A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature Part 35

MYERS, FREDERIC WILLIAM HENRY (1843-1901).--Poet and essayist, _s._ of a clergyman, was _b._ at Keswick, and _ed._ at Cheltenham and Camb. He became an inspector of schools, and was the author of several vols. of poetry, including _St. Paul_ (1867). He also wrote _Essays Cla.s.sical and Modern_, and Lives of Wordsworth and Sh.e.l.ley. Becoming interested in mesmerism and spiritualism he aided in founding the Society for Psychical Research, and was joint author of _Phantasms of the Living_. His last work was _Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death_ (1903).

NABBES, THOMAS (_fl._ 1638).--Dramatist, was at Oxf. in 1621. He lived in London, and wrote comedies, satirising bourgeois society. He was most successful in writing masques, among which are _Spring's Glory_ and _Microcosmus_. He also wrote a continuation of Richard Knolles' _History of the Turks_.

NAIRNE, CAROLINA (OLIPHANT), BARONESS (1766-1845).--_B._ at the House of Gask ("the auld house"), _m._ in 1806 her second cousin, Major Nairne, who on reversal of attainder became 5th Lord Nairne. On his death, after residing in various places in England, Ireland, and on the Continent, she settled at the new house of Gask (the old one having been pulled down in 1801). Of her songs--87 in number--many first appeared anonymously in _The Scottish Minstrel_ (1821-24); a collected ed. with her name, under the t.i.tle of _Lays' from Strathearn_, was _pub._ after her death.

Although the songs, some of which were founded on older compositions, had from the first an extraordinary popularity, the auth.o.r.ess maintained a strict anonymity during her life. For direct simplicity and poetic feeling Lady N. perhaps comes nearer than any other Scottish song-writer to Burns, and many of her lyrics are enshrined in the hearts of her fellow-countrymen. Among the best of them are _The Land of the Leal_ (1798), _Caller Herrin'_, _The Laird o' c.o.c.kpen_, _The Auld House_, _The Rowan Tree_, _The Hundred Pipers_, and _Will ye no come back Again?_ The Jacobitism of some of these and many others was, of course, purely sentimental and poetical, like that of Scott. She was a truly religious and benevolent character, and the same modesty which concealed her authorship withdrew from public knowledge her many deeds of charity.

NAPIER, MARK (1798-1879).--Historian, _s._ of a lawyer in Edinburgh, was called to the Bar, practised as an advocate, and was made Sheriff of Dumfries and Galloway. He _pub._ Memoirs of the Napiers, of Montrose, and of Graham of Claverhouse, the last of which gave rise to much controversy. N. wrote from a strongly Cavalier and Jacobite standpoint, and had remarkably little of the judicial spirit in his methods. His writings, however, have some historical value.

NAPIER, SIR WILLIAM FRANCIS PATRICK (1785-1860).--was one of the sons of Col. the Hon. George N. and Lady Sarah Lennox, _dau._ of the 2nd Duke of Richmond, and the object of a romantic attachment on the part of George III. One of his brothers was Sir Charles N., the conqueror of Scinde.

Entering the army at 15, he served with great distinction in the Peninsula under Moore and Wellington. His experiences as a witness and partic.i.p.ator in the stupendous events of the war combined with the possession of remarkable ac.u.men and a brilliant style to qualify him for the great work of his life as its historian. _The History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France from 1807-14_ (1828-40) at once took rank as a cla.s.sic, and superseded all existing works on the subject.

Though not free from prejudice and consequent bias, it remains a masterpiece of historical writing, especially in the description of military operations. It was translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Persian. N. also _pub._ _The Conquest of Scinde_ (1844-46), mainly a defence of his brother Charles, whose life he subsequently wrote. He became K.C.B. in 1848, and General 1859.

NASH, THOMAS (1567-1601).--Satirist, etc., _b._ at Lowestoft, _ed._ at Camb. A reckless life kept him in perpetual poverty, and a bitter and sarcastic tongue lost him friends and patrons. He cherished an undying hatred for the Puritans, and specially for Gabriel Hervey, with whom he maintained a lifelong controversy, and against whose attacks he defended Robert Greene (_q.v._). Among his writings are _Anatomy of Absurdities_ (1589), _Have with you to Saffron Walden_, and _Pierce Pennilesse, his Supplication to the Divell_ (1592), all against the Puritans. In _Summer's_ (a jester of Henry VIII.) _Last Will and Testament_ occurs the well-known song, "Spring, the sweet Spring, is the year's pleasant King."

