Myro, a statuary of Eleu'thĕrae, who carved a cow so true to nature that even bulls mistook it for a living animal. (See HORSE PAINTED.)

E'en Myro's statues, which for art surpass All others, once were but a shapeless mass.

Ovid, Art of Love, iii.

Myrra, an Ionian slave, and the beloved concubine of Sardanapa'lus, the Assyrian king. She roused him from his indolence to resist Arba'cês, the Mede, who aspired to his throne, and when she found his cause hopeless, induced him to mount a funeral pile, which she fired with her own hand, and then, springing into the flames, she perished with the tyrant.—Byron, Sardanapalus (1819).

Myrtle (Mrs. Lerviah), sentimental Christian, who finds Magdalens and poor, ill-clad, homeless girls "so depressing," but begs Nixy Trent, the only one who ever entered her house, "to consider that there is hope for us all in the way of salvation which our Lord has marked out for sinners." After which crumb of ghostly consolation she proceeds to turn Nixy out of the house.—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Hedged In (1870).

Mysie, the female attendant of Lady Margaret Bellenden, of the Tower of Tillietudlem.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).

Mysie, the old housekeeper at Wolf's Crag Tower.—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).

Mysis, the scolding wife of Sile'no, and mother of Daph'nê and Nysa. It is to Mysis that Apollo sings that popular song, "Pray, Goody, please to moderate the rancour of your tongue" (act i. 3).—Kane O'Hara, Midas (1764).

Mysterious Husband (The), a tragedy by Cumberland (1783). Lord Davenant was a bigamist. His first wife was Marianne Dormer, whom he forsook in three months to marry Louisa Travers. Marianne, supposing her husband to be dead, married Lord Davenant's son. Miss Dormer's brother was the betrothed of the second Lady Davenant before her marriage with his lordship. She was told that he had proved faithless and had married another. The report of Lord Davenant's death and the marriage of Captain Dormer were both false. When the villainy of Lord Davenant could be concealed no longer, he destroyed himself.



Nat, the fairy that addressed Orpheus, in the infernal regions, and offered him for food a roasted ant, a flea's thigh, butterflies' brains, some sucking mites, a rainbow tart etc., to be washed down with dew-drops and beer made from seven barleycorns—a very heady liquor.—King, Orpheus and Eurydice (1730-1805).

Nab-man (The), a sheriff's officer.

Old Dornton has sent the nab-man after him at last.—Guy Mannering, ii. 3.

[Asterism] This is the dramatized version of Sir W. Scott's novel, by Terry (1816).

Nacien, the holy hermit who introduced Galahad to the "Siege Perilous," the only vacant seat in the Round Table. This seat was reserved for the knight who was destined to achieve the quest of the Holy Graal. Nacien told the king and his knights that no one but a virgin knight could achieve that quest.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, iii. (1470).

Nadab, in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel, is meant for Lord Howard, a profligate, who laid claim to great piety. As Nadab offered incense with strange fire and was slain, so Lord Howard, it is said, mixed the consecrated wafer with some roast apples and sugar.—Pt. i. (1681).

Nadgett, a man employed by Montague Tigg (manager of the "Anglo-Bengalee Company") to make private inquiries. He was a dried-up, shrivelled old man. Where he lived and how he lived, nobody knew; but he was always to be seen waiting for some one who never appeared; and he would glide along apparently taking no notice of any one.—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).

Nag's Head Consecration, a scandal perpetuated by Pennant, on the dogma of "apostolic succession." The "high-church clergy" assert that the ceremony called holy orders has been transmitted without interruption from the apostles. Thus, the apostles laid hands on certain persons, who (say they) became ministers of the gospel; these persons "ordained" others in the same manner; and the succession has never been broken. Pennant says, at the Reformation the bishops came to a fix. There was only one bishop, viz., Anthony Kitchen, of Llandaff, and Bonner would not allow him to perform the ceremony. In this predicament, the fourteen candidates for episcopal ordination rummaged up Story, a deposed bishop, and got him to "lay hands" on Parker, as archbishop of Canterbury. As it would have been profanation for Story to do this in a cathedral or church, the ceremony was performed in a tavern called the Nag's Head, corner of Friday Street, Cheapside. Strype refutes this scandalous tale in his Life of Archbishop Parker, and so does Dr. Hook; but it will never be stamped out.

Naggleton (Mr. and Mrs.), types of a nagging husband and wife. They are for ever jangling at trifles and willful misunderstandings.—Punch (1864-5).

Naked Bear (The). Hush! the naked bear will hear you! a threat and reproof to unruly children in North America. The naked bear, says the legend, was larger and more ferocious than any of the species. It was quite naked, save and except one spot on its back, where was a tuft of white hair.—Heckewelder, Transactions of the American Phil. Soc., iv. 260.

Thus the wrinkled old Nokomis Nursed the little Hiawatha, Rocked him in his linden cradle, Stilled his fretful wail by saying "Hush! the naked bear will get thee!"

Longfellow, Hiawatha, iii. (1855).

Nakir', Nekir, or Nakeer. (See MONKER AND NAKIR.)

Nala, a legendary king of India, noted for his love of Damayanti, and his subsequent misfortunes. This legendary king has been the subject of numerous poems.

[Asterism] Dean Milman has translated into English the episode from the Mahâbhârata, and W. Yates has translated the Nalodaya of the great Sanskrit poem.

Nama, a daughter of man, beloved by the angel Zaraph. Her wish was to love intensely and to love holily, but as she fixed her love on a seraph, and not on God, she was doomed to abide on earth, "unchanged in heart and frame," so long as the earth endureth; but at the great consummation both Nama and her seraph will be received into those courts of love, where "love never dieth."—Moore, Loves of the Angels, ii. (1822).

Namby (Major), a retired officer, living in the suburbs of London. He had been twice married; his first wife had four children, and his second wife three. Major Namby, though he lived in a row, always transacted his domestic affairs by bawling out his orders from the front garden, to the annoyance of his neighbors. He used to stalk half-way down the garden path, with his head high in the air, his chest stuck out, and flourishing his military cane. Suddenly he would stop, stamp with one foot, knock up the hinder brim of his hat, begin to scratch the nape of his neck, wait a moment, then wheel round, look at the first-floor window, and roar out, "Matilda!" (the name of his wife) "don't do so-and-so;" or "Matilda! do so-and-so." Then he would bellow to the servants to buy this, or not to let the children eat that, and so on.—Wilkie Collins, Pray Employ Major Namby (a sketch).

Names of Terror. The following amongst others, have been employed as bogie-names to frighten children with:—

ATTILA was a bogie-name to the Romans.

BO or BOH, son of Odin, was a fierce Gothic captain. His name was used by his soldiers when they would fight or surprise the enemy.—Sir William Temple.

[Asterism] Warton tells us that the Dutch scared their children with the name of Boh.

BONAPARTE, at the close of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries, was a name of terror in Europe.

CORVI'NUS (Mathias), the Hungarian, was a scare-name to the Turks.

LILIS or LILITH was a bogie-name used by the ancient Jews to unruly children. The rabbinical writers tell us that Lilith was Adam's wife before the creation of Eve. She refused to submit to him, and became a horrible night-spectre, especially hostile to young children.

LUNSFORD, a name employed to frighten children in England. Sir Thomas Lunsford, governor of the Tower, was a man of most vindictive temper, and the dread of everyone.

Made children with your tones to run for't, As bad as Bloody-bones or Lunsford.

S. Butler, Hudibras, iii. 2, line 1112, (1678).

NARSES (2 syl.) was the name used by Assyrian mothers to scare their children with.

The name of Narses was the formidable sound with which the Assyrian mothers were accustomed to terrify their infants.—Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, viii. 219 (1776-88).

RAWHEAD and BLOODY-BONES were at one time bogie-names to children.

Servants awe children and keep them in subjection by telling them of Rawhead and Bloody-bones.—Locke.

RICHARD I., "Coeur de Lion." This name, says Camden (Remains), was employed by the Saracens as a "name of dread and terror."

His tremendous name was employed by the Syrian mothers to silence their infants; and if a horse suddenly started from the way, his rider was wont to exclaim, "Dost thou think King Richard is in the bush?"—Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, xi. 146 (1776-88).

SEBASTIAN (Don), a name of terror once used by the Moors.

Nor shall Sebastian's formidable name Be longer used to still the crying babe.

Dryden, Don Sebastian (1690).

TALBOT (John), a name used in France in terrorem to unruly children.

They in France to feare their young children crye, "The Talbot commeth!"—Hall, Chronicles (1545).

Here (said they) is the terror of the French, The scarecrow that affrights our children so.

Shakespeare, 1 Henry VI. act.[TN-27] i. sc. 4 (1589).

Is this the Talbot so much feared abroad, That with his name the mothers still their babes?

Shakespeare, 1 Henry VI. act iv. sc. 5 (1589).

TAMERLANE, a name used by the Persians in terrorem.

TARQUIN, a name of terror in Roman nurseries.

The nurse to still her child, will tell my story, And fright her crying babe with Tarquin's name.

Shakespeare, Rape of Lucrece (1594).

(See also NAKED BEAR.)

Namo, duke of Bavaria, and one of Charlemagne's twelve paladins.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).

Namou'na, an enchantress. Though first of created beings, she is still as young and beautiful as ever.—Persian Mythology.

Namous, the envoy of Mahomet in paradise.

Nancy, eldest daughter of an English country family, in straitened circumstances. Nancy is a romp and untamed, but sound-hearted, and loves her brothers and sister tenderly. To advance their interests she marries Sir Roger Tempest, who is much her senior. In time, and after many misunderstandings, she learns to love him, and "they live happily together ever after."—Rhoda Broughton, Nancy.

Nancy, servant to Mrs. Pattypan. A pretty little flirt, who coquets with Tim Tartlet and young Whimsey, and helps Charlotte Whimsey in her "love affairs."—James Cobb, The First Floor (1756-1818).

Nancy, a poor misguided girl, who really loves the villain Bill Sykes (1 syl.). In spite of her surroundings, she has still some good feelings, and tries to prevent a burglary planned by Fagin and his associates. Bill Sykes, in a fit of passion, strikes her twice upon the face with the butt-end of a pistol, and she falls dead at his feet.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).

Nancy, the sailor's fancy. At half-past four he parted from her; at eight next morn he bade her adieu. Next day a storm arose, and when it lulled the enemy appeared; but when the fight was hottest, the jolly tar "put up a prayer for Nancy." Dibdin, Sea Songs ("'Twas post meridian half-past four," 1790).

Nancy (Miss), Mrs. Anna Oldfield, a celebrated actress, buried in Westminster Abbey. She died in 1730, and lay in state, attended by two noblemen. Mrs. Oldfield was buried in a "very fine Brussels lace head-dress, a new pair of kid gloves, and a robe with lace ruffles and a lace collar." (See NARCISSA.)

