in a wise and temperate policy, but gradually his innate tendency to vice broke through all restraint, and hurried him into a course of profligacy and crime; Britannicus was put to death, his mother and wife, Octavia, were subsequent victims, and in 64 numbers of Christians suffered death, with every refinement of torture, on a trumped-up charge of having caused the great burning of Rome, suspicion of which rested on Nero himself; a year later Seneca and the poet Lucan were executed as conspirators, and, having kicked to death his wife Poppæa, then far advanced in pregnancy, he offered his hand to Octavia, daughter of Claudius, and because she declined his suit ordered her death; these and many other similar crimes brought on inevitable rebellion; Spain and Gaul declared in favour of Galba; the Prætorian Guards followed suit; Nero fled from Rome, and sought refuge in suicide (37-68).
Nerva, Roman emperor from 96 to 98, elected by the Senate; ruled with moderation and justice; resigned in favour of Trajan, as from age unable to cope with the turbulence of the Prætorian Guards.
Ness, Loch, the second largest loch in Scotland, stretches along the valley of Glenmore, in Inverness-shire, is 22½ m. long, and has an average breadth of 1 m. and an extreme depth of 280 ft.: its main feeders are the Morriston, Oich, and Foyers; the Ness is its chief outlet.
Nesselrode, Count von, celebrated Russian diplomatist, born at Lisbon, where his father was Russian ambassador; represented Russia at a succession of congresses, played a prominent part at them, and directed the foreign policy of the empire under Alexander I. and Nicholas I., from 1816 to 1856, though he strove to avoid the war which broke out in 1853 (1780-1862).
Nessus, a Centaur who, for attempting to carry off Dejanira, Hercules' wife, was shot by Hercules with an arrow dipped in the blood of the Hydra (q. v.), and who in dying handed to Dejanira his mantle, dipped in his poisoned blood, as a charm to regain her husband's affections should he at any time prove unfaithful. See Hercules.
Nessus' Shirt, the poisoned robe which Nessus gave Dejanira, and which in a moment of distrust she gave to Hercules. See Nessus.
Nestor, king of Pylos, a protégé and worshipper of Poseidon, the oldest, most experienced, and wisest of the Greek heroes at the siege of Troy; belonged to the generation of the grandfathers of the rest of them.
Nestorius, a celebrated heresiarch, born in Syria; was made patriarch of Constantinople in 428, deposed for heresy by the Council of Ephesus 431, and banished to the Lybian Desert, where he died; the heresy he taught, called after him Nestorianism, was that the two natures, the divine and the human, coexist in Christ, but are not united, and he would not allow to the Virgin Mary the title that had been given to her as the “Mother of God”; the orthodoxy of the Church as against the doctrine was championed by Cyril of Alexandria.
Netherlands, a term formerly applied to the whole NW. corner of Europe, occupied by Belgium (q. v.) and Holland, but now an official designation only of Holland (q. v.).
Netley, the site of the handsome Royal Victoria Hospital, on the shore of Southampton Water, 3 m. SE. of Southampton, and connected by a direct line with Portsmouth; founded in 1856 as an asylum for invalided soldiers, also the head-quarters of the female nurses of the army; in the vicinity also are interesting remains of a Cistercian abbey.
Nettlerash or Urticaria, an irritating eruption in the skin causing a sensation like the stinging of nettles. It may be acute or chronic, frequently caused by errors of diet.
Neuchâtel (109), a western canton of Switzerland, lying between Lake Neuchâtel and France; the surface is diversified by the Jura Mountains, and plentifully supplied with small streams; the greater part of the inhabitants are French Protestants; coal and iron are found, stock-raising and agriculture are engaged in, but the great specialty of the canton is watchmaking, which is chiefly carried on at La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle; Neuchâtel was incorporated in the Swiss Confederation in 1815. Neuchâtel (17), capital of the canton, has a fine situation on the NW. shore of the lake, 86 m. NE. of Geneva; has many educational, art, and charitable institutions, and is chiefly engaged in the manufacture of watches, jewellery, &c. Lake of Neuchâtel is a beautiful sheet of water, 25 m. in length, and from 3 to 6 in breadth.
Neustria, western portion of the kingdom of the Franks in the time of the Merovingian and Carlovingian dynasties, and in constant rivalry with Austrasia (q. v.), the kingdom of the East; it extended from the Scheldt to the Loire and Soissons; Paris, Orleans, and Tours were the chief towns.
Neuville, Alphonse de, French painter of battle-scenes, born at St. Omer; he was an illustrator of books, among others Guizot's “Histoire de France” (1836-1885).
Neva, a river of Russia issuing from the SW. corner of Lake Ladoga, flows westward in a broad rapid current past St. Petersburg, and discharges its great volume of water into the Bay of Cronstadt, in the Gulf of Finland, after a winding course of 40 miles.
Nevada (46), one of the western States of the American Union, occupying a wide stretch of territory on the Great Plateau or Basin, between the Rocky Mountains on the E. and the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada on the W., has Oregon and Idaho on the N., and California on the S. and W.; elevated, cold, dry, and barren, it offers little inducement to settlers, and is in consequence the least in population of the American States; the great silver discoveries of 1859 brought it first into notice, and mining still remains the chief industry; Virginia City and Carson (capital) are the chief towns; was admitted to the Union in 1864.
Neville's Cross, Battle of, battle fought near Durham between the Scots and English in 1346, in which the former were defeated and King David taken prisoner.
Nevis, Ben. See Ben Nevis.
New Britain or Neu-Pommern, a large island in the German Bismarck Archipelago, West Pacific, lying off the NE. coast of New Guinea, from which it is separated by Dampier Strait; is 300 m. long, with an average breadth of 40 m.; is mountainous and volcanic in the interior, and thickly clad with forest trees; fruits of various kinds are the chief product; is inhabited by Melanesian savages.
New Brunswick (321), a SE. province of Canada, presents a long foreshore to the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the NE. and to the Bay of Fundy on the SE., while directly E. lies Nova Scotia, to which it is joined by the isthmus of Chignecto; the surface is diversified by numerous lakes, magnificent forests of pine and other woods, and the fertile valleys of the Rivers St. John, Restigouche, and Miramichi; timber is the chief export, but only less valuable are its fisheries, while shipbuilding is also an important and growing industry; coal is mined in good quantities, and the chief towns, St. John, Portland, and Fredericton (capital) are busy centres of iron, textile, and other factories; the climate is subject to extremes of heat and cold, but is healthy; many of the inhabitants are of French origin, for New Brunswick formed part of the old French colony of Acadia.
New Caledonia (63), an island of the South Pacific belonging to France, the most southerly of the Melanesian group, lying about 800 m. E. of Australia and nearly 1000 m. N. of New Zealand; is mountainous, produces the usual tropical fruits, and exports some nickel, cobalt, coffee, &c.; is used by the French as a convict station; discovered by Captain Cook in 1774 and annexed by France in 1853; Noumea (5), on the SW., is the capital.
New England, a name given in 1704 by Captain John Smith to the eastern and most densely populated portion of the United States, which now comprises Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; was first colonised under the name of North Virginia by the Plymouth Company in 1606; the inhabitants, known distinctively as Yankees, are mostly of Puritan and Scotch descent, and are noted for their shrewdness and industry.
New Forest, a district in the SW. of Hampshire, 14 m. from N. to S. and 16 m. wide, and consisting of 92,000 acres, of which 62,000 belong to the crown demesnes; one-fourth of the area consists of enclosed plantations, chiefly of oak and beech, the rest being open woodland, bog, and heath; Lyndhurst is the principal town.