_Christ's Tears over Jerusalem_ (1593) may have indicated some movement towards repentance. Another work in a totally different style, _The Unfortunate Traveller, or the Life of Jack Wilton_ (1594), a wild tale, may be regarded as the pioneer of the novel of adventure. It had, however, so little success that the author never returned to this kind of fiction. A comedy, _The Isle of Dogs_ (now lost), adverted so pointedly to abuses in the state that it led to his imprisonment. His last work was _Lenten Stuffe_ (1599), a burlesque panegyric on Yarmouth and its red herrings. N.'s verse is usually hard and monotonous, but he was a man of varied culture and great ability.

NAYLER, JAMES (1617?-1660).--Quaker theologian, _s._ of a Yorkshire yeoman, who, after serving in the Parliamentary army, joined the Quakers in 1651, became one of Foxe's most trusted helpers, and exercised a powerful influence. By some of the more enthusiastic devotees of the sect he was honoured with such blasphemous t.i.tles as "the Lamb of G.o.d," which, however, he did not arrogate to himself, but a.s.serted that they were ascribed to "Christ in him." He was found guilty of blasphemy, pilloried, whipped, and branded, and cast into prison, from which he was not released until after the death of Cromwell, when he made public confession and resumed preaching. He was the author of a number of short works both devotional and controversial. He ranks high among the Quakers for eloquence, insight, and depth of thought.

NEAL, JOHN (1793-1876).--Novelist and poet, _b._ at Portland, Maine, was self-educated, kept a dry goods store, and was afterwards a lawyer. He wrote several novels, which show considerable native power, but little art, and are now almost forgotten. Among those which show the influence of Byron and G.o.dwin are _Keep Cool_ (1818), _Logan_ (1822), and _Seventy-six_ (1823). His poems have the same features of vigour and want of finish. In 1823 he visited England, and became known to Jeremy Bentham. He contributed some articles on American subjects to _Blackwood's Magazine_.

NEAVES, CHARLES, LORD (1800-1876).--Miscellaneous author, _b._ and _ed._ in Edinburgh, was called to the Bar, and became a judge. He was a frequent contributor to _Blackwood's Magazine_. His verses, witty and satirical, were _coll._ as _Songs and Verses, Social and Scientific_. He wrote also on philology, and _pub._ a book on the Greek Anthology.

NECKHAM, ALEXANDER (1157-1217).--Scholar, _b._ at St. Albans, was foster-brother to Richard Coeur de Lion. He went to Paris in 1180, where he became a distinguished teacher. Returning, to England in 1186 he became an Augustinian Canon, and in 1213 Abbot of Cirencester. He is one of our earliest men of learning, and wrote a scientific work in Latin verse. _De Naturis Rerum_ (_c._ 1180-94) in 10 books. Other works are _De Laudibus Divinae Sapientiae_ (in Praise of the Divine Wisdom), and _De Contemptu Mundi_ (on Despising the World), and some grammatical treatises.

NEWCASTLE, MARGARET, d.u.c.h.eSS of (1624?-1674).--_Dau._ of Sir Thomas Lucas, and a maid of honour to Queen Henrietta. Maria, _m._ in 1645 the 1st Duke of Newcastle (then Marquis), whom she regarded in adversity and prosperity with a singular and almost fantastic devotion, which was fully reciprocated. The n.o.ble pair collaborated (the d.u.c.h.ess contributing by far the larger share) in their literary ventures, which filled 12 vols., and consisted chiefly of dramas (now almost unreadable), and philosophical exercitations which, amid prevailing rubbish, contain some weighty sayings. One of her poems, _The Pastimes and Recreations of the Queen of Fairies in Fairyland_ has some good lines. Her Life of her husband, in which she rates him above Julius Caesar, was said by Lamb to be "a jewel for which no casket was good enough."

NEWMAN, FRANCIS WILLIAM (1805-1897).--Scholar and theological writer, brother of Cardinal N., _b._ in London, and _ed._ at Oxf. After spending three years in the East, he became successively cla.s.sical tutor in Bristol Coll., Professor of Cla.s.sical Literature in Manchester New Coll.