Nancy Dawson, a famous actress, who took London by storm. Her father was a poster in Clare Market (1728-1767).

Her easy mien, her shape so neat, She foots, she trips, she looks so sweet; I die for Nancy Dawson.

Nancy of the Vale, a village maiden, who preferred Strephon to the gay lordlings who sought her hand in marriage.—Shenstone, A Ballad (1554).

Nannic, deformed brother of Guenn, and her darling. He is versed in all manner of auguries and much feared and consulted by the peasants on this account.—Blanche Willis Howard, Guenn.

Nannie, Miss Fleming, daughter of a farmer in the parish of Tarbolton, in Ayrshire. Immortalized by R. Burns.

Nannie (Little).

"This world, whose brightest day Seems to us so dreary, Nannie found all bright and gay, Love-alight and cheery, Stayed a little while to play And went home unweary."

Elizabeth Akers Allen, Poems (1866).

Nan'tolet, father of Rosalura and Lillia-Bianca.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Wild-Goose Chase (1652).

Napoleon I., called by the Germans "Kaiser Kläs" (q.v.).

"M" is curiously coupled with the history of Napoleon I. and III. (See M.)

The following is a curious play on the word Napoleon.

Napoleôn apoleôn poleôn oleôn leôn eôn ôn Napoleon Apollyon cities destroying a lion going} being. about}

That is:

Napoleon Apollyon is [being] a lion going about destroying cities.

Chauvinism, Napoleon idolatry. Chauvvin[TN-28] is a blind idolater of Napoleon I., in Scribe's drama entitled Soldat Laboureur.

Napoleon III. His nicknames.

ARENENBERG (Comte d'). So he called himself after his escape from the fortress of Ham.

BADINGUET, the name of the man he shot in his Boulogne escapade.

BOUSTRAPA, a compound of Bou[logne], Stra[sbourg] and Pa[ris], the places of his noted escapades.

GROSBEC. So called from the rather unusual size of his nose.

MAN OF DECEMBER. So called because December was his month of glory. Thus, he was elected president December 11, 1848; made his coup d'état December 2, 1851; and was created emperor December 2, 1852.

MAN OF SEDAN. So called because at Sedan he surrendered his sword to the king of Prussia (September, 1870).

RATIPOLE, same as the west of England RANTIPOLE, a harum-scarum, half idiot, half madcap.

THE LITTLE. Victor Hugo gave him this title; but the hatred of Hugo to Napoleon was monomania.

VERHUEL, the name of his supposed father.

Number 2. The second of the month was Louis Napoleon's day. It was also one of the days of his uncle, the other being the fifteenth.

The coup d'état was December 2; he was made emperor December 2, 1852; the Franco-Prussian war opened at Saarbrück, August 2, 1870; he surrendered his sword to William of Prussia, September 2, 1870.

Napoleon I. was crowned December 2, 1804; and the victory of Austerlitz was December 2, 1805.

Numerical Curiosities. 1. 1869, the last year of Napoleon's glory; the next year was that of his downfall. As a matter of curiosity, it may be observed that if the day of his birth, or the day of the empress's birth, or the date of the capitulation of Paris, be added to that of the coronation of Napoleon III., the result always points to 1869. Thus, he was crowned 1852; he was born 1808; the Empress Eugénie was born 1826: the capitulation of Paris was 1871. Whence:

1852 1852 1852 coronation 1 } 1 } 1 } 8 } birth of 8 } birth of 8 } capitulation 0 } Napoleon. 2 } Eugénie. 7 } of 8 } 6 } 1 } Paris. _ _ _ 1869 1869 1869

2. 1870, the year of his downfall. By adding the numerical values of the birth date either of Napoleon or Eugénie to the date of the marriage, we get their fatal year of 1870. Thus, Napoleon was born 1808; Eugénie, 1826; married, 1853.

1853 1853 year of marriage. 1 } 1 } 8 } birth of 8 } birth of Eugénie. 0 } Napoleon. 2 } 8 } 6 } 1870 1870

2. Empereur. The votes for the president to be emperor were 7,119,791; those against him were 1,119,000. If now the numbers 711979r/[1][1][1][6] be written on a piece of paper, and held up to the light, the reverse side will show the word empereur. (The dash is the dividing mark, and forms the long stroke of the "p.")

Napoleon and Talleyrand. Napoleon I. one day entered a roadside inn, and called for breakfast. There was nothing in the house but eggs and cider (which Napoleon detested). "What shall we do?" said the emperor to Talleyrand. In answer to this, the grand chambellan improvised the rhymes following:—

Le bon roi Dagobert Aimait le bon vin au dessert. Le grand St. Eloi Lui dit, "O mon roi, Le droit réuni L'a bien renchéri." "Eh bien!" lui dit le roi ...

But he could get no further. Whereupon Napoleon himself instantly capped the line thus:

"Je boirai du cidre avec toi."

Chapus, Dieppe, etc. (1853).

Our royal master, Dagobert, Good wine loved at his dessert. But St. Eloi Once said, "Mon roi, We here prepare No dainty fare." "Well," cried the king, "so let it be, Cider to-day we'll drink with thee."

Napoleon of the Drama. Alfred Bunn, lessee of Drury Lane Theatre (1819-1826) was so called; and so was Robert William Elliston, his predecessor (1774-1826, died 1831).

Napoleon of Mexico, the emperor Augusto Iturbidê (1784-1824).

Napoleon of Oratory, W. E. Gladstone (1809- ).

Napoleon of Peace, Louis Philippe of France (1773, reigned 1830-1848, died 1850).

Narcissa, meant for Elizabeth Lee, the step-daughter of Dr. Young. In Night ii. the poet says she was clandestinely buried at Montpelier, because she was a Protestant.—Dr. Young, Night Thoughts (1742-6).

Narcissa, Mrs. Oldfield, the actress, who insisted on being rouged and dressed in Brussels lace when she was "laid out." (See NANCY.)

"Odious! In woolen? 'Twould a saint provoke!" Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke. "No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace Wrap my cold limbs and shade my lifeless face; One would not, sure, be frightful when one's dead! And, Betty, give this cheek a little red."

Pope, Moral Essays, i. (1731).

Narcisse, an airy young Creole. He has boundless faith in himself, and a Micawberish confidence in the future. He would like to be called "Papillon," the butterfly; "'Cause thass my natu'e! I gatheth honey eve'y day fum eve'y opening floweh, as the bahd of Avon wemawked."—George W. Cable, Dr. Sevier (1883).

Narcissus, a flower. According to Grecian fable, Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in a fountain, and, having pined away because he could not kiss it, was changed into the flower which bears his name.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, iii. 346, etc.

Echo was in love with Narcissus, and died of grief because he would not return her love.

Narcissus fair, As o'er the fabled fountain hanging still.

Thomson, Seasons ("Spring," 1728).

[Asterism] Glück, in 1779, produced an opera called Echo et Narcisse.

Narren-Schiff ("The ship of fools"), a satirical poem, in German, by Brandt (1491), lashing the follies and vices of the period. Brandt makes knowledge of one's self the beginning of wisdom; maintains the equality of man; and speaks of life as a brief passage only. The book at one time enjoyed unbounded popularity.

Narses (2 syl.), a Roman general against the Goths; the terror of children.

The name of Narses was the formidable sound with which the Assyrian mothers were accustomed to terrify their infants.—Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, viii. 219 (1776-88).

Narses, a domestic slave of Alexius Comnēnus, emperor of Greece.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Naso, Ovid, the Roman poet, whose full name was Publius Ovidius Naso. (Naso means "nose.") Hence the pun of Holofernes:

And why Naso, but for smelling out the odoriferous flowers of fancy?—Shakespeare, Love's Labor's Lost, act iv. sc. 2 (1594).

Nathan the Wise, a prudent and wealthy old Jew who lives near Jerusalem in the time of Saladin. The play is a species of argument for religious toleration.—G. E. Lessing, Nathan der Weise (1778).

Nathaniel (Sir), the grotesque curate of Holofernês.—Shakespeare, Love's Labor's Lost (1594).

Nathos, one of the three sons of Usnoth, lord of Etha (in Argyllshire), made commander of the Irish army at the death of Cuthullin. For a time he propped up the fortune of the youthful Cormac, but the rebel Cairbar increased in strength and found means to murder the young king. The army under Nathos then deserted to the usurper, and Nathos, with his two brothers, was obliged to quit Ireland. Dar'-Thula, the daughter of Colla, went with them to avoid Cairbar, who persisted in offering her his love. The wind drove the vessel back to Ulster, where Cairbar lay encamped, and the three young men, being overpowered, were slain. As for Dar-Thula, she was pierced with an arrow, and died also.—Ossian, Dar-Thula.

Nation of Gentlemen. The Scotch were so called by George IV., when he visited Scotland in 1822.

Nation of Shopkeepers. The English were so called by Napoleon I.

National Assembly. (1) The French deputies which met in the year 1789. The states-general was convened, but the clergy and nobles refused to sit in the same chamber with the commons, so the commons or deputies of the tiers état withdrew, constituted themselves into a deliberative body, and assumed the name of the Assemblée Nationale. (2) The democratic French parliament of 1848, consisting of 900 members elected by manhood suffrage, was so called also.

National Convention, the French parliament of 1792. It consisted of 721 members, but was reduced, first to 500, then to 300. It succeeded the National Assembly.

Natty Bumpo, called "Leather-stocking." He appears in five of F. Cooper's novels: (1) The Deerslayer; (2) The Pathfinder; (3) "Hawkeye" in The Last of the Mohicans; (4) "Natty Bumpo," in The Pioneer; and (5) "The Trapper," in The Prairie, in which he dies.

Nausic'aa (4 syl.), daughter of Alcinous, king of the Phoea'cians, who conducted Ulysses to the court of her father when he was shipwrecked on the coast.

Navigation (The Father of), Don Henrique, duke of Viseo, the greatest man that Portugal has produced (1394-1460).

Navigation (The Father of British Inland), Francis Egerton, duke of Bridgewater (1736-1803).

Neaera, a name used by Horace, Virgil, Tibullus, and Milton as a synonym of sweetheart.

To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair.

Milton, Lycidas (1638).

Neal'liny (4 syl.), a suttee, the young widow of Ar'valan, son of Keha'ma.—Southey, Curse of Kehama, i. 11 (1809).

Nebuchadnezzar [Ne-boch-ad-ne-Tzar], in Russian, means "there is no God but the Czar."—M. D., Notes and Queries (21st July, 1877).

Neck. Calig'ula, the Roman emperor used to say, "Oh that the Roman people had but one neck, that I might cut it off at a blow!"

I love the sex, and sometimes would reverse The tyrant's wish, that, "mankind only had One neck, which he with one fell stroke might pierce."

Byron, Don Juan, vi. 27 (1824).