New Guinea, the largest island in the world (excluding the island continents of Australia and Greenland), lies N. of Australia, from which it is divided by Torres Strait (90 m. wide); is an irregular, mountainous, well-rivered territory, 10 times the size of Scotland, and is held by three European powers—the Dutch (200) in the western and least developed half; the German (100); in the NE., Kaiser Wilhelm's Land, administered by the German New Guinea Company, who export tobacco, areca, bamboo, ebony, &c.; and the British (135), in the SE., administered by the Commonwealth of Australia. Successful encouragement has been given to colonisation, and good exports of gold pearl-shells, copra, &c., are made. Much of the interior is still to explore, and is inhabited by Papuans, Negritoes, and other Melanesian tribes, many of which are still in the cannibal stage, although others are peaceful and industrious. A hot moist climate gives rise to much endemic fever, but encourages a wonderful profusion of tropical growth, giving place in the highlands to the hardier oak and pine, and still higher to a purely alpine flora; as in Australia, the animals are chiefly marsupials; the mountain ranges, which stretch in a more or less continuous line throughout the island, have peaks that touch an altitude of 20,000 ft. and send down many navigable streams. Port Moresby is the capital of the British portion.
New Hampshire (377), the second most northerly of the New England States (q. v.), and from the beauty of its lake and mountain scenery called the “Switzerland of America,” lies N. and S. between Quebec province and Massachusetts, while the Atlantic washes part of its eastern borders; is more engaged in manufactures than in agriculture, and obtains valuable water-power and waterway from its rivers, the Piscataqua, Merrimac, and Connecticut; Manchester, on the Merrimac, is the largest city.
New Haven (108), capital of New Haven county, Connecticut, and chief city and seaport of the State, at the head of New Haven Bay, 4 m. from Long Island Sound, and 73 m. NE. of New York; is a finely built city, and, since 1718, has been the seat of Yale College; is an important manufacturing centre, producing rifles, iron-ware of all kinds, carriages, clocks, &c., was up till 1873 joint capital of the State with Harford.
New Hebrides (70), a group of some 30 volcanic Islands (20 inhabited) in the Western Pacific, lying W. of the Fiji Islands and NE. of New Caledonia; is nominally a possession of Britain, and inhabited by cannibals of the Melanesian race. Missionary enterprise has had some effect in the southern islands; Espiritu Santo (70 m. by 40) is the largest.
New Holland. See Australia.
New Jersey (1,444), one of the 13 original States of the American Union, faces the Atlantic between New York State on the N. and Delaware Bay on the S., with Pennsylvania on its western border; the well-watered and fertile central plains favour a prosperous fruit and agricultural industry, tracts of pine and cedar wood cover the sandy S., while the N., traversed by ranges of the Appalachians, abounds in valuable forests of oak, hickory, chestnut, sassafras, &c.; minerals are plentiful, especially iron ores. New Jersey is thickly populated, well provided with railway and water transit, and busily engaged in manufactures—e. g. glass, machinery, silk, sugar. Newark (capital) and Jersey City are by far the largest cities; was sold to Penn in 1682, and settled chiefly by immigrant Quakers.
New Jerusalem Church, a church consisting of the disciples of Emanuel Swedenborg, formed into a separate organisation for worship about 1788. See Swedenborgianism.
New Mexico (154), an extensive territory embracing the SW. end of North America and the larger part of the great isthmus which unites the two Americas; was in 1848 detached from Mexico (q. v.), and constituted a part of the American Union; consists mainly of elevated plateau, sloping to the S., and traversed by ranges of the Rocky Mountains; the precious metals are widely distributed, especially silver; good deposits of coal and copper are also found. In the broad river valleys excellent crops are raised, and stock-raising is an important industry. The territory is divided into 14 counties; Santa Fé is the capital; a State university exists at Albuquerque.
New Orleans (287), the capital and largest city of Louisiana, is beautifully situated on both sides of the Mississippi, 107 m. from its mouth, with a curved river-frontage of 10 m.; is the second cotton port of the world, and the greatest sugar-market in the United States; is the chief trade emporium of the surrounding States, and the main outlet for the produce of the Mississippi Valley, which includes cotton, sugar, tobacco, wheat, and salt.
New South Wales (1,132), the “mother colony” of Australia, fronts the Pacific for 700 m. on the E. between Queensland (N.) and Victoria (S.), is 2½ times the size of Great Britain and Ireland; mountain ranges (including the Australian Alps) running parallel with, and from 20 to 100 m. distant from, the coast, divide the narrow littoral plains from the great plains of the W. and the interior, and are the source of many large rivers (e. g. the Darling) flowing E. and W.; the climate is warm and everywhere healthy; rain falls plentifully on the coast lands and mountains, but is scarce in the W. The mineral wealth of the colony is very great—gold and silver are found in large quantities, as also copper, tin, iron, &c., but coal is the most abundant and valuable mineral product. Cereals, fruits, sugar, tobacco, &c., are cultivated, but in small quantities compared with the immense output of wool, the chief product of the country. Sydney (q. v.) is the capital and chief port of the colony. Government is vested in a Crown appointed Governor and two Houses of Parliament (triennial and paid). Education is free and compulsory. Established in 1788, the colony was, up to 1840, used as a settlement for transported criminals. In 1851 the great gold discoveries started the colony on its prosperous career.
New York (5,997), the foremost State in the American Union in population, wealth, commerce, and manufactures, the twenty-fifth in area, and is about the size of England; is triangular in shape, with a north-western base on Lakes Erie and Ontario, and an eastern apex reaching the Atlantic between Connecticut (N.) and New Jersey (S.). Manhattan, Staten, and Long Island are the most important of many islands belonging to the State. The land slopes from the mountainous E. to the shores of the great western lakes, and is pleasantly diversified with mountain, valley and plain, forest and river. The Hudson, Oswego, Genesee, and Niagara (with its famous waterfall) are the principal rivers, while the St. Lawrence forms part of the northern boundary. One-half of the area is under cultivation; the vine flourishes, hops and tobacco are grown, and market-gardening prospers near the large cities; but manufacturing is the chief industry, and the transit of goods is greatly facilitated by the many waterways and network of railways. Was finally occupied by the English in 1664, after the expulsion of the Dutch.
New York City (3,437), but including Brooklyn, Jersey City, and other suburban places, nearly three millions, the premier city of the American continent, and third wealthiest in the world; occupies Manhattan Island (13½ m. long) and several smaller islands at the terminal confluence of the Hudson with East River, which opens into Long Island Sound; 18 m. S. of the city is Sandy Hook, where two ship channels cross the bar, and lead into the outer or lower bay, which in turn is joined by a strait to the magnificent harbour or inner bay; all approaches are strongly fortified; a suspension bridge spans East River, uniting the city with Brooklyn; the rivers and the many wharves are crowded with shipping. The old town is a busy hive of industry, with its great centres of banking and mercantile enterprise—Wall, New, and Broad Streets. The modern part of the city is a model of regularity, is traversed by great avenues 8 m. in length and 100 ft. wide, the finest being Fifth Avenue. The City Hall and the Court House are of white marble; the hotels are the largest in the world; Astor library (250,000 vols.), academy of design, university, museums, art-galleries, and many other handsome buildings adorn the streets; carries on industries of almost every description.
New Zealand (669, of which 42 are Maories), a British island colony in the South Pacific, lying wholly within the temperate zone, 1200 m. E. of Australia; comprises North Island (45,000 sq. m.), South or Middle Island (58,000 sq. m.), Stewart Island (much smaller), and a number of islets; total area considerably more than that of Great Britain. The two main islands, separated by Cook Strait, are in no part broader than 150 m., and are traversed from end to end by a great and partly volcanic mountain chain, the range in South Island being known as the Southern Alps (highest peak Mount Cook, 12,350 ft), and that in North Island as the Ruahine Range and the Tararua Mountains; everywhere rivers abound, Waikato (North Island) and Clutha (South Island) being the largest; numerous lakes (Lake Taupo, six times the size of Loch Lomond), fertile valleys, and well-grassed plains, together with the mountains, make up a beautiful and diversified surface, which much resembles that of Scotland, while the climate, temperate and healthy, is warmer and more equable than in Great Britain; almost all the animals have been imported, as well as the grains and fruits; great forests of indigenous kauri pines, however, exist; sheep-farming, agriculture, and mining (gold and coal) are the chief industries, wool being the chief export; Auckland, the largest, and Wellington, the capital, in North Island, and Dunedin and Christchurch in South Island, are the chief towns; Government is vested in a Crown-appointed Governor, an Executive Ministry, and a Parliament of two Chambers; education is free, secular, and compulsory, but no State aid is given to any form of religion; discovered in 1642 by Tasman, the islands were first surveyed by Cook in 1769; their formal cession to the British crown took place in 1840.