(1840), and of Latin in Univ. Coll., London, 1846-63. Both brought up under evangelical influences, the two brothers moved from that standpoint in diametrically opposite directions, Francis through eclecticism towards scepticism. His writings include a _History of the Hebrew Monarchy_ (1847), _The Soul_ (1849), and his most famous book, _Phases of Faith_ (1850), a theological autobiography corresponding to his brother's _Apologia_, the publication of which led to much controversy, and to the appearance of Henry Rogers' _Eclipse of Faith_. He also _pub._ _Miscellanea_ in 4 vols., a Dictionary of modern Arabic, and some mathematical treatises. He was a vegetarian, a total abstainer, and enemy of tobacco, vaccination, and vivisection. Memoir by I.G. Sieveking, 1909.

NEWMAN, JOHN HENRY (1801-1890).--Theologian, _s._ of a London banker, and brother of the above, was _ed._ at Ealing and Trinity Coll., Oxf., where he was the intimate friend of Pusey and Hurrell Froude. Taking orders he was successively curate of St. Clement's 1824, and Vicar of St. Mary's, Oxford, 1828. He was also Vice-princ.i.p.al of Alban Hall, where he a.s.sisted Whately, the Princ.i.p.al, in his _Logic_. In 1830 he definitely broke with the evangelicalism in which he had been brought up; and in 1832, accompanied by H. Froude, went to the South of Europe, and visited Rome.

During this lengthened tour he wrote most of his short poems, including "Lead Kindly Light," which were _pub._ 1834 as _Lyra Apostolica_. On his return he joined with Pusey, Keble, and others in initiating the Tractarian movement, and contributed some of the more important tracts, including the fateful No. xc., the publication of which brought about a crisis in the movement which, after two years of hesitation and mental and spiritual conflict, led to the resignation by N. of his benefice. In 1842 he retired to Littlemore, and after a period of prayer, fasting, and seclusion, was in 1845 received into the Roman Catholic Church. In the following year he went to Rome, where he was ordained priest and made D.D., and returning to England he established the oratory in Birmingham in 1847, and that in London in 1850. A controversy with C. Kingsley, who had written that N. "did not consider truth a necessary virtue," led to the publication of his _Apologia pro Vita Sua_ (1864), one of the most remarkable books of religious autobiography ever written. N.'s later years were pa.s.sed at the oratory at Birmingham. In 1879 he was summoned to Rome and _cr._ Cardinal of St. George in Velabro. Besides the works above mentioned he wrote, among others, _The Arians of the Fourth Century_ (1833), _Twelve Lectures_ (1850), _Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics_ (1851), _Idea of a University_, _Romanism and Popular Protestantism_, _Disquisition on the Canon of Scripture_, and his poem, _The Dream of Gerontius_. Possessed of one of the most keen and subtle intellects of his age, N. was also master of a style of marvellous beauty and power. To many minds, however, his subtlety not seldom appeared to pa.s.s into sophistry; and his att.i.tude to schools of thought widely differing from his own was sometimes harsh and unsympathetic. On the other hand he was able to exercise a remarkable influence over men ecclesiastically, and in some respects religiously, most strongly opposed to him. His sermons place him in the first rank of English preachers.

_Lives_ or books about him by R.H. Hutton, E.A. Abbott. _Works_ (36 vols., 1868-81), _Apologia pro Vita Sua_ (1864), etc.

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC (1642-1727).--Natural philosopher, _b._ at Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, the _s._ of a small landed proprietor, and _ed._ at the Grammar School of Grantham and at Trinity Coll., Camb. By propounding the binomial theorem, the differential calculus, and the integral calculus, he began in 1665 the wonderful series of discoveries in pure mathematics, optics, and physics, which place him in the first rank of the philosophers of all time. He was elected Lucasian Prof. of Mathematics at Camb. in 1669, and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1672, over which body he presided for 25 years from 1703. In the same year his new theory of flight was _pub._ in a paper before the society. His epoch-making discovery of the law of universal gravitation was not promulgated until 1687, though the first glimpse of it had come to him so early as 1665.