Neck or Nothing, a farce by Garrick (1766). Mr. Stockwell promises to give his daughter in marriage to the son of Sir Harry Harlowe, of Dorsetshire, with a dot of [pounds]10,000; but it so happens that the young man is privately married. The two servants of Mr. Belford and Sir Harry Harlowe try to get possession of the money, by passing off Martin (Belford's servant) as Sir Harry's son; but it so happens that Belford is in love with Miss Stockwell, and hearing of the plot through Jenny, the young lady's-maid, arrests the two servants as vagabonds. Old Stockwell gladly consents to his marriage with Nancy, and thinks himself well out of the terrible scrape.

Nectaba'nus, the dwarf at the cell of the hermit of Engaddi. Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

Nectar, the beverage of the gods. It was white as cream, for when Hebê spilt some of it, the white arch of heaven, called the Milky Way, was made. The food of the gods was ambrosia.

Ned (Lying), "the chimney-sweeper of Savoy," that is, the duke of Savoy, who joined the allied army against France in the war of the Spanish Succession.—Dr. Arbuthnot, History of John Bull (1712).

Negro'ni, a princess, the friend of Lucrezia di Borgia. She invited the notables who had insulted the Borgia to a banquet, and killed them with poisoned wine.—Donizetti, Lucrezia di Borgia (an opera, 1834).

Ne'gus, sovereign of Abyssinia. Erco'co, or Erquico, on the Red Sea, marks the north-east boundary of this empire.

The empire of Negus to his utmost port, Ercoco.

Milton, Paradise Lost, xi. 397 (1665).

Nehemiah Holdenough, a Presbyterian preacher.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, commonwealth).

Neilson (Mr. Christopher), a surgeon at Glasgow.—Sir W. Scott, Rob Roy (time, George I.).

Neim'heid (2 syl.) employed four architects to build him a palace in Ireland; and, that they might not build another like it or superior to it for some other monarch, had them all secretly murdered.—O'Halloran, History of Ireland.

[Asterism] A similar story is told of Nômanal-Aôuar, king of Hirah, who employed Senna'mar to build him a palace. When finished, he cast the architect headlong from the highest tower, to prevent his building another to rival it.—D'Herbelot, Bibliothèque Oriental[TN-29] (1697).

Nekayah, sister of Rasselas, prince of Abyssinia. She escapes with her brother from the "happy valley," and wanders about with him to find what condition or rank of life is the most happy. After roaming for a time, and finding no condition of life free from its drawbacks, the brother and sister resolved to return to the "happy valley."—Dr. Johnson, Rasselas (1759).

Nell, the meek and obedient wife of Jobson; taught by the strap to know who was lord and master. Lady Loverule was the imperious, headstrong bride of Sir John Loverule. The two women by a magical hocus-pocus, were changed for a time, without any of the four knowing it. Lady Loverule was placed with Jobson, who soon brought down her turbulent temper with the strap, and when she was reduced to submission, the two women were restored again to their respective husbands.—C. Coffey, The Devil to Pay (1731).

Nell (Little), or NELLY TRENT, a sweet, innocent, loving child of 14 summers, brought up by her old miserly grandfather, who gambled away all his money. Her days were monotonous and without youthful companionship, her evenings gloomy and solitary; there were no child-sympathies in her dreary home, but dejection, despondence akin to madness, watchfulness, suspicion, and imbecility. The grandfather being wholly ruined by gaming, the two went forth as beggars, and ultimately settled down in a cottage adjoining a country churchyard. Here Nell died, and the old grandfather soon afterwards was found dead upon her grave.—C. Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop (1840).

Nelly, the servant-girl of Mrs. Dinmont.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Nelson's Ship, the Victory.

Now from the fleet of the foemen past Ahead of the Victory, A four-decked ship, with a flagless mast, An Anak of the sea. His gaze on the ship Lord Nelson cast: "Oh, oh! my old friend!" quoth he. "Since again we have met, we must all be glad To pay our respects to the Trinidad." So, full on the bow of the giant foe, Our gallant Victory runs; Thro' the dark'ning smoke the thunder broke O'er her deck from a hundred guns.

Lord Lytton, Ode, iii. 9 (1839).

Nem'ean Lion, a lion of Argŏlis, slain by Herculês.

In this word Shakespeare has preserved the correct accent: "As hardy as the Nem'ean lion's nerve" (Hamlet, act i. sc. 5); but Spenser incorrectly throws the accent on the second syllable, which is e short: "Into the great Neme'an's lion's grove" (Faëry Queen, v. 1).

Ere Nemĕa's beast resigned his shaggy spoils.

Statius, The Thebaid, i.

Nem'esis, the Greek personification of retribution, or that punishment for sin which sooner or later overtakes the offender.

... and some great Nemesis Break from a darkened future.

Tennyson, The Princess, (1847).

Ne'mo, the name by which Captain Hawdon was known at Krook's. He had once won the love of the future Lady Dedlock, by whom he had a child called Esther Summerson; but he was compelled to copy law-writings for daily bread, and died a miserable death from an overdose of opium.—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1852).

Nepen'the (3 syl.) or NEPENTHES, a care-dispelling drug, which Polydamna, wife of Tho'nis, king of Egypt, gave to Helen (daughter of Jove and Leda). A drink containing this drug "changed grief to mirth, melancholy to joyfulness, and hatred to love." The water of Ardenne had the opposite effects. Homer mentions the drug nepenthê in his Odyssey, iv. 228.

That nepenthês which the wife of Thone, In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena.

Milton, Comus, (1634).

Nepenthê is a drink of sovereign grace. Devisèd by the gods for to assuage Heart's grief, and bitter gall away to chase Which stirs up anger and contentious rage; Instead thereof sweet peace and quietage It doth establish in the troubled mind ... And such as drink, eternal happiness do find.

Spencer, Faëry Queen, iv. 2 (1596).

Nep'omuk or Nep'omuck (St. John), canon of Prague. He was thrown from a bridge in 1381, and drowned by order of King Wenceslaus, because he refused to betray the secrets confided to him by the queen in the holy rite of confession. The spot whence he was cast into the Moldau is still marked by a cross with five stars on the parapet, indicative of the miraculous flames seen flickering over the dead body for three days. Nepomuk was canonized in 1729, and became the patron saint of bridges. His statue in stone usually occupies such a position on bridges as it does in Prague.

Like St. John Nep'omuck in stone, Looking down into the stream. Longfellow, The Golden Legend (1851).

[Asterism] The word is often accented on the second syllable.

Neptune (Old Father), the ocean or sea-god.

Nerestan, son of Gui Lusignan D'Outremer, king of Jerusalem, and brother of Zara. Nerestan was sent on his parole to France, to obtain ransom for certain Christians, who had fallen into the hands of the Saracens. When Osman, the sultan, was informed of his relationship to Zara, he ordered all Christian captives to be at once liberated "without money and without price."—A. Hill, Zara (adapted from Voltaire's tragedy).

Nereus (2 syl.), father of the water-nymphs. A very old prophetic god of great kindliness. The scalp, chin and breast of Nereus were covered with seaweed instead of hair.

By hoary Nêreus' wrinkled look.

Milton, Comus, (1634).

Neri'nê, Doto, and Nysê, the three nereids who guarded the fleet of Vasco da Gama. When the treacherous pilot had run Vasco's ship upon a sunken rock, these three sea-nymphs lifted up the prow and turned it round.

The lovely Nysê and Nerinê spring With all the vehemence and speed of wing.

Camoens, Lusiad, ii. (1569).

Nerissa, the clever confidential waiting-woman of Portia, the Venetian heiress. Nerissa is the counterfeit of her mistress, with a fair share of the lady's elegance and wit. She marries Gratiano, a friend of the merchant Antonio.—Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (1698).[TN-30]

Nero of the North, Christian II. of Denmark (1480, reigned 1534-1558, died 1559).

Nesle (Blondel de), the favorite minstrel of Richard Coeur de Lion [Nesle = Neel].—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

Nessus's Shirt. Nessos (in Latin Nessus), the centaur, carried the wife of Herculês over a river, and, attempting to run away with her, was shot by Herculês. As the centaur was dying, he told Deïani'ra (5 syl.), that if she steeped in his blood her husband's shirt, she would secure his love forever. This she did, but when Herculês put the shirt on, his body suffered such agony, that he rushed to Mount Oeta, collected together a pile of wood, set it on fire, and rushing into the midst of the flames, was burnt to death.

When Creūsa (3 syl.), the daughter of King Creon, was about to be married to Jason, Medēa sent her a splendid wedding robe; but when Creusa put it on, she was burnt to death by it in excruciating pain.

Morgan le Fay, hoping to kill King Arthur, sent him a superb royal robe. Arthur told the messenger to try it on, that he might see its effect; but no sooner had the messenger done so, than he dropped down dead, "burnt to mere coal."—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 75 (1470).

Nestor (A), a wise old man. Nestor of Pylos,[TN-31] was the oldest and most experienced of all the Greek chieftains who went to the siege of Troy.—Homer, Iliad.

Nestor of the Chemical Revolution. Dr. Black is so called by Lavoisier (1728-1799).

Nestor of Europe, Leopold, king of Belgium (1790, 1831-1865).

Neu'ha, a native of Toobouai, one of the Society Islands. It was at Toobouai that the mutineers of the Bounty landed, and Torquil married Neuha. When a vessel was sent to capture the mutineers, Neuha conducted Torquil to a secret cave, where they lay perdu till all danger was over, when they returned to their island home.—Byron, The Island. (The character of Neuha is given in canto ii. 7.)

Nevers (Comte de), to whom Valenti'na (daughter of the governor of the Louvre) was affianced, and whom she married in a fit of jealousy. The count having been shot in the Bartholomew slaughter, Valentina married Raoul [Rawl] her first love, but both were killed by a party of musketeers commanded by the governor of the Louvre.—Meyerbeer, Les Huguenots (opera, 1836).

[Asterism] The duke [not count] de Nevers, being asked by the governor of the Louvre to join in the Bartholomew Massacre, replied that his family contained a long list of warriors, but not one assassin.

Neville (Major), an assumed name of Lord Geraldin, son of the earl of Geraldin. He first appears as Mr. William Lovell.

Mr. Geraldin Neville, uncle to Lord Geraldin.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Neville (Miss), the friend and confidante of Miss Hardcastle. A handsome, coquettish girl, destined by Mrs. Hardcastle for her son Tony Lumpkin, but Tony did not care for her, and she dearly loved Mr. Hastings; so Hastings and Tony plotted together to outwit madam, and of course won the day.—O. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer (1773).

Neville (Sir Henry), chamberlain of Richard Coeur de Lion.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

New Atlantis (The), an imaginary island in the middle of the Atlantic. Bacon in his allegorical fiction so called, supposes himself wrecked on this island, where he finds an association for the cultivation of natural science, and the promotion of arts.—Lord Bacon, The New Atlantis (1626).