Newark (246), city of U.S., New Jersey, 7 miles W. by New Jersey City. It has extensive tanneries, and manufactories of hats, thread, and celluloid.
Newcastle-under-Lyme (18), a borough and old market-town of Staffordshire, 40 m. S. of Manchester; is a well-built town, actively engaged in brewing, malting, and paper-making.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne (186), a city and county of itself, and chief town of Northumberland; situated on the N. bank, and 10 m. from the mouth, of the Tyne, 275 m. N. of London. The old town extends some two miles along the river bank, and with its crowded quays, narrow winding streets, and dingy warehouses, presents a striking contrast to the handsome modern portion, which stretches back on gently rising ground. The cathedral is an imposing and interesting architectural structure, while the public buildings are more than usually ornate. The Colleges of Medicine and of Science are affiliated to Durham University. There are several fine libraries, theatres, hospitals, and charitable institutions, and the city is especially well off in the matter of public parks and pleasure grounds. Three bridges (including Robert Stephenson's famous High Level Bridge) span the river and connect Newcastle with Gateshead. It is the chief centre of the English coal trade, and is a busy hive of all kinds of metallic, chemical, machinery, and kindred works, which give rise to an immense and ever-increasing shipping trade. As a centre of shipbuilding the Tyne is second only to the Clyde.
Newcomen, Thomas, blacksmith, born at Dartmouth; invented a steam-engine in which the piston was raised by steam and driven down by the atmosphere after the injection into the cylinder of a squirt of cold water, which cooled it, so that the steam when injected did not raise the piston at once up. By James Watt's invention of a separate condenser it was superseded, and employed afterwards principally for pumping water. The interruption in the movement between the descent and ascent of the piston made it worthless for such purposes as Watt's invention is applied to; d. 1729.
Newdigate, Sir Roger, born in Warwickshire; represented Oxford in Parliament, and founded the Newdigate Prize for the best English poem by an undergraduate; the winners of it have since distinguished themselves, chiefly in letters (1719-1806).
Newfoundland (198), the oldest island colony of Britain, situated at the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, North America; is about one-eighth larger than Ireland, and triangular in shape, the northern apex running close in to the coast of Labrador; inland the country is bleak, sparsely populated, and ill cultivated; lakes and rivers abound; the deeply indented coast provides excellent harbourage for the large fishing fleets that frequent it; minerals are found, including coal, iron, lead, and copper; agriculture and timber-felling are on the increase, but the fisheries—cod, salmon, herring, and seal—form the staple industry; the climate is more temperate than in Canada, although, subject to fogs; St. Johns (q. v.) is the capital; discovered in 1497 by John Cabot, seized by the English in 1583, and finally ceded to Britain by the French (who retained certain fishing rights) in 1713; Newfoundland possesses a responsible government, consisting of a popularly elected Assembly and a Crown-appointed Governor, and exercises political rights over the adjoining coast territory of Labrador.
Newgate, a dark, gloomy prison in London, the original of which dates as far back as 1218; was two centuries afterwards rebuilt, and destroyed in the great fire of 1666; rebuilt in 1780; is now used only for prisoners awaiting trial during Sessions, and as a place of execution.
Newman, John Henry, cardinal, born in London, son of a banker; educated at Ealing, studied at Trinity College, Oxford, and obtained a Fellowship in Oriel College in 1823; trained in evangelical beliefs, he gradually drifted into High-Church notions, and becoming vicar of St. Mary's, the university church of Oxford, in 1826, started the Tractarian Movement in 1833, and, busy with his pen, wrote no fewer than 24 of the celebrated “Tracts for the Times” in advocacy of High-Church teaching, till Tract XC., which he composed, overshot the mark, and he resigned his connection with the Church of England, and was received into the Catholic Church on the 28th October 1845; shortly after this he visited Rome, was ordained a priest, and after some stay there on his return became head of the Birmingham Oratory in 1849, where he spent over 40 of the years that remained of his life; the influence on Church matters which he exercised as university preacher at Oxford was very great, and made itself felt through the voluminous writings over the length and breadth of the Church; on his secession he continued to employ his pen in defence of his position, particularly in one work, now widely known, entitled “Apologia pro Vita Sua”; what he wrote was for the time he lived in, and none of it, except certain of his hymns, is likely to endure; the religion he fought for and vindicated was an externally authenticated one, whereas all true religion derives itself and its evidences solely and wholly from within, and is powerless and virtually nothing except in so far as it roots itself there (1801-1890).
Newman, Francis William, born in London, brother of the preceding, with whom he was wholly out of sympathy, and at the opposite pole; he was a theist in his religious opinions, and wrote in defence of them his principal works, “The Soul: Her Sorrows and Aspirations,” and “Phases of Faith” (1805-1897).
Newport, 1, capital of the Isle of Wight (10), and near its centre; in its vicinity is Carisbrooke Castle, where Charles I. was imprisoned. 2, The largest town in Monmouth (54), at the mouth of the Usk, engaged in manufacture of various kinds, but chiefly as a port for the export of minerals, which is very large. 3, A town in Rhode Island, U.S., (19), a fashionable watering-place, as well as a manufacturing; was for a time the residence of Bishop Berkeley.
Newstead Abbey, an abbey near Nottingham, founded by Henry II. by way of atonement for the murder of Thomas à Becket, which was given at the dissolution of the monasteries to an ancestor of Lord Byron, who lived in it and sold it, since which it has been restored.
Newton, Sir Isaac, illustrious natural philosopher, born in Woolsthorpe, near Grantham, in Lincolnshire; entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1661, where he applied himself specially to the study of mathematics, invented the method of fluxions (q. v.), and began to theorise on gravitation, graduating in 1667, and becoming professor of Mathematics in 1669; failing at first, from a mistaken measurement given of the earth's diameter, in his attempts to establish the theory referred to, he set himself to the construction of telescopes, and discovered the composition of light; shortly after this, hearing of a correction of the measurement required, he renewed his study of gravitation, and made his theory good in a series of papers communicated to the Royal Society, though it was not till 1687, encouraged by Halley, he gave the complete demonstration in his “Principia” to the world; in 1695 he was made Warden of the Mint, and afterwards Master, a post he held till his death; his works were numerous, and he wrote on prophecy as well as treatises on science (1642-1727).
Newton, John, English clergyman, born in London; after a wild youth was converted, entered the Church, and became curate of Olney, where he became acquainted with Cowper, and had, owing to his severe Calvinism, an influence over him not altogether for good, and was associated with the production of the “Olney Hymns”; wrote “Cardiphonia” (1725-1807).
Newton, Thomas, English divine; edited Milton's “Paradise Lost” and “Paradise Regained,” and notes, and wrote “Dissertations on the Prophecies” (1704-1782).
Ney, Michel, peer and marshal of France, born at Sarrelouis, son of a cooper; entered the army as a private hussar in 1797; distinguished himself by his bravery in the wars of the Revolution and the Empire, and earned for himself from the army under Napoleon, and from Napoleon himself, the title of the “Brave of the braves”; on Napoleon's abdication in 1814 he attached himself to Louis XVIII., but on his return from Elba he joined Ins old master, and stood by him during the hundred days; on the second Restoration he was arrested, tried by his peers, and shot (1769-1815).
Ngami, Lake, a shallow sheet of water 50 m. long in S. Africa, on the borders of the Kalahari Desert, which is always changing its margin, is at one time, from the rains, sweet and drinkable, and at another time, from drought, saline; it is infested with crocodiles, and swarms with fish.
Niagara, a section of the St. Lawrence River, in N. America, extending between Lakes Erie and Ontario, having a descent throughout its course of 36 m. of 326 ft., the Falls, preceded and succeeded by rapids, being the largest in the world, the Canadian or Horse Shoe Fall being 2640 ft. wide, with a descent of 158 ft., and the American Fall being one-third of the width of the Canadian, and with a descent of over 162 ft.