The discovery of fluxions, which he claimed, was contested by Leibnitz, and led to a long and bitter controversy between the two philosophers. He twice sat in Parliament for his Univ., and was Master of the Mint from 1699, in which capacity he presented reports on the coinage. He was knighted in 1705, and _d._ at Kensington in 1727. For a short time, after an unfortunate accident by which a number of invaluable ma.n.u.scripts were burned, he suffered from some mental aberration. His writings fall into two cla.s.ses, scientific and theological. In the first are included his famous treatises, _Light and Colours_ (1672), _Optics_ (1704), the _Principia_ (1687), in Latin, its full t.i.tle being _Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica_. In the second are his _Observations upon the Prophecies of Holy Writ_ and _An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture_. In character N. was remarkable for simplicity, humility, and gentleness, with a great distaste for controversy, in which, nevertheless, he was repeatedly involved. _Life_ by Sir D.

Brewster, second ed., 1855, etc.

NEWTON, JOHN (1725-1807).--Divine and hymn-writer, _s._ of a shipmaster, was _b._ in London, and for many years led a varied and adventurous life at sea, part of the time on board a man-of-war and part as captain of a slaver. In 1748 he came under strong religious convictions, and after acting as a tide-waiter at Liverpool for a few years, he applied for orders in 1758, and was ordained curate of Olney in 1764. Here he became the intimate and sympathetic friend of Cowper, in conjunction with whom he produced the _Olney Hymns_. In 1779 he was translated to the Rectory of St. Mary, Woolnoth, London, where he had great popularity and influence, and wrote many religious works, including _Cardiphonia_, and _Remarkable Pa.s.sages in his Own Life_. He lives, however, in his hymns, among which are some of the best and most widely known in the language, such as _In evil long I took delight_, _Glorious things of Thee are Spoken_, _How Sweet the Name of Jesus sounds_, and many others. In his latter years N. was blind.

NICHOL, JOHN (1833-1894).--Poet and biographer, _s._ of John P.N., Prof.

of Astronomy in Glasgow, _ed._ at Glasgow and Oxf., and held the chair of English Literature in Glasgow, 1862-1889. Among his writings are _Hannibal_ (1873), a drama, _Death of Themistocles and other Poems_ (1881), _Fragments of Criticism_, and _American Literature_; also Lives of Bacon, Burns, Carlyle, and Byron.

NOEL, HON. RODEN BERKELEY WRIOTHESLEY (1834-1894).--Poet, _s._, of the 1st Earl of Gainsborough, was _ed._ at Camb. He wrote _Behind the Veil_ (1863), _The Red Flag_ (1872), _Songs of the Heights and Deeps_ (1885), and _Essays_ on various poets, also a Life of Byron.

NORRIS, JOHN (1657-1711).--Philosopher and poet, _ed._ at Oxf., took orders, and lived a quiet and placid life as a country parson and thinker. In philosophy he was a Platonist and mystic, and was an early opponent of Locke. His poetry, with occasional fine thoughts, is full of far-fetched metaphors and conceits, and is not seldom dull and prosaic.

From 1692 he held G. Herbert's benefice of Bemerton. Among his 23 works are _An Idea of Happiness_ (1683), _Miscellanies_ (1687), _Theory and Regulation of Love_ (1688), _Theory of the Ideal and Intelligible World_ (1701-4), and a _Discourse concerning the Immortality of the Soul_ (1708).

NORTH, SIR THOMAS (1535?-1601?).--Translator, 2nd _s._ of the 1st Lord N., may have studied at Camb. He entered Lincoln's Inn 1557, but gave more attention to literature than to law. He is best known by his translation of _Plutarch_, from the French of Amyot, in fine, forcible, idiomatic English, which was the repertory from which Shakespeare drew his knowledge of ancient history: in _Antony and Cleopatra_ and _Coriola.n.u.s_ North's language is often closely followed. Another translation was from an Italian version of an Arabic book of fables, and bore the t.i.tle of _The Morale Philosophie of Doni_.