[Asterism] Called the New Atlantis to distinguish it from Plato's Atlantis, an imaginary island of fabulous charms.

New Inn (The), or THE LIGHT HEART, a comedy by Ben Jonson (1628).

New Way to Pay Old Debts, a drama by Philip Massinger (1625). Wellborn, the nephew of Sir Giles Overreach, having run through his fortune and got into debt, induces Lady Allworth, out of respect and gratitude to his father, to give him countenance. This induces Sir Giles to suppose that his nephew is about to marry the wealthy dowager. Feeling convinced that he will then be able to swindle him out of all the dowager's property, as he had ousted him out of his paternal estates, Sir Giles pays his nephew's debts, and supplies him liberally with ready money, to bring about the marriage as soon as possible. Having paid Wellborn's debts, the overreaching old man is compelled, through the treachery of his clerk, to restore the estates also, for the deeds of conveyance are found to be only blank sheets of parchment, the writing having been erased by some chemical acids.

New Zealander, It was Macaulay who said the time might come when some "New Zealand artist shall, in the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's."

[Asterism] Shelley was before Macaulay in the same conceit.—See Dedication of Peter Bell the Third.

Newcastle (The duchess of), in the court of Charles II.).[TN-32]—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Newcastle (The marquis of), a royalist in the service of Charles I.—Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).

Newcastle Apothecary (The), Mr. Bolus, of Newcastle, used to write his prescriptions in rhyme. A bottle bearing the couplet, "When taken to be well shaken," was sent to a patient, and when Bolus called next day to inquire about its effect, John told the apothecary his master was dead. The fact is, John had shaken the sick man instead of the bottle, and had shaken the life out of him.—G. Colman, Jr.

Newcome (Clemency), about 30 years old, with a plump and cheerful face, but twisted into a tightness that made it comical. Her gait was very homely, her limbs seemed all odd ones; her shoes were so self-willed that they never wanted to go where her feet went. She wore blue stockings, a printed gown of hideous pattern and many colors, and a white apron. Her sleeves were short, her elbows always grazed, her cap anywhere but in the right place; but she was scrupulously clean, and "maintained a kind of dislocated tidiness." She carried in her pocket "a handkerchief, a piece of wax-candle, an apple, an orange, a lucky penny, a cramp-bone, a padlock, a pair of scissors, a handful of loose beads, several balls of worsted and cotton, a needle-case, a collection of curl-papers, a biscuit, a thimble, a nutmeg-grater, and a few miscellaneous articles." Clemency Newcome married Benjamin Britain, her fellow-servant at Dr. Jeddler's, and opened a country inn called the Nutmeg-Grater, a cozy, well-to-do place as any one could wish to see, and there were few married people so well matched as Clemency and Ben Britain.—C. Dickens, The Battle of Life (1846).

Newcome (Colonel), a widower, distinguished for the moral beauty of his life. He loses his money and enters the Charter House.

Clive Newcome, his son. He is in love with Ethel Newcome, his cousin, whom he marries as his second wife.—Thackeray, The Newcomes (1855).

Newcome (Johnny), any raw youth when he first enters the army or navy.

Newman Noggs. Ralph Nickleby's clerk, but Ralph's nephew's friend and secret coadjutor.—Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby.

Newland (Abraham), one of the governors of the Bank of England, to whom, in the early part of the nineteenth century, all Bank of England notes were made payable. A bank-note was called an "Abraham Newland;" and hence the popular song, "I've often heard say, sham Ab'ram you may, but must not sham Abraham Newland."

Trees are notes issued from the bank of nature, and as current as those payable to Abraham Newland.—G. Colman, The Poor Gentleman, i. 2 (1802).

Newman. An intelligent American who has made a fortune as a manufacturer, yet kept his head steady. He sees life with clear, sometimes with amused eyes.

"In America," Newman reflected, "lads of twenty-five and thirty have old heads and young hearts, or at least, young morals; abroad they have young heads and very aged hearts, morals the most grizzled and wrinkled."—Henry James Jr., The Americans (1877).

Newton.

Newton ... declared, with all his grand discoveries recent, That he himself felt only "like a youth Picking up shells by the great ocean, truth."

Byron, Don Juan, vii. 5 (1824).

Newton discovered the prismatic colors of light, and explained the phenomenon by the emission theory.

Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night. God said, "Let Newton be," and all was light.

Pope, Epitaph, intended for Newton's Monument in Westminster Abbey (1727).

Newton is called by Campbell "The Priest of Nature."—Pleasures of Hope, i. (1799).

Newton and the Apple. It is said that Newton was standing in the garden of Mrs. Conduitt, of Woolsthorpe, in the year 1665, when an apple fell from a tree and set him thinking. From this incident he ultimately developed his theory of gravitation.

Nibelung, a mythical king of Nibelungeland (Norway). He had twelve paladins, all giants. Siegfried [Sege.freed], prince of the Netherlands, slew the giants, and made Nibelungeland tributary.—Nibelungen Lied, iii. (1210).

Nibelungen Hoard, a mythical mass of gold and precious stones which Siegfried [Sege.freed], prince of the Netherlands, took from Nibelungeland and gave to his wife as a dowry. The hoard filled thirty-six wagons. After the murder of Siegfried, Hagan seized the hoard, and, for concealment, sank it in the "Rhine at Lockham," intending to recover it at a future period, but Hagan was assassinated, and the hoard was lost for ever.—Nibelungen Lied, xix.

Nibelungen Lied [Ne.by-lung.'nleed], the German Iliad (1210). It is divided into two parts, and thirty-two lieds or cantos. The first part ends with the death of Siegfried, and the second part with the death of Kriemhild.

Siegfried, the youngest of the kings of the Netherlands, went to Worms, to crave the hand of Kriemhild in marriage. While he was staying with Günther, king of Burgundy (the lady's brother), he assisted him to obtain in marriage Brunhild, queen of Issland, who announced publicly that he only should be her husband who could beat her in hurling a spear, throwing a huge stone, and in leaping. Siegfried, who possessed a cloak of invisibility, aided Günther in these three contests, and Brunhild became his wife. In return for these services, Günther gave Siegfried his sister Kriemhild, in marriage. After a time, the bride and bridegroom went to visit Günther, when the two ladies disputed about the relative merits of their respective husbands, and Kriemhild, to exalt Siegfried, boasted that Günther owed to him his victories and his wife. Brunhild, in great anger, now employed Hagan to murder Siegfried, and this he did by stabbing him in the back while he was drinking from a brook.

Thirteen years elapsed, and the widow married Etzel, king of the Huns. After a time, she invited Brunhild and Hagan to a visit. Hagan, in this visit, killed Etzel's young son, and Kriemhild was like a fury. A battle ensued, in which Günther and Hagan were made prisoners, and Kriemhild cut off both their heads with her own hand. Hildebrand, horrified at this act of blood, slew Kriemhild; and so the poem ends.—Authors unknown (but the story pieced together by the minnesingers).

[Asterism] The Völsunga Saga is the Icelandic version of the Nibelungen Lied. This saga has been translated into English by William Morris.

The Nibelungen Lied has been ascribed to Heinrich von Ofterdingen, a minnesinger; but it certainly existed before that epoch, if not as a complete whole, in separate lays, and all that Heinrich von Ofterdingen could have done was to collect the floating lays, connect them, and form them into a complete story.

F. A. Wolf, in 1795, wrote a learned book to prove that Homer did for the Iliad and Odyssey what Ofterdingen did for the Nibelungen Lied.

Richard Wagner composed a series of operas founded on the Nibelungen Lied.

Nibelungen Nôt, the second part of the Nibelungen Lied, containing the marriage of Kriemhild with Etzel, the visit of the Burgundians to the court of the Hun, and the death of Günther, Hagan, Kriemhild, and others. This part contains eighty-three four-line stanzas more than the first part. The number of lines in the two parts is 9836; so that the poem is almost as long as Milton's Paradise Lost.

Nibelungers, whoever possessed the Nibelungen hoard. When it was in Norway, the Norwegians were so called: when Siegfried [Sege.freed] got the possession of it, the Netherlanders were so called; and when the hoard was removed to Burgundy, the Burgundians were the Nibelungers.

Nic. Frog, the Dutch as a nation; as the English are called John Bull.—Dr. Arbuthnot, History of John Bull (1712).

Nica'nor, "the Protospathaire," a Greek general.—Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Nice (Sir Courtley), the chief character and title of a drama by Croune (1685).

Nicholas, a poor scholar, who boarded with John, a rich old miserly carpenter. The poor scholar fell in love with Alison, his landlord's young wife, who joined him in duping the foolish old carpenter. Nicholas told John that such a rain would fall on the ensuing Monday as would drown every one in "less than an hour;" and he persuaded the old fool to provide three large tubs, one for himself, one for his wife, and the other for his lodger. In these tubs, said Nicholas, they would be saved; and when the flood abated, they would then be lords and masters of the whole earth. A few hours before the time of the "flood," the old carpenter went to the top chamber of his house to repeat his pater nosters. He fell asleep over his prayers, and was roused by the cry of "Water! water! Help! help!" Supposing the rain had come, he jumped into his tub, and was let down by Nicholas and Alison into the street. A crowd soon assembled, were delighted at the joke, and pronounced the old man an idiot and fool.—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("The Miller's Tale," 1388).

Nicholas, the barber of the village in which Don Quixote lived.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. (1605).

Nicholas (Brother), a monk at St. Mary's Convent.—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).

Nicholas (St.), patron saint of boys, parish clerks, sailors, thieves, and of Aberdeen, Russia, etc.

Nicholas (St.). The legend is, that an angel told him a father was so poor he was about to raise money by the prostitution of his three daughters. On hearing this St. Nicholas threw in at the cottage window three bags of money, sufficient to portion each of the three damsels.

The gift Of Nicholas, which on the maidens he Bounteous bestowed, to save their youthful prime Unblemished.

Dantê, Purgatory, xx. (1308).

Nicholas of the Tower (The), the duke of Exeter, constable of the Tower.

Nicholas's Clerks, highwaymen; so called by a pun on the phrase Old Nick and St. Nicholas who presided over scholars.

St. Nicholas's Clerks, scholars; so called because St. Nicholas was the patron of scholars. The statutes of Paul's School require the scholars to attend divine service on St. Nicholas's Day.—Knight, Life of Dean Colet, 362 (1726).

Nicholas Minturn, hero of novel of that name, by Josiah Gilbert Holland (1876).

Nickleby (Nicholas), the chief character and title of a novel by C. Dickens (1838). He is the son of a poor country gentleman, and has to make his own way in the world. He first goes as usher to Mr. Squeers, schoolmaster at Dotheboys Hall, in Yorkshire; but leaves in disgust with the tyranny of Squeers and his wife, especially to a poor boy named Smike. Smike runs away from the school to follow Nicholas, and remains his humble follower till death. At Portsmouth, Nicholas joins the theatrical company of Mr. Crummles, but leaves the profession for other adventures. He falls in with the brothers Cheeryble, who make him their clerk; and in this post he rises to become a merchant, and ultimately marries Madeline Bray.