Niam-niam, a people of the E. Soudan, SE. of Darfur, occupying territory between the basins of the Nile and the Congo.
Nibelung, king of the Nibelungen, a mythical Burgundian tribe, the fabulous possessor of a hoard of wealth so inexhaustible that “twelve waggons in twelve days, at the rate of three journeys a day, could not carry it off,” and which he bequeathed to his two sons on his deathbed, by the vanquishing of whom the hoard fell into the hands of the redoubtable hero Siegfried.
Nibelungen Lied (i. e. Lay of the Nibelungen), an old German epic, of date, it is presumed, earlier than the 12th century; it consists of two parts, the first ending with the murder of Siegfried by Hagen, his wresting of the hoard (see supra) from his widow, Kriemhild, and burying it at the bottom of the Rhine, and the second relating the vengeance of Kriemhild and the annihilation of the whole Burgundian race, Kriemhild included, to whom the treasure had originally belonged; to the latter part the name of the Nibelungen Not (or Distress) has been given.
Nicaragua (313, mostly mulattoes and negroes), the largest and richest of five republics occupying Central America, stretches across the isthmus from the Pacific to the Caribbean Sea, between Honduras (N.) and Costa Rica (S.); the Cordilleras traverse the heart of the country, and the immense valleys of the W. are remarkable for the two great southern lakes, Nicaragua and Managua, which are studded with volcanic islands; rich in gold, silver, copper, and coal, with vast forests of mahogany, rosewood, &c., splendid pastures and a fertile soil; the country has through misgovernment and a bad climate remained in a backward state; in recent times more has been done; hides, bananas, coffee, and india-rubber are the chief exports, and a considerable deal of mining goes on; the great ship-canal from the Pacific to the Caribbean, begun in 1889 by a U.S. company, is not yet completed; Managua (18) is the capital; asserted its independence from Spain in 1821, and has since been rent by countless revolutions; a president and a congress of 48 administer its affairs.
Nice or Nicæa, an ancient city of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, celebrated as the seat of two oecumenical councils of the Church, the first, presided over by Constantine in 325, which condemned Arianism, and the second, under the Empress Irene in 787, which deliberated on image-worship.
Nice (74), capital of the department Alpes-Maritimes, France, charmingly situated on the Mediterranean coast near the Italian border, terraced hills shelter it on the N., and its genial and equable climate make it a favourite winter resort for invalids; the Paglione, a small stream, divides the old and modern portion; Castle Hill, with ruins and pleasure gardens, the cathedral, art-gallery, &c., are features of interest; olive-oil is the chief export, and artistic pottery, perfumery, &c., are manufactured.
Nicene Creed, a creed established as orthodox at Nice (q. v.), which affirmed as against Arianism that Christ as Son of God was not merely of like substance, but of the same substance with the Father.
Nicholas, the name of five Popes: N. I., St., surnamed the Great, Pope from 858 to 867, asserted the supremacy of the papal see, Festival, Nov. 13; N. II., Pope from 1058 to 1061; N. III., Pope from 1277 to 1280; N. IV., Pope from 1288 to 1292; N. V., Pope from 1447 to 1456, after the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, took the exiled Greek scholars under his protection, fostered the learning of the East, and laid the foundation of the Vatican Library by the collection of over 5000 Greek and Latin MSS.
Nicholas, St., the patron saint of boys, of sailors, of Russia and Aberdeen, as well as other towns; was bishop of Myra, persecuted under Diocletian; is generally represented in bishop's robes, and has either three purses or three children as his attributes; the three children and the three purses refer to one and the same story: St. Nicholas, on learning that a father who had three daughters was tempted by extreme poverty to expose them to a life of dishonour, went by night and threw into the window of the house three bags of money which served as a marriage portion for each, and thus rescued them from a life of shame.
Nicholas I., czar of Russia, born at St. Petersburg, third son of Paul I., ascended the throne in 1825 in succession to Alexander I., his eldest brother; suppressed with rigour and not a little severity a formidable conspiracy which took form on his accession; took up arms against Persia and wrested Erivan from its sway, struggled against both the Poles and the Turks till his overbearing policy against the latter provoked a coalition of France, England, and Sardinia to their defence in the Crimean War, which was still going on when he died; in 1848 he aided Austria in the suppression of the Hungarian insurrection (1796-1855).
Nicholas II., czar of Russia, born in St. Petersburg, son of Alexander III., and his successor in Nov. 1894; was married on the month of his accession to Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt and granddaughter of Queen Victoria through the Princess Alice, while his mother is a sister of the Princess of Wales; his education under his father was conducted expressly with a view to what might be required of him on his accession to the throne; his ministers are in sympathy with himself, and he has already (1899) distinguished himself by putting his finger on the sore which is festering at the heart and is sucking up as a vampire the life's blood of Europe; b. May 18, 1868.
Nicholson, John, an Indian officer, born in Dublin, son of a physician; served in the Sikh Wars, and at the outbreak of the Mutiny in 1857 in the Punjab crushed it in the bud; led the attack at the siege of Delhi, Sept. 14, but fell mortally wounded as the storming party were entering the Cabul Gate (1821-1857).
Nicobar Islands (7), a group of picturesque islands in the Indian Ocean, S. of the Andaman Islands and midway between Ceylon and the Malay Peninsula; 14 of the 20 islands are inhabited, chiefly by indigenous Indians and Malays; after being in the hands of Denmark for upwards of 100 years, they were annexed by Britain in 1869; trade is carried on with India in cocoa-nuts, ambergris, tortoise-shell, &c.
Nicolaitans, a sect of heretics that arose in the Apostolic Church, presumed to have been a party of professing Christians of Gentile descent, who, after their profession, continued to take part in the heathen festivals, and to have contributed to break down the distinction between the Church and the world, so essential to the very existence of the faith they professed, founded, as it is, no less absolutely on No to the world than on Yea to God. See Everlasting No and Everlasting Yea.
Nicole, Pierre, French divine and moralist, born at Chartres, a Port-Royalist (q. v.), friend of Arnauld and Pascal; was along with the former author of the famous “Port Royal Logic” (1625-1695).
Nicotine, a poisonous alkaloid extracted from the leaves of the tobacco plant, is a colourless, oily liquid, readily soluble in water, and has a pungent odour.
Niebuhr, Barthold Georg, distinguished historian, born at Copenhagen, son of the succeeding; studied at Kiel, and for a time at London and Edinburgh; after various civil appointments in Denmark, entered the civil service of Prussia in 1806; on the establishment of the university of Berlin in 1810 gave in connection with it a course of lectures on Roman history, by which he established his reputation as a historian, several of the conclusions of which he afterwards confirmed during his residence as ambassador at the Papal Court at Rome from 1816 to 1823; the revolution of the three days of July 1830 in Paris threatening, as he thought, a recurrence of the horrors of the first, gave him such a shock that he sickened of it and died; by his treatment of the history of Rome he introduced a new era in the treatment of history generally, which consisted in expiscating all the fabulous from the story and working on the residuum of authenticated fact, without, however, as would appear, taking due account of the influence of the faith of the people on the fable, and the effect of the latter on the life and destiny of the nation whose history it was his purpose to relate (1776-1830).
Niebuhr, Karsten, a celebrated traveller, born in Hanover; joined a Danish expedition in exploration of Arabia, and alone of the members of it returned home, which he did by way of Persia, Palestine, and Cyprus, and wrote an account of the results of his researches (1733-1815).
Niel, Adolphe, French marshal, born at Muret; entered the Engineers 1825, served in the Algerine War in 1835, before Rome in 1849, at Bomarsund in 1854, at Sebastopol in 1856, as well as at Magenta and Solferino, and finally became Minister of War (1802-1869).
Niepee, Joseph Nicéphore, French chemist, born at Châlons-sur-Saône; inventor of photography, the method of effecting which he achieved after long brooding in 1824, and afterwards communicated to Daguerre, with whom he entered into partnership, and who made it known after his death (1765-1833).