NORTON, CAROLINE ELIZABETH SARAH (SHERIDAN) (1808-1877).--Grand-daughter of Richard Brinsley S. (_q.v._), _m._ in 1827 the Hon. G.C. Norton, a union which turned out most unhappy, and ended in a separation. Her first book, _The Sorrows of Rosalie_ (1829), was well received. _The Undying One_ (1830), a romance founded upon the legend of the Wandering Jew, followed, and other novels were _Stuart of Dunleath_ (1851), _Lost and Saved_ (1863), and _Old Sir Douglas_ (1867). The unhappiness of her married life led her to interest herself in the amelioration of the laws regarding the social condition and the separate property of women and the wrongs of children, and her poems, _A Voice from the Factories_ (1836), and _The Child of the Islands_ (1845), had as an object the furtherance of her views on these subjects. Her efforts were largely successful in bringing about the needed legislation. In 1877 Mrs. N. _m._ Sir W.

Stirling Maxwell (_q.v._).

NORTON, CHARLES ELIOT, LL.D., D.C.L., etc. (1827-1909).--American biographer and critic. _Church Building in the Middle Ages_ (1876), translation of the _New Life_ (1867), and _The Divine Comedy_ of Dante (1891); has ed. _Correspondence of Carlyle and Emerson_ (1883), _Carlyle's Letters and Reminiscences_ (1887), etc.

OCCAM or OCKHAM, WILLIAM (1270?-1349?).--Schoolman, _b._ at Ockham, Surrey, studied at Oxf. and Paris, and became a Franciscan. As a schoolman he was a Nominalist and received the t.i.tle of the Invincible Doctor. He attacked the abuses of the Church, and was imprisoned at Avignon, but escaped and spent the latter part of his life at Munich, maintaining to the last his controversies with the Church, and with the Realists. He was a man of solid understanding and sense, and a masterly logician. His writings, which are of course all in Latin, deal with the Aristotelean philosophy, theology, and specially under the latter with the errors of Pope John XXII., who was his _bete-noir_.

OCCLEVE, (_see_ HOCCLEVE).

OCKLEY, SIMON (1678-1720).--Orientalist, _b._ at Exeter, and _ed._ at Camb., became the greatest Orientalist of his day, and was made in 1711 Prof. of Arabic in his Univ. His chief work is the _Conquest of Syria, Persia, and Egypt by the Saracens_ (3 vols., 1708-57), which was largely used by Gibbon. The original doc.u.ments upon which it is founded are now regarded as of doubtful authority. O. was a clergyman of the Church of England.

O'KEEFFE, JOHN (1747-1833).--Dramatist, wrote a number of farces and amusing dramatic pieces, many of which had great success. Among these are _Tony Lumpkin in Town_ (1778), _Wild Oats_, and _Love in a Camp_. Some of his songs set to music by Arnold and Shield, such as _I am a Friar of Orders Grey_, and _The Thorn_, are still popular. He was blind in his later years.

OLDHAM, JOHN (1653-1683).--Satirist and translator, _s._ of a Nonconformist minister, was at Oxf., and was the friend of most of the literary men of his time, by whom his early death from smallpox was bewailed. He made clever adaptations of the cla.s.sical satirists, wrote an ironical _Satire against Virtue_, and four severe satires against the Jesuits. He is cynical to the verge of misanthropy, but independent and manly.

OLDMIXON, JOHN (1673-1742).--Historical and miscellaneous writer, belonged to an old Somersetshire family, wrote some, now forgotten, dramas and poems which, along with an essay on criticism, in which he attacked Addison, Swift, and Pope, earned for him a place in _The Dunciad_. He was also the author of _The British Empire in America_ (1708), _Secret History of Europe_ (against the Stuarts), and in his _Critical History_ (1724-26) attacked Clarendon's _History of the Rebellion_. All these works are partisan in their tone. O. was one of the most prolific pamphleteers of his day.

OLDYS, WILLIAM (1696-1761).--Antiquary, wrote a Life of Sir W. Raleigh prefixed to an ed. of his works (1736), a _Dissertation on Pamphlets_ (1731), and was joint ed. with Dr. Johnson of the _Harleian Miscellany_.

He ama.s.sed many interesting facts in literary history, the fruits of diligent, though obscure, industry. The only poem of his that still lives is the beautiful little anacreontic beginning "Busy, curious, thirsty Fly." O. held the office of Norroy-King-at-Arms. He produced in 1737 _The British Librarian_, a valuable work left unfinished.