Mrs. Nickleby, mother of Nicholas, and a widow. She is an enormous talker, fond of telling long stories with no connection. Mrs. Nickleby is a weak, vain woman, who imagines an idiot neighbor is in love with her because he tosses cabbages and other articles over the garden wall. In conversation, Mrs. Nickleby rides off from the main point at every word suggestive of some new idea. As a specimen of her sequence of ideas, take the following example: "The name began with 'B' and ended with 'g,' I am sure. Perhaps it was Waters" (p. 198).

[Asterism] "The original of 'Mrs. Nickleby,'" says John Foster, "was the mother of Charles Dickens."—Life of Dickens, iii. 8.

Kate Nickleby, sister of Nicholas; beautiful, pure-minded, and loving. Kate works hard to assist in the expenses of housekeeping, but shuns every attempt of Ralph and others to allure her from the path of virgin innocence. She ultimately marries Frank, the nephew of the Cheeryble brothers.

Ralph Nickleby, of Golden Square (London), uncle to Nicholas and Kate. A hard, grasping money-broker, with no ambition but the love of saving, no spirit beyond the thirst of gold, and no principle except that of fleecing every one who comes into his power. This villain is the father of Smike, and ultimately hangs himself, because he loses money, and sees his schemes one after another burst into thin air.—C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, (1838).

Nicneven, a gigantic, malignant hag of Scotch superstition.

[Asterism] Dunbar, the Scotch poet, describes her in his Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy (1508).

Nicode'mus, one of the servants of General Harrison.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).

Nicole (2 syl.), a female servant of M. Jourdain, who sees the folly of her master, and exposes it in a natural and amusing manner.—Molière, Le Bourgeois Gentlehomme[TN-33] (1670).

Night or Nox. So Tennyson calls Sir Peread, the Black Knight of the Black Lands, one of the four brothers who kept the passages to Castle Perilous.—Tennyson, Idylls of the King ("Gareth and Lynette"); Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 126 (1470).

Nightingale (The Italian), Angelica Catala'ni; also called "The Queen of Song" (1782-1849).

Nightingale (The Swedish), Jenny Lind, afterwards Mde. Goldschmidt. She appeared in London 1847, and retired from public life in 1851 (1821-1887).

Nightingale and the Lutist. The tale is, that a lute-master challenged a nightingale in song. The bird, after sustaining the contest for some time, feeling itself outdone, fell on the lute, and died broken-hearted.

[Asterism] This tale is from the Latin of Strada, translated by Richard Crashaw, and called Music's Duel (1650). It is most beautifully told by John Ford, in his drama entitled The Lover's Melancholy, where Men'aphon is supposed to tell it to Ame'thus (1628).

Nightingale and the Thorn.

As it fell upon a day In the merry month of May, Sitting in a pleasant shade Which a grove of myrtles made— Beasts did leap, and birds did sing, Trees did grow, and plants did spring, Everything did banish moan, Save the nightingale alone; She, poor bird, as all forlorn, Leaned her breast up-till a thorn.

Richard Barnfield, Address to the Nightingale (1594).

So Philomel, perched on an aspen sprig, Weeps all the night her lost virginity, And sings her sad tale to the merry twig, That dances at such joyful mysery. Never lets sweet rest invade her eye; But leaning on a thorn her dainty chest, For fear soft sleep should steal into her breast, Expresses in her song grief not to be expressed.

Giles Fletcher, Christ's Triumph over Death (1610).

The nightingale that sings with the deep thorn, Which fable places in her breast.

Byron, Don Juan, vi. 87 (1824).

Nightmare of Europe (The), Napoleon Bonaparte (1769, reigned 1804-1814, died 1821).

Nightshade (Deadly). We are told that the berries of this plant so intoxicated the soldiers of Sweno, the Danish king, that they became an easy prey to the Scotch, who cut them to pieces.

[Asterism] Called "deadly," not from its poisonous qualities, but because it was used at one time for blackening the eyes in mourning.

Nimrod, pseudonym of Charles James Apperley, author of The Chase, The Road, The Turf (1852), etc.[TN-34]

Nim'ue, a "damsel of the lake," who cajoled Merlin in his dotage to tell her the secret "whereby he could be rendered powerless;" and then, like Delilah, she overpowered him, by "confining him under a stone."

Then after these quests, Merlin fell in a dotage on ... one of the damsels of the lake, hight Nimue, and Merlin would let her have no rest, but always he would be with her in every place. And she made him good cheer till she learned of him what she desired.... And Merlin shewed to her in a rock, whereas was a great wonder ... which went under a stone. So by her subtle craft, she made Merlin go under that stone ... and he never came out, for all the craft that he could do.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 60 (1470).

It is not unlikely that this name is a clerical error for Nineve or Ninive. It occurs only once in the three volumes. (See NINIVE.)[TN-35]

[Asterism] Tennyson makes Vivien the seductive betrayer of Merlin, and says she enclosed him "in the four walls of a hollow tower;" but the History says "Nimue put him under the stone" (pt. i. 60).

Nino-Thoma,[TN-36] daughter of Tor-Thoma (chief of one of the Scandinavian islands). She eloped with Uthal (son of Larthmor, a petty king of Berrathon, a neighboring island); but Uthal soon tired of her, and, having fixed his affections on another, confined her in a desert island. Uthal, who had also dethroned his father, was slain in single combat by Ossian, who had come to restore the deposed monarch to his throne. When Nina-Thoma heard of her husband's death, she languished and died, "for though most cruelly entreated, her love for Uthal was not abated."—Ossian, Berrathon.

Nine. "It is by nines that Eastern presents are given, when they would extend their magificence[TN-37] to the highest degree." Thus, when Dakiānos wished to ingratiate himself with the shah,

He caused himself to be preceded by nine superb camels. The first was loaded with nine suits of gold adorned with jewels; the second bore nine sabres, the hilts and scabbards of which were adorned with diamonds; upon the third camel were nine suits of armor; the fourth had nine suits of house furniture; the fifth had nine cases full of sapphires; the sixth had nine cases full of rubies; the seventh nine cases full of emeralds; the eighth had nine cases full of amethysts; and the ninth had nine cases full of diamonds.—Comte de Caylus, Oriental Tales ("Dakianos and the Seven Sleepers," 1743).

Nine Gods (The) of the Etruscans: Juno, Minerva, and Tin'ia (the three chief). The other six were Vulcan, Mars, Saturn, Herculês, Summa'nus, and Vedius. (See NOVENSILES.)

Lars Por'sĕna of Clusium By the nine gods he swore That the great house of Tarquin Should suffer wrong no more. By the nine gods he swore it, And named a trysting day ... To summon his array.

Lord Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome ("Horatius," i., 1842).

Nine Orders of Angels (The): (1) Seraphim, (2) Cherubim (in the first circle); (3) Thrones, (4) Dominions (in the second circle); (5) Virtues, (6) Powers, (7) Principalities, (8) Archangels, (9) Angels (in the third circle).

In heaven above The effulgent bands in triple circles move.

Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, xi. 13 (1575).

Novem vero angelorum ordines dicimus; ... scimus (1) Angelos, (2) Archangelos, (3) Virtues, (4) Potestates, (5) Principatus, (6) Dominationes, (7) Thronos, (8) Cherubim, (9) Seraphim.—Gregory, Homily, 34 (A.D. 381).

Nine Worthies (The). Three were pagans: Hector, Alexander, and Julius Caesar. Three were Jews: Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabaeus. Three were Christians: Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon.

Nine.[TN-38] Worthies (privy councillors to William III.). Four were Whigs: Devonshire, Dorset, Monmouth, and Edward Russell. Five were Tories: Caermarthen, Pembroke, Nottingham, Marlborough, and Lowther.

Nine Worthies of London (The): Sir William Walworth, Sir Henry Pritchard, Sir William Sevenoke, Sir Thomas White, Sir John Bonham, Christopher Croker, Sir John Hawkwood, Sir Hugh Caverley, and Sir Henry Maleverer.

[Asterism] The chronicles of these nine worthies are written in prose and verse by Richard Johnson (1592), author of The Seven Champions of Christendom.

Nineve (2 syl.), the Lady of the Lake, in Arthurian romance.

Then the Lady of the Lake, that was always friendly unto King Arthur, understood by her subtle craft that he was like to have been destroyed; and so the Lady of the Lake, that hight Nineve, came into the forest to seek Sir Launcelot du Lake.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, ii. 57 (1470).

[Asterism] This name occurs three times in the Morte d'Arthur—once as "Nimue," once as "Nineve," and once as "Ninive." Probably "Nimue" (q.v.) is a clerical error.

Ninon de Lenclos, a beautiful Parisian, rich, spirituelle, and an atheist, who abandoned herself to epicurean indulgence, and preserved her charms to a very advanced age. Ninon de Lenclos renounced marriage, and had numberless lovers. Her house was the rendezvous of all the most illustrious persons of the period, as Molière, St. Evremont, Fontenelle, Voltaire, and so on (1615-1705).

Niobe [Ne'.oby], the beau-ideal of grief. After losing her twelve children, she was changed into a stone, which wept continually.

[Asterism] The group of "Niobe and her Children" in Florence, discovered at Rome in 1583, is now arranged in the Uffizii[TN-39] Gallery.

She followed my poor father's body, Like Niobê, all tears.

Shakespeare, Hamlet, act i. sc. 2 (1596).

Niobe of Nations (The). Rome is so called by Byron.—Childe Harold, iv. 79 (1817).

Nipper (Susan), generally called "Spitfire," from her snappish disposition. She was the nurse of Florence Dombey, to whom she was much attached. Susan Nipper married Mr. Toots (after he had got over his infatuation for Florence).

Nippotate (4 syl.), "a live lion stuffed with straw," exhibited in a raree-show. This proved to be the body of a tame hedgehog exhibited by Old Harry, a notorious character in London at the beginning of the eighteenth century (died 1710).

Of monsters stranger than can be expressed, There's Nippotatê lies amongst the rest.

Sutton Nicholls.

Niquee [Ne'.kay], the sister of Anasterax, with whom she lived in incest. The fairy Zorphee was her godmother, and enchanted her, in order to break off this connection.—Vasco de Lobeira, Amadis de Gaul (thirteenth century).

Nisroch [Niz'.rok], "of principalities the prince." A god of the Assyrians. In the book of Kings the Septuagint calls him "Meserach," and in Isaiah "Nasarach." Josephus calls him "Araskês." One of the rebel angels in Milton's Paradise Lost. He Says:[TN-40]

Sense of pleasure we may well Spare out of life, perhaps, and not repine, But live content, which is the calmest life; But pain is perfect misery, the worst Of evils, and, excessive, overturns All patience.

