Chapter VI: Front Matter (6)

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).

⁂ 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 Phœa´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).

=Neæra=, 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 Neæra’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 £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_.

⁂ 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).

⁂ 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 Cœur 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 Œta, 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).

⁂ 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 Cœur 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).

⁂ 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.”

⁂ 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).

⁂ 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).

⁂ “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.

⁂ 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.

⁂ 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.

⁂ 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]

⁂ 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 Cæsar. Three were _Jews_: Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabæus. 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.

⁂ 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).

⁂ 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.

⁂ 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= (_Cæsar or_). Julius Cæsar said, “Aut Cæsar 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).

⁂ 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 Ambrosianæ” (1805-1861).