Niflheim or Misthome, in the Norse mythology the primeval northern region of cold and darkness, in contrast with Muspelheim, or Brighthome, the primeval southern region of warmth and light, the two poles, as it were, of the Norse world.
Niger, a great river of Western Africa, whose head-waters rise amid the Kong Mountains behind Sierra Leone; flowing NE. as far as Timbuctoo (2 m. from the river), it there bends gradually southward, receives from the E. its great affluent the Benuë, and about 100 m. from the coast begins to form a wide forest and jungle-covered delta (larger than that of the Nile), and finally flows into the Gulf of Guinea by 22 mouths after a course of some 2600 m. Forms, with the Benuë, an invaluable highway into the heart of the country; its upper and middle parts, under the names Joliba, &c., are within the French sphere, and the lower portion below Say is under English authority.
Nightingale, Florence, a famous philanthropic nurse, born at Florence, of wealthy English parentage; at the age of 22 entered the institution of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserswerth to be trained as a nurse, and afterwards studied the methods of nursing and hospital management with the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul, Paris; after thoroughly reorganising Harley Street Hospital, London, she in 1854 volunteered to organise a staff of nurses to tend the wounded soldiers in the Crimea; arriving at Scutari on the eve of Inkermann she, during the terrible winter of 1854-55, ministered with unwearied devotion to the suffering soldiers; on her return in 1856 she, with public support, established a training college for nurses at St. Thomas's and at King's College Hospital; she is author of “Notes on Nursing,” “Notes on Hospitals,” &c.; b. in 1820.
Nihilism, the principles of a movement on the part of the educated classes in Russia which repudiates the existing creed and organisation of society, and insists on a root and branch wholesale abolition of them and a reconstruction of them on communistic principles, and for the purely secular and everyday ends of common life, subordinating everything in the first place to the feeding, clothing, and lodging of human beings in a manner worthy of their rank in the scale of being. The term Nihilism is also applied to those philosophical systems which sweep the course clear of all incredibilities and irrationalities, but leave us bare of all our inherited spiritual possessions.
Nijni-Novgorod (73), capital of a Russian government of the same name, situated at the confluence of the Oka with the Volga, 274 m. E. of Moscow, is the seat of Peter-Paul's Fair, the greatest in the world, which lasts from July to September, attracting merchants from Asia and Europe, and during which the population of the town swells to six or seven times its normal dimensions; as much as £20,000,000 worth of goods are said to be sold during the fair.
Nile, the longest river of Africa, and one of the most noted in the world's history; the Shimiyu, Isanga, and other streams which flow into Victoria Nyanza from the S. are regarded as its ultimate head-waters; from Victoria Nyanza, the Victoria Nile or Somerset River holds a north-westerly course to Albert Nyanza, whence it issues under the name of the Bahr-el-Jebel, swelled by the waters of the Semliki from Albert Edward Nyanza; about 650 m. N. it is joined by the Bahr-el-Ghazal from the W., and bending to the E., now under the name White Nile, receives on that side the Sobat, and as a sluggish navigable stream flows past Fashoda on to Khartoum, where it is met by the Bahr-al-Azrak or Blue Nile; 200 m. lower it receives the Atbara or Black Nile. Through Egypt the river's course is confined to a valley some 10 m. broad, which owes its great fertility to the alluvial deposits left by the river during it annual overflow (July to October, caused by seasonal rains in Abyssinia, &c.). From Khartoum to Assouan occur the cataracts; below this the stream is navigable. A few miles N. of Cairo begins the delta which lies within the Rosetta and Damietta—two main branches of the divided river—and is some 150 m. broad at its base. From Victoria Nyanza to the coast the river measures about 3400 m.
Nilsson, Christine, an operatic singer, born in Sweden, daughter of a peasant, and one of the foremost sopranos of her day; distinguished for her dramatic talent no less than by her powers as a vocalist (1843-1882).
Nimeguen (34), an interesting old Dutch town in Guelderland, on the Waal, 73 m. E. of Rotterdam; has a fine 13th-century Gothic church and other notable buildings; its prosperous manufactures include tobacco, perfume, beer, &c.; here, in 1678-79, France effected famous peace treaties with Holland, Spain, and Austria.
Nîmes or Nismes (68), capital of the department of Gard, S. of France, lies surrounded by the Cévennes in the fertile valley of the Vistre, 31 m. E. of Montpellier; has unique Roman remains, including an imposing amphitheatre, now used as a bull-arena, the noble Corinthian “Maison Carrée,” a mausoleum, baths, &c.; textiles (silk, cotton, &c.), wines, and brandy are the chief articles of manufacture; it declared for the Reformation in 1559, and suffered cruelly on the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Nimrod, an early king of Assyria or Babylonia, characterised in Scripture (Gen. x. 9) as “a mighty hunter before the Lord”; a name now applied to a distinguished hunter.
Nineveh, an exceeding great city, capital of ancient Assyria, which stood on the left bank of the Tigris, opposite the modern town of Mosul, said to have been included within a wall 60 m. long, 100 ft. high, the breadth of three chariots in width, and defended by 1500 towers each 200 ft. in height.
Ninian St., early apostle of Christianity to the southern Picts of Scotland, born on the shores of the Solway, of noble descent; went to Rome, was consecrated by the Pope, visited St. Martin at Tours on his way back; had founded a church at Whithorn, Wigtownshire, which he dedicated to the latter on his return, where he died, “perfect in life and full of years,” in 432.
Ninus, a legendary king of Assyria, a celebrated conqueror, to whom tradition assigns the founding of Nineveh.
Niobe, in the Greek mythology the daughter of Tantalus, and wife of Amphion, king of Thebes, to whom she bore six sons and six daughters, in her pride of whom she rated herself above Leto, who had given birth to only two children, Apollo and Artemis, whereupon they, indignant at this insult to their mother, gave themselves for nine days to the slaughter of Niobe's offspring, and on the tenth the gods buried them; Niobe, in her grief, retired to Mount Sipylos, in Lydia, where her body became cold and rigid as stone, but not her tears, which, ever as the summer months returned, burst forth anew.
Nirvâna, the name given to the consummation of bliss in the Hindu, but especially the Buddhist, religions, synonymous with extinction, which in the Hindu creed means the extinction of individuality by absorption in the Divine Being, and in Buddhism, not, as some presume, the extinction of existence, but the extinction of agitation of mind through the crucifixion of all passion and desire, the attainment of self-centred, self-sufficient quiescence of being, or rest and peace of soul.
Nisus, a Trojan youth who accompanied Æneas into Italy, and whose friendship for Euryulus is so pathetically immortalised by Virgil in the ninth book of the “Æneid.”
Nithsdale, William Maxwell, Earl of, a noted Catholic, who took part in the Jacobite rising of 1715, was captured at Preston, found guilty of treason, and sentenced to death; the night before the day appointed for his execution (24th February 1786) he effected an escape from the Tower by exchanging clothes with his daring and devoted countess, who had been admitted to his room; he fled to Rome, where he lived in happiness with his wife until her death (1676-1744).
Nitrogen, a gaseous element which constitutes one-fourth in volume of the atmosphere, is the basis of nitric acid, and is an essential constituent of proteids, alkaloids, and albuminoids.
Nitzsch, Karl Ludwig, German theologian, born at Borna; became professor at Bonn, Saxony, in 1822, whence in 1847 he was removed to succeed Marheineke at Berlin; was of the Schleiermacher school of theologians, and author, among other works, of a “System der Christlichen Lehre” and “Practische Theologie,” the former an able work, but most vilely translated into English, and the latter in evidence of the importance the author attached to the ethical element in the Christian religion (1787-1860).
Nixie, in German folk-lore a water-sprite of a mischievous disposition, believed to have been suggested to the imagination by the reflection of the stars in the water.
Nizam, the name given to a viceroy or administrator of justice in the Mogul Empire of India.
Nizam's Dominions, The, or Hyderabad (11,537), in the heart of the Deccan, situated between the Central Provinces and the Presidency of Madras; it is highly fertile, and the largest of the native States in India. See Hyderabad.