Milton, Paradise Lost, (1665).

Nit, one of the attendants of Queen Mab.

Hop, and Mop, and Drap so clear, Pip, and Trip, and Skip, that were To Mab their sovereign dear— Her special maids of honor. Fib, and Tib, and Pinck, and Pin, Tick, and Quick, and Jil, and Jin, Tit, and Nit, and Wap, and Win— The train that wait upon her.

Drayton, Nymphidia (1563-1631).

Nitchs, daughter of Amases, king of Egypt. She was sent to Persia to become the wife of Cambyses.—Georg Ebers, An Egyptian Princess.

Nixon (Christal), agent to Mr. Edward Redgauntlet, the Jacobite.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Nixon (Martha), the old nurse of the earl of Oxford.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

No One (Caesar or). Julius Caesar said, "Aut Caesar aut nullus." And again, "I would sooner be first in a village than second at Rome."

Milton makes Satan say, "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven."

Jonathan Wild used to say, "I'd rather stand on the top of a dunghill than at the bottom of a hill in paradise."

Tennyson says, "All in all or not at all."—Idylls ("Vivien").

"Six thrice or three dice" (aces were called dice, and did not count).

No Song no Supper, a musical drama by Prince Hoare, F.S.A. (1790). Crop, the farmer, has married a second wife called Dorothy, who has an amiable weakness for a rascally lawyer named Endless. During the absence of her husband, Dorothy provides a supper for Endless, consisting of roast lamb and a cake; but just as the lawyer sits down to it, Crop, with Margaretta, knocks at the door. Endless is concealed in a sack, and the supper is carried away. Presently Robin, the sweetheart of Margaretta, arrives, and Crop regrets there is nothing but bread and cheese to offer him. Margaretta now volunteers a song, the first verse of which tells Crop there is roast lamb in the house, which is accordingly produced; the second verse tells him there is a cake, which is produced also; and the third verse tells him that Endless is concealed in a sack. Had there been no song there would have been no supper, but the song produced the roast lamb and new cake.

Noah's Wife, Wâïla (3 syl.), who endeavored to persuade the people that her husband was distraught.

The wife of Noah [Wâïla] and the wife of Lot [Wâhela] were both unbelievers ... and deceived their husbands ... and it shall be said to them at the last day, "Enter ye into hell fire."—Sale, Al Korân, lxvi.

Nobbs, the horse of "Dr. Dove of Doncaster."—Southey, The Doctor (1834).

Noble (The), Charles III. of Navarre (1361, 1387-1425).

Soliman, Tchelibi, the Turk (died 1410).

[Asterism] Khosrou or Chosroës I. was called "The Noble Soul" (*, 531-579).

Nodel, the lion, in the beast-epic called Reynard the Fox. Nodel, the lion, represents the regal element of Germany; Isengrin, the wolf, represents the baronial element; and Reynard, the fox, the Church element (1498).

Noel (Eusebe), schoolmaster of Bout du Monde. "His clothes are old and worn, and his manner vacant."—E. Stirling, The Gold Mine, or Miller of Grenoble, act i. sc. 2 (1854).

Noggs (Newman), Ralph Nickleby's clerk. A tall man of middle age, with two goggle eyes (one of which was fixed), a rubicund nose, a cadavarous[TN-41] face, and a suit of clothes decidedly the worse for wear. He had the gift of distorting and cracking his finger-joints. This kind-hearted, dilapidated fellow "kept his hunter and hounds once," but ran through his fortune. He discovered a plot of old Ralph, which he confided to the Cheeryble brothers, who frustrated it, and then provided for Newman.—C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1838).

Noko'mis, mother of Weno'nah, and grandmother of Hiawatha. Nokomis was the daughter of the Moon. While she was swinging one day, some of her companions, out of jealousy, cut the ropes, and she fell to earth in a meadow. The same night her first child, a daughter, was born, and was named Wenonah.

There among the ferns and mosses ... Fair Nokomis bore a daughter, And she called her name Wenonah.

Longfellow, Hiawatha, iii. (1855).

Non Mi Ricordo, the usual answer of the Italian courier and other Italian witnesses when on examination at the trial of Queen Caroline (the wife of George IV.), in 1820.

"Lord Flint," in Such Things Are, by Mrs. Inchbald (1786), when asked a question he wished to evade, used to reply, "My people know, no doubt, but I cannot recollect."

"Pierre Choppard," in The Courier of Lyons, by Edward Stirling (1852), when asked an ugly question, always answered "I'll ask my wife, my memory's so slippery."

The North American society called the "Know Nothings," founded in 1853, used to reply to every question about their order, "I know nothing about it."

Nona'cris' Stream, the river Styx, in Arcadia. Cassander says he has in a phial some of this "horrid spring," one drop of which, mixed with wine, would act as a deadly poison. To this Polyperchon replies:

I know its power, for I have seen it tried. Pains of all sorts thro' every nerve and artery At once it scatters,—burns at once and freezes— Till, by extremity of torture forced, The soul consents to leave her joyless home.

N. Lee, Alexander the Great, iv. i (1678).

Nonentity (Dr.), a metaphysician, and thought by most people to be a profound scholar. He generally spreads himself before the fire, sucks his pipe, talks little, drinks much, and is reckoned very good company. You may know him by his long grey wig, and the blue handkerchief round his neck.

Dr. Nonentity, I am told, writes indexes to perfection, makes essays, and reviews any work with a single day's warning.—Goldsmith, A Citizen of the World, xxix. (1759).

Norbert (Father), Pierre Parisot Norbert, the French missionary (1697-1769).

Norland (Lord), father of Lady Eleanor Irwin, and guardian of Lady Ramble (Miss Maria Wooburn). He disinherited his daughter for marrying against his will, and left her to starve, but subsequently relented, and relieved her wants and those of her young husband.—Inchbald, Every One has His Fault (1794).

Norma, a vestal who had been seduced, and discovers her paramour trying to seduce a sister vestal. In despair, she contemplates the murder of her base-born children.—Bellini, Norma (1831); libretto, by Romani.

Norman, forester of Sir William Ashton, lord-keeper of Scotland.—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).

Norman, a "sea-captain," in love with Violet, the ward of Lady Arundel. It turns out that this Norman is her ladyship's son by her first husband, and heir to the title and estates; but Lady Arundel, having married a second husband, had a son named Percy, whom she wished to make her heir. Norman's father was murdered, and Norman, who was born three days afterwards, was brought up by Onslow, a village priest. At the age of 14 he went to sea, and became captain of a man-of-war. Ten years later he returned to Arundel, and though at first his mother ignored him, and Percy flouted him, his noble and generous conduct disarmed hostility, and he not only reconciled his half-brother, but won his mother's affection, and married Violet, his heart's "sweet sweeting."—Lord Lytton, The Sea-Captain (1839).

Norm-nan-Ord or Norman of the Hammer, one of the eight sons of Torquil of the Oak.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Normandy (The Gem of), Emma, daughter of Richard I. (died 1052).

Norna of the Fitful Head, "The Reimkennar." Her real name was, Ulla Troil, but after her seduction by Basil Mertoun (Vaughan), and the birth of a son named Clement Cleveland (the future pirate), she changed her name. Towards the end of the novel, Norna gradually recovered her senses. She was the aunt of Minna and Brenda Troil.—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).

[One] cannot fail to trace in Norna—the victim of remorse and insanity, and the dupe of her own imposture, her mind too flooded with all the wild literature and extravagant superstitions of the north—something distinct from the Dumfriesshire gypsy, whose pretensions to supernatural powers are not beyond those of a Norwood prophetess.—The Pirate (introduction, 1821).

Norris, a family to whom Martin Chuzzlewit was introduced while he was in America. They were friends of Mr. Bevan, rabid abolitionists, and yet hankering after titles as the gilt of the gingerbread of life.—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).

Norris (Black), a dark, surly man, and a wrecker. He wanted to marry Marian, "the daughter" of Robert (also a wrecker); but Marian was betrothed to Edward, a young sailor. Robert, being taken up for murder, was condemned to death; but Norris told Marian he would save his life if she would promise to marry him. Marian consented, but was saved by the arrest of Black Norris for murder.—S. Knowles, The Daughter (1836).

North (Christopher), pseudonym of John Wilson, professor of moral philosophy, Edinburgh, editor of Blackwood's Magazine, in which appeared the "Noctes Ambrosianae" (1805-1861).

North (Lord), one of the judges in the State trial of Geoffrey Peveril, Julian, and the dwarf, for being concerned in the popish plot.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II).[TN-42]

North Britain (The), a radical periodical, conducted by John Wilkes. The celebrated number of this serial was No. 45, in which the ministers are charged "with putting a lie in the king's mouth."

Northamptonshire Poet (The), John Clare (1793-1864).

Northern Harlot (The), Elizabeth Petrowna, empress of Russia; also called "The Infamous" (1709-1761).

Northern Wagoner, a group of seven stars called variously Charles's Wain, or Wagon, i.e. churl's wain; Ursa Major, The Great Bear, and The Dipper. Four make the wagon, or the dipper, three form the shaft, or the handle. Two are called Pointers because they point to the Pole-star.

By this the northern wagoner has set His sevenfold team behind the steadfast star That was in ocean waves yet never wet, But firm is fixed, and sendeth light from far To all that on the wide deep wandering are.

Spenser, Faëry Queen, I. ii. 1 (1590).

Norval (Old), a shepherd, who brings up Lady Randolph's son (Douglas) as his own. He was hidden at birth in a basket, because Sir Malcolm (her father) hated Douglas, whom she had privately married. The child being found by old Norval, was brought up as his own, but the old man discovered that the foundling was "Sir Malcolm's heir and Douglas's son." When 18 years old, the foster-son saved the life of Lord Randolph. Lady Randolph took great interest in the young man, and when old Norval told her his tale, she instantly perceived that the young hero was in fact her own son.

Young Norval, the infant exposed and brought up by the old shepherd as his own son. He turned out to be Sir Malcolm's heir. His mother was Lady Randolph, and his father Lord Douglas, her first husband. Young Norval, having saved the life of Lord Randolph, was given by him a commission in the army. Glenalvon, the heir-presumptive of Lord Randolph, hated the new favorite, and persuaded his lordship that the young man was too familiar with Lady Randolph. Being waylaid, Norval was attacked, slew Glenalvon, but was in turn slain by Lord Randolph. After the death of Norval, Lord Randolph discovered that he had killed the son of his wife by a former marriage. The mother, in her distraction, threw herself headlong from a lofty precipice, and Lord Randolph went to the war then raging between Denmark and Scotland.—J[TN-43] Home, Douglas (1757).

(This was a favorite character with John Kemble, 1757-1823.)

