Part 14

=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).

_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.

⁂ 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, Ænēas, 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).