Noah, the patriarch of Scripture antiquity who, by the command of God, constructed an ark for the preservation of the human race and the dry-land animals during the prevalence of the deluge that would otherwise have swept all these forms of life away.
Noailles, the name of an old French family, several members of which distinguished themselves in the service of both Church and State: Anne Jules N., marshal of France, celebrated for his cruelties against the Huguenots (1650-1708); Louis Antoine de, his brother, archbishop of Paris, who was made cardinal (1651-1729); Louis Marie, Vicomte de, deputy to the States-General, who took part for a time in the Revolution (1756-1804).
Noakes, John O', a fictitious name for a litigious person, used by lawyers in actions of ejectment.
Noble, a gold coin first minted by Edward III., formerly current in the country; worth 6s. 8d., and ultimately 10s., when the value of the gold increased.
Nocturne, picture of a night scene; also a musical piece appropriate to the night.
Nodes, name given to the two points in the orbit of a planet where it crosses or intersects the ecliptic, called ascending when it goes N., and descending when it goes S.
Nodier, Charles, able French littérateur, born at Besançon; a man of great literary activity and some considerable literary influence; author of charming stories and fairy tales; “did everything well,” says Professor Saintsbury, “but perhaps nothing supremely well” (1780-1844).
Nollekens, Joseph, sculptor, born in London, son of an Antwerp painter; studied in Rome; his forte lay in busts, of which he modelled a great many, including busts of Garrick, Sterne, Dr. Johnson, Pitt, and Fox, and realised thereby a large fortune; he was a man of no education; his principal work is “Venus with the Sandal” (1737-1813).
Nominalism, the name given to the theory of those among the Scholastics who maintained that general notions, which we denote by general terms, are only names, empty conceptions without reality, that there was no such thing as pure thought, only conception and sensuous perception, whereas realists, after Plato, held by the objective reality of universals. And, indeed, it is not as modern philosophy affirms, in the particular or the individual, in which alone, according to the Nominalists, reality resides, but in the universal, in regard to which the particular is nothing if it does not refer.
Nonconformists, a name originally applied to the clergy of the Established Church of England, some two thousand, who in 1662 resigned their livings rather than submit to the terms of the Act of Uniformity passed on the 24th of August that year, and now applied to the whole Dissenting body in England.
Nones, in the Roman calendar the ninth day before the Ides (q. v.), being the 7th of March, May, July, and October, and the 5th of the rest.
Nonjurors, a name given to that section of the Episcopal party in England who, having sworn fealty to James II., refused to take the oath of allegiance to William III., six of whom among the bishops for their obstinacy were deprived of their sees.
No-Popery Riots, name given principally to riots in London in June 1780, due to the zeal of Lord George Gordon (q. v.), ending in the death of near 300 persons.
Nordenskiöld, Erik, a Swedish naturalist, born in Helsingfors; after several successive voyages and explorations in the Arctic Sea, in which he paid frequent visits to Spitzbergen, where he measured an arc of the meridian, in 1878-79 discovered the North-East Passage by traversing, along the N. shores of Europe and Asia, the whole Arctic Sea from the Atlantic to the Pacific; has written accounts of his expeditions; b. 1832.
Nordkyn (i. e. north chin), the most northerly point in Norway, and of the continent of Europe generally.
Nore, Mutiny at the, a mutiny in the fleet stationed at the Nore, an anchorage off Sheerness, in the Thames, which broke out on May 20, 1797, and was not suppressed till June 15, for which the ringleaders were tried and hanged.
Norfolk (455), an eastern maritime county of England, lies N. of Suffolk, and presents a long eastern and northern foreshore (90 m.) to the German Ocean; the Wash lies on the NW. border; light fertile soils, and an undulating, well-watered surface favour an extensive and highly developed agriculture, of which fruit-growing and market-gardening are special features; rabbits and game abound in the great woods and sand-dunes; the chief rivers are the Ouse, Bure, and Yare, and these and other streams form in their courses a remarkable series of inland lakes known as the Broads (q. v.); its antiquities of Roman and Saxon times are many and peculiarly interesting.
Norfolk Island, a small precipitous island in the Western Pacific, midway between New Caledonia and New Zealand, 400 m. NW. of the latter; its inhabitants, many of whom came from Pitcairn Island, and now less than 1000, govern themselves under the superintendence of New South Wales.
Norman, Henry, journalist and traveller, born at Leicester; travelled extensively in the East; has written on “The Peoples and Politics of the Far East,” and “Round the Near East”; has since 1892 been on the staff of the Daily Chronicle.
Norman Architecture, a massive architecture introduced into England, particularly in the construction of churches, abbeys, &c., by the Normans even before the Conquest, which was in vogue in the country till the end of Henry II.'s reign, and which is characterised by the prevalence of the rounded arch.
Normandy, an ancient province of France, fronting the English Channel, NE. of Brittany; received its name from the Northmen who, under Rollo, established themselves there in the 10th century; was for a long time an appanage of the English crown after the Norman Conquest; after being taken and retaken, was finally lost to England in 1450; it became practically a part of France when it was taken by Philip Augustus in 1204; it is now represented by the five departments Seine-Inférieure, Eure, Orne, Calvados, and Manche.
Nornas, in the Norse mythology the three Fates—the Past, the Present, and the Future; maidens or dames who water the roots of Iggdrasil (q. v.), the ash-tree of existence, and determine the destinies of both gods and men.
Norrköping (36) (north market), a town in Sweden, called the “Scandinavian Manchester,” 113 m. SW. of Stockholm, with cotton and woollen factories worked by the water-power of the river Motala, that in falls and rapids rushes through the town.
Norroy King of Arms, a name given to the third king-of-arms, whose province is on the N. side of the Trent, the one on the S. side being called Clarencieux.
North, Christopher, a pseudonym of Prof. John Wilson in the “Noctes Ambrosianæ” in Blackwood's Magazine.
North, Frederick, Lord, English statesman; entered Parliament in 1754, became Tory leader in the House of Commons in 1767, and Prime Minister in 1770; was entirely subservient to the will of the king, George III., and was responsible in that relation for the loss of the American colonies; a coalition was effected in 1783 between him and Fox, to the disgrace of the latter, but it terminated in a few months; he died, Earl of Guildford, blind (1732-1792).
North Berwick. See Berwick, North.
North Cape, the most northerly point in Europe, in the island of Magerö, in 71° N. latitude.
North Carolina. See Carolina, North.
North Sea or German Ocean, between the E. coast of Britain and the Continent, spreads out into the Arctic Ocean, is shallow, is crossed by many sandbanks, and is subject to frequent violent storms; the Dogger Bank, between England and Denmark, 8 to 16 fathoms deep, is rich in fish, especially cod.
North-East and North-West Passages, the name given to the sea-routes through the Arctic Ocean, the former by the N. of Europe and Asia and the latter by the N. of North America, which the northern nations were ambitious to open up into the Pacific, the access to which by the Capes in the S. was in possession of the fleets of Spain and Portugal; the attempts to achieve it cost much money and much life, and realised no permanent material advantage.
North-West Passage. See North-East.
North-West Provinces (46,905), a province and lieutenant-governorship of British India, embraces the upper portion of the Ganges Valley and Doab, and reaches from Bengal to the Punjab, enclosing Oudh on all sides but the N.; area twice that of England, is the chief wheat province, and also raises opium, cotton, tea, and sugar; was separated from Bengal in 1835, and with it in 1877 was conjoined Oudh; Allahabad is the capital.
Northallerton (4), a market-town and capital of the North Riding of Yorkshire, 30 m. NW. of York; in the vicinity was fought the famous Battle of the Standard, in which David I. of Scotland was routed by the English, August 22, 1138.
Northampton (70), capital of Northamptonshire, on the Nen, 66 m. NW. of London; has two fine old Norman churches, is the centre of the boot and shoe manufacture, and is actively engaged in brewing, lace-making, &c.; in the outskirts is a popular racecourse; was the scene of Henry VI.'s defeat by the Yorkists on July 10, 1460.