Norway (The Fair Maid of), Margaret, granddaughter of Alexander III. of Scotland. She died (1290) of sea-sickness on her passage from Norway to Scotland. Her father was Eric II., king of Norway, and her mother was Margaret, only daughter of Alexander III.

Nose (Golden), Tycho Brahê, the Danish astronomer. Having lost his nose in a duel with one Passberg, he adopted a golden one, and attached it to his face by a cement which he carried about with him.

Nosebag (Mrs.), wife of a lieutenant in the dragoons. She is the inquisitive travelling companion of Waverley when he travels by stage to London.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).

Nosey (Play up!) This exclamation was common in our theatres in the days of Macklin, etc. M. Nozay was the leader of the orchestra in Covent Garden Theatre.

[Asterism] Some persons affirm that "Old Nosey" was Cervetto, the violoncello player at Drury Lane (1753), and say that he was so called from his long nose.

Napoleon III., was nicknamed Grosbec ("Nosey").

Nosnot-Bocai [Bo'.ky], prince of purgatory.

Sir, I last night received command To see you out of Fairy-land. Into the realm of Nosnot-Bocai.

King, Orpheus and Eurydice.

Nostrada'mus (Michael), an astrologer of the sixteenth century, who published an annual Almanac and a Recueil of Prophecies, in verse (1503-1566).

Nostrada'mus of Portugal, Gonçalo Annês Bandarra, a poet-cobbler, whose career was stopped, in 1556, by the Inquisition.

Nottingham (The countess of), a quondam sweetheart of the earl of Essex, and his worst enemy, when she heard that he had married the countess of Rutland. The queen sent her to the Tower to ask Essex if he had no petition to make, and the earl requested her to take back a ring, which the queen had given him as a pledge of mercy in time of need. As the countess out of jealousy forbore to deliver it, the earl was executed.—Henry Jones, The Earl of Essex (1745).

Nottingham Lambs, (The), the Nottingham roughs.

Nottingham Poet (The), Philip James Bailey, the author of Festus, etc. (1816- ).

No'tus, the south wind; Afer is the south-west wind.

Notus and Afer, black with thundrous clouds.

Milton, Paradise Lost, (1665).

Noukhail, the angel of day and night.

The day and night are trusted to my care. I hold the day in my right hand and the night in my left; and I maintain the just equilibrium between them, for if either were to overbalance the other, the universe would either be consumed by the heat of the sun, or would perish with the cold of darkness.—Comte de Caylus, Oriental Tales ("History of Abdal Motallab," 1743).

Nouman (Sidi), an Arab who married Amīnê, a very beautiful woman, who ate her rice with a bodkin. Sidi, wishing to know how his wife could support life and health without more food than she partook of in his presence, watched her narrowly, and discovered that she was a ghoul, who went by stealth every night and feasted on the fresh-buried dead. When Sidi made this discovery, Aminê changed him into a dog. After he was restored to his normal shape, he changed Aminê into a mare, which every day he rode almost to death.—Arabian Nights ("History of Sidi Nouman").

Your majesty knows that ghouls of either sex are demons which wander about the fields. They commonly inhabit ruinous buildings, whence they issue suddenly on unwary travellers, whom they kill and devour. If they fail to meet with travellers, they go by night into burying grounds, and dig up dead bodies, on which they feed.—"History of Sidi Nouman."

Nouredeen, son of Khacan (vizier of Zinebi, king of Balsora). He got possession of the "beautiful Persian" purchased for the king. At his father's death he soon squandered away his patrimony in the wildest extravagance, and fled with his beautiful slave to Bagdad. Here he encountered Haroun-al-Raschid in disguise, and so pleased the caliph, that he was placed in the number of those courtiers most intimate with his majesty, who also bestowed on him so plentiful a fortune, that he lived with the "beautiful Persian" in affluence all the rest of his life.—Arabian Nights ("Nouredeen and the Beautiful Persian").

Nour'eddin' Ali, younger son of the vizier of Egypt. "He was possessed of as much merit as can fall to the lot of man." Having quarrelled with his elder brother, he travelled to Baso'ra, where he married the vizier's daughter, and succeeded his father-in-law in office. A son was born to him in due time, and on the very same day the wife of his elder brother had a daughter. Noureddin died when his son was barely twenty, and unmarried.—Arabian Nights ("Noureddin Ali," etc.).

Nourgehan's Bracelet. Nourgehan, emperor of the Moguls, had a bracelet which had the property of discovering poison, even at a considerable distance. When poison was anywhere near the wearer, the stones of the bracelet seemed agitated, and the agitation increased as the poison approached them.—Comte de Caylus, Oriental Tales ("The Four Talismans," 1743).

Nour'jahad, a sleeper, like Rip Van Winkle, Epimen'idês, etc. (See SLEEPERS.)

Nourjeham ("light of the world"). So the Sultana Nourmahal was subsequently called.—T. Moore, Lalla Rookh ("The Light of the Haram," 1817).

Nourmahal' (The sultana), i.e. "Light of the Haram," afterwards called Nourjeham ("light of the world"). She was for a season estranged from the sultan, till he gave a grand banquet, at which she appeared in disguise as a lute-player and singer. The sultan was so enchanted with her performance, that he exclaimed, "If Nourmahal had so played and sung, I could forgive her all;" whereupon the sultana threw off her mask, and Selim "caught her to his heart."—T. Moore, Lalla Rookh ("The Light of the Haram," 1817).

Nouron'ihar, daughter of the Emir Fakreddin; a laughing, beautiful girl, full of fun and pretty mischief, dotingly fond of Gulchenrouz, her cousin, a boy of 13. She married the Caliph Vathek, with whom she descended into the abyss of Eblis, whence she never after returned to the light of day.

The trick she played Bababalouk was this: Vathek, the caliph, was on a visit to Fakreddin, the emir', and Bababalouk, his chief eunuch, intruded into the bathroom, where Nouronihar and her damsels were bathing. Nouronihar induced the old eunuch to rest himself on the swing, when the girls set it going with all their might. The cords broke, the eunuch fell into the bath, and the girls made off with their lamps, and left the meddlesome old fool to flounder about till morning, when assistance came, but not before he was half dead.—W. Beckford, Vathek (1784).

Nouroun'nihar, niece of a sultan of India, who had three sons, all in love with her. The sultan said he would give her to him who, in twelve months, gave him the most valuable present. The three princes met in a certain inn at the expiration of the time, when one prince looked through a tube, which showed Nourounnihar at the point of death; another of the brothers transported all three instantaneously on a magic carpet to the princess's chamber; and the third brother gave her an apple to smell of which effected an instant cure. It was impossible to decide which of these presents was the most valuable; so the sultan said he should have her who shot an arrow to the greatest distance. The eldest (Houssian) shot first; Ali overshot the arrow of his eldest brother; but that of the youngest brother (Ahmed) could nowhere be found. So the award was given to Ahmed.—Arabian Nights ("Ahmed and Pari-Banou").

Novel (Father of the English). Henry Fielding is so called by Sir W. Scott (1707-1754).

Noven'siles (4 syl.), the nine Sabine gods, viz.: Herculês, Romulus, Esculapius, Bacchus, AEnēas, Vesta, Santa, Fortuna and Fidês or Faith. (See NINE GODS of the Etruscans.)

Novit (Mr. Nichil), the lawyer of the old laird of Dumbiedikes.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Novius, the usurer, famous for the loudness of his voice.

... at hic si plaustra ducenta Concurrantque foro tria funera magna sonabit Cornua quod vincatque tubas.

Horace, Satires, i. 6.

These people seem to be of the race of Novius, that Roman banker, whose voice exceeded the noise of carmen.—Lesage, Gil Blas, vii. 13 (1735).

Now-now (Old Anthony), an itinerant fiddler. The character is a skit on Anthony Munday, the dramatist.—Chettle, Kindheart's Dream (1592).

Nuath (2 syl.), father of Lathmon and Oith'ona (q.v.).—Ossian, Oithona.

Nubbles (Mrs.), a poor widow woman, who was much given to going to Little Bethel.

Christopher or Kit Nubbles, her son, the servant in attendance on little Nell, whom he adored. After the death of little Nell, Kit married Barbara, a fellow-servant.—C. Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop (1840).

Nugent Dubourg, twin brother of Oscar Dubourg, somewhat conceited, who patronizes his brother, and would like to marry his brother's betrothed, Lucilla Finch, blind and an heiress. Her sight is restored by an operation, and Nugent places himself where her eyes will first fall upon him, instead of on his disfigured brother. Beginning with this, he personates Oscar until Lucilla again loses her sight. He then yields her to his brother, joins an Arctic exploring expedition, and perishes in the Polar regions.—Wilkie Collins, Poor Miss Finch.

Numa Roumestan, French deputy from the South of France. Audacious, gay and unprincipled, he possesses all the qualities that render him "the joy of the street, the sorrow of the home."—Alphonse Daudet, Numa Roumestan.

Number Nip, the name of the gnome king of the Giant Mountains.—Musaeus, Popular Tales (1782).

[Asterism] Musaeus was a German, uncle of Kotzebue (died 1788).

Nuncanou (Aurore and Clotilde). Beautiful Creoles, mother and daughter, in George W. Cable's novel, The Grandissimes.

Nun's Tale (The), the tale of the cock and the fox. One day, dan Russell, the fox, came into the poultry-yard, and told Master Chanticlere, he could not resist the pleasure of hearing him sing, for his voice was so divinely ravishing. The cock, pleased with this flattery, shut his eyes, and began to crow most lustily; whereupon dan Russell seized him by the throat, and ran off with him. When they got to the wood, the cock said to the fox, "I would recommend you to eat me at once, I think I can hear your pursuers." "I am going to do so," said the fox; but when he opened his mouth to reply, off flew the cock into a tree, and while the fox was deliberating how he might regain his prey, up came the farmer and his men with scythes, flails, and pitchforks, with which they despatched the fox without mercy.—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (1388).

[Asterism] This fable is one of those by Marie, of France, called Don Coc and Don Werpil.

Nun's Tale (The Second). This is the tale about Maxime and the martyrs, Valerian and Tiburcê. The prefect ordered Maxime (2 syl.) to put Valerian and Tiburcê to death, because they refused to worship the image of Jupiter; but Maxime showed kindness to the two Christians, took them home, became converted, and was baptized. When Valerian and Tiburcê were put to death, Maxime declared that he saw angels come and carry them up to heaven, whereupon the prefect caused him to be beaten to death with whips of lead.—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (1388).

[Asterism] This tale is very similar to that of St. Cecilia, in the Legenda Aurea. See also Acts xvi. 25-34.

Nupkins, mayor of Ipswich, a man who has a most excellent opinion of himself, but who, in all magisterial matters, really depends almost entirely on Jinks, his half-starved clerk.—C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836).

