NYMPH, in Mythology, an appellation given to certain inferior goddesses, inhabiting the mountains, woods, and waters, and said to have been the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys. All the universe was represented as full of these nymphs, who were distinguished into several ranks or classes. The general division of them was into celestial and terrestrial. The former were called Uraniae, and were supposed to be intelligences which governed the heavenly bodies or spheres. The terrestrial nymphs, called Epigeiae, were believed to preside over the several parts of the inferior world, and were divided into those of the water and those of the earth. The nymphs of the water were the Oceanitides, or nymphs of the ocean; the Nereids, or the nymphs of the sea; the Naiads and Ephy-driades, or the nymphs of the fountains; and the Lim-niades, or the nymphs of the lakes. The nymphs of the earth were the Oreades, or nymphs of the mountains; the Napaeae, or nymphs of the meadows; and the Dryads and Hamadryads, who were nymphs of the forests and groves. Besides these, we meet with nymphs who took their names from particular countries, rivers, and places.

“The nymphs,” says Dr Chandler, “were supposed to enjoy longevity, but not to be immortal. They were believed to delight in springs and fountains. They are described as sleepless, and as dreaded by the country people. They were susceptible of passion. The Argonauts, it is related, landing on the shore of the Propontis to dine, in their way to Colchis, sent Hylas, a boy, for water, who discovered a lonely fountain, in which the nymphs Eunica, Malis, and Nycheia, were preparing to dance; and these seeing him were enamoured, and, seizing him by the hand as he was filling his vase, pulled him in. The deities, their copartners in the cave, are such as presided with them over rural and pastoral affairs.

“The old Athenians were ever ready to cry out, a god, or a goddess. The tyrant Pisistratus entered the city in a chariot with a tall woman dressed in armour to resemble Minerva, and regained the Acropolis, which he had been forced to abandon, by this stratagem; the people worshipping, and believing her to be the deity whom she represented. The nymphs, it was the popular persuasion, occasionally appeared; and nympholepsy is characterised as a frenzy which arose from having beheld them. Superstition disposed the mind to adopt delusion for reality, and gave to a fancied vision the efficacy of full conviction. The foundation was perhaps no more than an indirect, partial, ar obscure view of some harmless girl, who had approached the fountain on a like errand with Hylas, or was retir-ng after she had filled her earthen pitcher.

“Amongst the sacred caves on record, one on Mount Ida in Crete was the property of Jupiter, and one by Le-ιadeain Boeotia, of Trophonius. Both these were oracular, ιnd the latter bore some resemblance to that which we tave described. It was formed by art, and the mouth sur-ounded with a wall. The descent to the landing place vas by a light and narrow ladder, occasionally applied and emoved. It was situated on a mountain above a grove; ιnd the story goes, that a swarm of bees conducted the >erson by whom it was first discovered. But the common nvners of caves were the nymphs, and these were some-imes local. On Cithaeron, in Boeotia, many of the inhabit- . ∣nts were possessed by nymphs called Sphragitides, whose cave, once also oracular, was upon a summit of the mountain. Their dwellings had generally a well or spring of water, the former being often a collection of moisture condensed or exuding from the roof and sides; and this,in many instances, being pregnant with stony particles, concreted and marked its passage by incrustation, the groundwork, in all ages and countries, of idle tales framed or adopted by superstitious and credulous people.

“A cave in Paphlagonia was sacred to the nymphs who inhabited the mountains about Heraclea. It was long and wide, and pervaded by cold water clear as crystal. There also were seen bowls of stone, and nymphs and their webs and distaffs, and curious work, exciting admiration. The poet who has described this grotto does not deserve to be regarded as servilely copying Homer; he may justly lay claim to rank as an original topographer.

“The piety of Archidamus furnished a retreat for the nymphs, where they might find shelter and provision, if distressed; whether the sun parched up their trees, or Jupiter, enthroned in clouds upon the mountain top, scared them with his red lightning and terrible thunder, pouring down a deluge of rain, or brightening the summits with his snow.”

Nymph, amongst naturalists, that state of winged insects between their living in the form of a worm and their appearing in the winged or more perfect state. See Entomology.