Northamptonshire or Northants (302), a midland county of England, bordering upon nine others; has an undulating fertile surface, and is distinguished from the surrounding counties by extensive woods and plantations; is chiefly engaged in agriculture and stock-raising; the Nen and the Welland are the principal rivers; among its antiquities are Fotheringay Castle, where Mary Stuart was beheaded, and Burleigh House; the battles of Edgecote (1469) and Naseby (1645) were fought within its borders.
Northcote, James, English portrait-painter; studied under Sir Joshua Reynolds, whose Life he wrote as well as Titian's; wrote also “Fables” and “Conversations.”
Northcote, Sir Stafford Henry. See Iddesleigh, Lord.
Northmen or Norsemen, the name given in the Middle Ages to the sea-roving, adventure-loving inhabitants of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; in their sea-rovings they were little better than pirates, but they had this excuse, their home was narrow and their lands barren, and it was a necessity for them to sally forth and see what they could plunder and carry away in richer lands; they were men of great daring, their early religion definable as the consecration of valour, and they were the terror of the quieter nations whose lands they invaded; at first their invasions were mere raids for plunder, but at length they were satisfied with no less than conquest and the permanent occupancy of the lands they subdued, settling some of them on the shores of England and France, and even in the S. of Italy; these invasions were common and frequent during the whole of the 9th and the early part of the 10th centuries.
Northumberland (506), the most northerly county of England, lies on the border of Scotland, from which it is separated by the Cheviots and the Tweed; its eastern shore, off which lie the Farne Islands, Lindisfarne, and Coquet Isle, N. of Durham, fronts the North Sea; is fifth in size of the English counties; in the N. the Cheviot slopes form excellent pasturage, but the Pennine Range towards the W. presents dreary and less valuable moorland; on the W. are arable lowlands; Tweed, Tyne, Till, Alne, Wansbeck, are the chief rivers. Its great coal-field in the S.E. is the most celebrated in the world, and is the county's greatest source of wealth, and includes upwards of 100 collieries; Newcastle, Alnwick (county town), Hexham, and North Shields are the principal towns. Within its borders were fought the battles of Otterburn, Homildon Hill, and Flodden.
Northumbria, one of the ancient English kingdoms; comprised the eastern half of the island from the Humber to the Firth of Forth, and was divided into the Northern Bernicia and the southern Deira; was founded in 547 by Ida the Angle.
Northwich (14), a town in Cheshire, with springs in and around of brine, from which salt has been procured for centuries.
Norton, Charles Edward, American littérateur, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts; has travelled a good deal in Europe; edited, with Lowell, the North American Review and the early Letters of Carlyle, as well as the “Reminiscences,” which had been too carelessly edited by Froude; b. 1827.
Norton, Mrs., English novelist and poet, née Sheridan, granddaughter of Sheridan, authoress of “Stuart of Dunleath,” “Lost and Saved,” &c., described by Lockhart as “the Byron of poetesses,” figures in Meredith's “Diana of the Crossways” (1808-1877).
Norway (2,000), a kingdom of North Europe, comprising the western side of the Scandinavian peninsula, and separated from Sweden on the E. by the Kjölen Mountains; the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans beat upon its long and serrated western seaboard, forcing a way up the many narrow and sinuous fiords; Sogne Fiord, the longest, runs into the heart of the country 100 m.; off the northern coast lie the Loffodens, while the Skerries skirt the E. The country forms a strip of irregular and mountainous coast-land 1160 m. long, which narrows down at its least breadth to 25 m.; 70 per cent, of the surface is uncultivable, and 24 per cent, is forest; the lakes number 30,000, of which Lake Wenner (2136 sq. m.) is the largest; immense glaciers are found in the great mountain barrier, and innumerable rivers run short and rapid courses to the Atlantic and to the Skager-Rak in the S.; the Glommen, flowing into Christiania Fiord, is the largest (400 m.). The climate of the W. coast districts is tempered by the Gulf Stream; inland there is a great decrease in the rainfall, but much intenser cold is experienced. The wealth of the country lies in its forests and fisheries, mines and shipping; only 2 per cent, of the land-surface is under cultivation, and 2.8 per cent is utilised for grazing; the copper, iron, and silver mines are declining. Christiania (the capital) is the centre of the industrial area; the shipping almost equals that of the United States, and ranks third in the world. The Norwegians are intensely democratic (titles and nobility were abolished in 1821), and although under a king, who also includes Sweden in his dominions, they enjoy democratic home rule, no members of the Storthing (Parliament) being paid. Education is free and compulsory, and the bulk of the people are Lutherans. The monetary unit is the Krone (= 1/1½). Norway, originally inhabited by Lapps and Gothic tribes, was first unified by Harold Haarfager (A.D. 863-930), and subsequently welded into a Christian kingdom by his descendant St. Olaf (1015). From 1536 it was held as a conquered province by Denmark up to 1814; in that year it was ceded to Sweden, and received national rights and a free constitution.
Norwich, 1, an ancient cathedral city and capital of Norfolk (101), situated on the Wensum, immediately above its junction with the Yare, 114 m. NE. of London; its beautiful woodland surroundings have won it the name of “the city in an orchard”; chief of its many fine buildings is the cathedral, a handsome Norman structure, founded in 1096; of the old Norman castle only the keep now stands, crowning a central hill; its celebrated triennial musical festivals began in 1824; textile fabrics are still an important manufacture, but have been superseded in importance by mustard, starch, and iron-ware factories; has been a bishopric since 1094. 2, Capital of New London County (16), Connecticut, on the Thames River, 36 m. SE. of Hartford.
Norwood (24), a healthy southern suburban district of London, at one time the locality of a gypsy encampment.
Nostradamus, a celebrated astrologer, the assumed name of Michel de Notredame, born at St. Remi, Provence; was a medical man by profession, but gave himself to divination, uttered in rhymes in a series of published predictions called “Centuries” (1503-1566).
Notables, The, name given to certain actual or virtual rulers of the different districts of France, consisting of men of different ranks, summoned together in a time of civic perplexity and trouble to advise the king, and especially the convocation of them summoned at the instance of Controller Colonne, and that assembled at the Château of Versailles on 22nd February 1787 to the number of a “round gross,” including seven princes of the blood, and who were “organed out” nine weeks after, their debates proving ineffectual, to be recalled on the 6th November the year following, to “vanish ineffectual again on 12th December, and return no more.”
Notary Public, a professional person appointed to certify to a formality required by law as observed in his presence.
Notre Dame, celebrated metropolitan church of Paris, situated on the “Ile de la Cité”; it was begun to be erected in 1163 on the site of a prior Merovingian cathedral, which itself had superseded a pagan temple on the spot, and completed, at least the general ensemble of it, in 1230.
Nottingham (214), capital of Nottinghamshire, on the Trent, 126 m. NW. of London; is a spacious and well-built town, with an arboretum, castle (now an art gallery), two theatres, university college, free library, old grammar-school, racecourse, &c.; is the centre of lace-making and hosiery in England, and manufactures cottons, silks, bicycles, cigars, needles, beer, &c.; a fine granite and iron bridge spans the river.
Nottinghamshire (446), a north-midland county of England, lies wedged in between Lincoln (E.) and Derby (N.), and touches York on the N.; embraces the broad, level, and fruitful valley of the Trent, Sherwood Forest, and Wolds in the S.; excepting the Vale of Belvoir in the E., part of the Wolds and the Valley of the Trent, the land is not specially productive; coal and iron ore are found. The principal towns, Nottingham, Newark, Mansfield, &c., are busily engaged in the manufacture of all kinds of lace, hosiery, and various woollen goods; iron-founding and cotton mills are also numerous.
Noumena, the philosophical name for realities as distinct from phenomena, which are regarded as but the appearances of reality.