Nurse (Rebecca). Accused of witchcraft and acquitted by the court. "And suddenly, after all the afflicted out of court made a hideous outcry ... one of the judges expressed himself not satisfied, another, as he was going off the bench, said they would have her indicted anew."

At the second trial she was condemned, and she was executed with the rest.

"The testimonials of her Christian behavior, both in the course of her life and at her death, and her extraordinary care in educating her children, and setting them a good example, etc., under the hands of so many, are so numerous that for brevity they are here omitted."—Robert Calef, More Wonders of the Invisible World (1700).

Nut-Brown Maid (The), the maid wooed by the "banished man." The "banished man" describes to her the hardships she would have to undergo if she married him; but finding that she accounted these hardships as nothing compared with his love, he revealed himself to be an earl's son, with large hereditary estates in Westmoreland, and married her.—Percy, Reliques, II.

This ballad is based on the legendary history of Lord Henry Clifford, called "The Shepherd Lord." It was modernized by Prior, who called his version of the story Henry and Emma. The oldest form of the ballad extant is contained in Arnolde's Chronicle (1502).

Nydia. Greek flower-girl, blind and friendless. Glaucus is kind to, and protects her, finally purchases her of her brutal master. She loves him passionately and hopelessly, saves his life and that of his betrothed at the destruction of Pompeii; embarks with them in a skiff bound for a safer harbor, and while all are asleep, springs overboard and drowns herself.—E. L. Bulwer, Last Days of Pompeii (1834).

Nym, corporal in the army under Captain Sir John Falstaff, introduced in The Merry Wives of Windsor and in Henry V., but not in Henry IV. It seems that Lieutenant Peto had died, and given a step to the officers under him. Thus, Ensign Pistol becomes lieutenant, Corporal Bardolph becomes ensign, and Nym takes the place of Bardolph. He is an arrant rogue, and both he and Bardolph are hanged (Henry V.). The word means to "pilfer."

It would be difficult to give any other reply save that of Corporal Nym—it was the author's humor or caprice.—Sir W. Scott.

Nymphid'ia, a mock-heroic by Drayton. The fairy Pigwiggen is so gallant to Queen Mab as to arouse the jealousy of King Oberon. One day, coming home and finding his queen absent, Oberon vows vengeance on the gallant, and sends Puck to ascertain the whereabouts of Mab and Pigwiggen. In the mean time, Nymphidia gives the queen warning, and the queen, with all her maids of honor, creep into a hollow nut for concealment. Puck, coming up, sets foot in the enchanted circle which Nymphidia had charmed, and, after stumbling about for a time, tumbles into a ditch. Pigwiggen, seconded by Tomalin, encounters Oberon, seconded by Tom Thum, and the fight is "both fast and furious." Queen Mab, in alarm, craves the interference of Proserpine, who first envelopes the combatants in a thick smoke, which compels them to desist, and then gives them a draught "to assuage their thirst." The draught was from the river Lethê; and immediately the combatants had tasted it, they forgot not only the cause of the quarrel, but even that they had quarrelled at all.—M. Drayton, Nymphidia (1593).

Nysa, daughter of Silēno and Mys'is, and sister of Daphnê. Justice Mi'das is in love with her; but she loves Apollo, her father's guest.—Kane O'Hara, Midas (1764).

Nysê, Doto, and Neri'nê, the three nereids who went before the fleet of Vasco da Gama. When the treacherous pilot steered the ship of Vasco towards a sunken rock, these three sea-nymphs lifted up the prow and turned it round.—Camoens, Lusiad, ii. (1569).



O (Our Lady of). The Virgin Mary is so called in some old Roman rituals, from the ejaculation at the beginning of the seven anthems preceding the Magnificat, as: "O, when will the day arrive...?" "O, when shall I see...?" "O, when...?" and so on.

Oakly (Major), brother to Mr. Oakly, and uncle to Charles. He assists his brother in curing his "jealous wife."

Mr. Oakly, husband of the "jealous wife." A very amiable man, but deficient in that strength of mind which is needed to cure the idiosyncrasy of his wife; so he obtains the assistance of his brother, the major.

Mrs. Oakly, "the jealous wife" of Mr. Oakly. A woman of such suspicious temper, that every remark of her husband is distorted into a proof of his infidelity. She watches him like a tiger, and makes both her own and her husband's life utterly wretched.

Charles Oakly, nephew of the major. A fine, noble-spirited young fellow, who would never stand by and see a woman insulted; but a desperate debauchee and drunkard. He aspires to the love of Harriot Russet, whose influence over him is sufficiently powerful to reclaim him.—George Colman, The Jealous Wife (1761).

Oates (Dr. Titus), the champion of the popish plot.

Forth came the notorious Dr. Oates, rustling in the full silken canonicals of priesthood, for ... he affected no small dignity of exterior decoration and deportment.... His exterior was portentous. A fleece of white periwig showed a most uncouth visage, of great length, having the mouth ... placed in the very centre of the countenance, and exhibiting to the astonished spectator as much chin below as there was nose and brow above it. His pronunciation was after a conceited fashion of his own, in which he accented the vowels in a manner altogether peculiar to himself.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Oaths.

JOHN PERROT, a natural son of Henry VIII., was the first to employ the profane oath of God's Wounds, which Queen ELIZABETH adopted, but the ladies of her court minced and softened it into zounds and zouterkins.

WILLIAM the CONQUEROR swore by the Splendor of God.

WILLIAM RUFUS, by St. Luke's face.

King JOHN, by God's Tooth.

HENRY VIII., by God's Wounds.

CHARLES II., by Ods fish [God's Flesh].

LOUIS XI. of France, by God's Easter.

CHARLES VIII. of France, by God's Light.

LOUIS XII., by The Devil take me (Diable m'emporte).

The Chevalier BAYARD by God's Holyday.

FRANCOIS I. used for asseveration, On the word of a gentleman.

HENRY III. of England, when he confirmed "Magna Charta," used the expression, On the word of a gentleman, a king and a knight.

Earl of ANGUS (reign of Queen Mary), when incensed, used to say, By the might of God, but at other times his oath was By St. Bride of Douglas.—Godscroft, 275.

ST. WINFRED or BONI'FACE used to swear by St. Peter's tomb.

In the reign of Charles II. fancy oaths were the fashion. (For specimens, see FOPPINGTON.)

The most common oath of the ancient Romans was By Herculês! for men; and By Castor! for women; By Pollux! for both.

Viri per Herculem, mulieres per Castorem, utrique per Pollucem jurare soliti.—Gellius, Noctes Atticoe,[TN-44] ii. 6.

Obad'don, the angel of death. This is not the same angel as Abbad'ona, one of the fallen angels, and once the friend of Ab'diel (bk. vi.).

My name is Ephod Obaddon or Sevenfold Revenge. I am an angel of destruction. It was I who destroyed the first-born of Egypt. It was I who slew the army of Sennacherib.—Klopstock, The Messiah, xiii. (1771).

Obadi'ah, "the foolish fat scullion" in Sterne's novel of Tristram Shandy (1759).

Obadiah, clerk to Justice Day. A nincompoop, fond of drinking, but with just a shade more brains than Abel Day, who is "a thorough ass" (act i. 1).—T. Knight, The Honest Thieves (died 1820).

This farce is a mere réchauffé of The Committee (1670), a comedy by the Hon. Sir R. Howard, the names and much of the conversation being identical. Colonel Blunt is called in the farce "Captain Manly."

Obadiah Prim, a canting, knavish hypocrite; one of the four guardians of Anne Lovely, the heiress. Colonel Feignwell personates Simon Pure, and obtains the Quaker's consent to his marriage with Anne Lovely.—Mrs. Centlivre, A Bold Stroke for a Wife (1717).

Obermann, the impersonation of high moral worth without talent, and the tortures endured by the consciousness of this defect.—Etienne Pivert de Sen'ancour, Obermann (1804).

Oberon, king of the fairies, quarrelled with his wife, Titania, about a "changeling" which Obĕron wanted for a page, but Titania refused to give up. Oberon, in revenge, anointed her eyes in sleep with the extract of "Love in Idleness," the effect of which was to make the sleeper in love with the first object beheld on waking. Titania happened to see a country bumpkin, whom Puck had dressed up with an ass's head. Oberon came upon her while she was fondling the clown, sprinkled on her an antidote, and she was so ashamed of her folly that she readily consented to give up the boy to her spouse for his page.—Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream (1592).

Oberon, the Fay, king of Mommur, a humpty dwarf, three feet high, of angelic face. He told Sir Huon that the lady of the Hidden Isle (Cephalonia) married Neptanēbus, king of Egypt, by whom she had a son named Alexander "the Great." Seven hundred years later she had another son, Oberon, by Julius Caesar, who stopped in Cephalonia on his way to Thessaly. At the birth of Oberon the fairies bestowed their gifts on him. One was insight into men's thoughts, and another was the power of transporting himself instantaneously to any place. At death he made Huon his successor, and was borne to paradise.—Huon de Bordeaux (a romance).

Oberthal (Count), lord of Dordrecht, near the Meuse. When Bertha, one of his vassals, asked permission to marry John of Leyden, the count withheld his consent, as he designed to make Bertha his mistress. This drove John into rebellion, and he joined the anabaptists. The count was taken prisoner by Gio'na, a discarded servant, but was liberated by John. When John was crowned prophet-king the count entered the banquet-hall to arrest him, and perished with him in the flames of the burning palace.—Meyerbeer, Le Prophète (opera, 1849).

Obi. Among the negroes of the West Indies "Obi" is the name of a magical power, supposed to affect men with all the curses of an "evil eye."

Obi-Woman (An), an African sorceress, a worshipper of Mumbo Jumbo.

Obi'dah, a young man who meets with various adventures and misfortunes allegorical of human life.—Dr. Johnson, The Rambler (1750-2).

Obid'icut, the fiend of lust, and one of the five which possessed "poor Tom."—Shakespeare, King Lear, act iv. sc. 1 (1605).

O'Brallaghan (Sir Callaghan), "a wild Irish soldier in the Prussian army. His military humor makes one fancy he was not only born in a siege, but that Bellōna had been his nurse, Mars his schoolmaster and the Furies his playfellows." He is the successful suitor of Charlotte Goodchild.—Macklin, Love-à-la-mode (1759).

O'Brien, the Irish lieutenant under Captain Savage.—Captain Marryat, Peter Simple (1833).

Observant Friars, those friars who observe the rule of St. Francis; to abjure books, land, house and chapel, to live on alms, dress in rags, feed on scraps and sleep anywhere.

Obstinate, an inhabitant of the City of Destruction, who advised Christian to return to his family, and not run on a wild-goose chase.—Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, i. (1678).

Occasion, the mother of Furor; an ugly, wrinkled old hag, lame of one foot. Her head was bald behind, but in front she had a few hoary locks. Sir Guyon seized her, gagged her and bound her.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, ii. 4 (1590).