Nova Scotia (450), a province of Canada, lies E. of New Brunswick, facing the Atlantic, which, with its extensions, Bay of Fundy and Gulf of St. Lawrence, all but surrounds it; consists of a peninsula (joined to New Brunswick by Chignecto Isthmus) and the island of Cape Breton, separated by the Gut of Canso; area equals two-thirds of Scotland, short rivers and lakes abound; all kinds of cereals (except wheat and root-crops) are grown in abundance, and much attention is given to the valuable crops of apples, pears, plums, and other fruits; gold, coal, iron, &c., are wrought extensively, manufactures are increasing; the fisheries (mackerel, cod, herring, salmon, &c.), and timber forests are the chief sources of wealth; the province is well opened up by railways, education is free, government is in the hands of a lieutenant-governor, an executive council (9), and a legislative assembly (38); Halifax (q. v.) is the capital; climate varies in temperature from 20° below zero to 98° in the shade, fogs prevail in the coast-land; was discovered in 1497 by Cabot, formed a portion of French Acadie, and finally became British in 1713.
Nova Zembla, a long and narrow island (sometimes classified as two islands) in the Arctic Ocean, between the Kara Sea and Barentz Sea, 600 m. by 60 m.; the Matochkin Shar, a narrow winding strait, cuts the island into two halves; belongs to Russia, but is not permanently inhabited; is visited by seamen and hunters.
Novalis, the nom de plume of Friedrich von Hardenberg, a German author, born at Wiederstädt, near Mansfeld, one of the most prominent representatives of the Romantic school of poets, author of two unfinished romances entitled “Heinrich von Ofterdingen” and “Lehrlinge zu Sais,” together with “Geistliche Lieder” and “Hymnen an die Nacht”; was an ardent student of Jacob Boehme (q. v.), and wrote in a mystical vein, and was at heart a mystic of deep true feeling; pronounced by Carlyle “an anti-mechanist—a deep man, the most perfect of modern spirit seers”; regarded, he says, “religion as a social thing, and as impossible without a church” (1772-1801). See Carlyle's “Miscellanies.”
Novatian, a priest of the Church in Rome, a convert from paganism, who in the third century took a severe view of the conduct of those who had lapsed under persecution, particularly the Decian, and insisted that the Church, having no power to absolve them, could not, even on penitence, readmit them, in which protest he was joined by a considerable party named after him Novatians, and who continued to trouble the Church for centuries after his death, assuming the name of Cathari or purists.
November, the eleventh month of the year, so called by the Romans, in whose calendar it was the ninth.
Novgorod (21), a noted Russian city, and capital of a government of the same name, is situated on the Volkhof, 110 m. SE. of St. Petersburg; is divided into two parts by the bridged river, contains the cathedral of St. Sophia (11th century); with its foundation in 864 by Rurik, a Scandinavian prince, Russian history begins; was by the 12th century a free State, but in 1471 was put down by the Muscovite Czar Ivan III.; the government of Novgorod (1,290) lies E. of St. Petersburg, embraces the Valdai plateau and hills, is chiefly forest land, and includes some 3000 lakes.
Nox, the Latin for “night,” and the name of the “goddess of night.” See Nyx.
Noyades, drownages superintended during the Reign of Terror at Nantes by the attorney Carrier, and effected by cramming some 90 priests in a flat-bottomed craft under hatches, and drowning them in mid-stream after scuttling the boat at a signal given, followed by another in which some 138 persons suffered like “sentence of deportation”; of these drownages there are said to have been no fewer first and last than 25.
Nubia, a large and ill-defined region of North-East Africa, lies between Egypt (N.) and Abyssinia (S.), and stretches from the Red Sea (E.) to the desert (W.); is divided into Lower and Upper Nubia, Dongola being the dividing point; Nubia has in recent times rather fallen under the wider designation of Egyptian Soudan; except by the banks of the Nile the country is bare and arid desert; climate is hot and dry, but quite healthy.
Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome and the successor of Romulus, its founder, born at Cures, in the Sabine country, and devoted himself to the establishment of religion and laws among his subjects and the training of them in the arts of peace, in which, according to the legend, he was assisted by a nymph Egeria (q. v.), who lived close by in a grotto, and to whom he had ever and anon recourse for consultation; he was long revered in the Roman memory as the organiser of the State and its civil and sacred institutions, and his reign was long and peaceful.
Numantia, an ancient Spanish town on a steep height on the Douro, celebrated for the heroic defence maintained by its inhabitants against the Romans, till from the thinning of its defenders by starvation and the sword it was taken and destroyed by Scipio Africanus in 134 B.C.
Numbers, Book of, the fourth book of the Pentateuch, and so called from the two numberings of the people, one at the beginning and the other at the close of the period it embraces; it embraces a period of 38 years, and continues the narrative from the departure of the camp of Israel out of the wilderness of Sinai to its arrival on the borders of Canaan, and relates an account of the preparations for the march, of the march itself, and of the preparations for the conquest.
Numidia (i. e. land of Nomads), ancient country in North Africa, nearly co-extensive with Algiers, the inhabitants of which were of the Berber race, were brave but treacherous, and excelled in horsemanship; sided at first with the Carthaginians in the Punic Wars (q. v.), and finally with Rome, till the country itself was reduced by Cæsar to a Roman province.
Numismatics, the name given to the study and science of coins and medals.
Numitor, a legendary king of Alba Longa, in Italy, and the grandfather of Romulus and Remus.
Nuneaton (12), a thriving market-town of Warwickshire, on the river Anker and the Coventry Canal, 22 m. E. of Birmingham; has a Gothic church; cotton, woollen, and worsted spinning is the chief industry; was the scene of George Eliot's education.
Nur ed-Din, Mahmoud, sultan of Syria, born at Damascus; the extension of his empire over Syria led to the Second Crusade, preached by St. Bernard; compelled the Crusaders to raise the siege of Damascus, which he made his capital; called to interfere in the affairs of Egypt, he conquered it, and made it his own, a sovereignty which Saladin (q. v.) disputed, and which Nur ed-Din was preparing to reassert when he died (1117-1178).
Nüremberg (143), an interesting old Bavarian town on the Pegnitz, 95 m. N. of Münich, is full of quaint and picturesque mediæval architecture in fine preservation; has valuable art collections, a fine library, and a museum; is noted for the production of watches, toys, wood, metal, bone carvings, beer, and chemicals, and exports large quantities of hops; was made a free imperial city in 1219, and retained independence up to 1806.
Nutation, name given to a slight oscillatory movement noticeable in the celestial pole of the earth, due to the latter not being a perfect sphere.
Nyanza, Albert. See Albert Nyanza.
Nyanza, Victoria, a large lake of Central Africa, in the Nile basin, at the sources of the river, and S. of the preceding, equal in extent to the area of Scotland, at an elevation of 3890 ft.; discovered by Captain Speke in 1858, and sailed round by Stanley in 1875.
Nyassa, Lake, lake in East Africa, feeds the Zambesi; is 350 m. long by 40 broad, at an elevation of 1570 ft., and was discovered by Livingstone in 1859; the waters are sweet, and abound with fish; the regions bordering it on the S. and W. are called Nyassaland.
Nyassaland, a region in Central Africa under British protection, lying round the shores of Lake Nyassa, the chief town of which is Blantyre; it is known also as the British Central Africa Protectorate, the administration being in the hands of a commissioner acting under the Foreign Office; the Europeans number some 300, and the natives 850,000, while the forces defending it consist of 200 Sikhs and 300 negroes; there are plantations of sugar, coffee, tobacco, &c., and almost the entire trade is with Britain.
Nyâya, the name of one of the six principal systems of Hindu philosophy, and devoted to the dialectics or metaphysics of philosophy.
Nymphs, in the Greek mythology maiden divinities of inferior rank, inhabiting mountains, groves, seas, fountains, rivers, valleys, grottoes, &c., under the several names of Oceanides (q. v.), Nereids (q. v.), Naiads (q. v.), Oreads (q. v.), Dryads (q. v.), &c.; they are distinguished by their grace and fascinating charms.
Nynee Tal, a place of resort in the summer season and a sanatorium in the North-West Provinces of India, 22 m. S. of Almora, 6521 ft. above sea-level.
Nyx (i. e. Night), in the Greek mythology the goddess of night, the daughter of Chaos (q. v.), and the sister of Erebos (q. v.), one of the very first of created beings, the terror of gods, and by Erebos became the mother of Æther, pure light, and Hemera, daylight, as well as other entities of note.