Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 37

=Neri'ne=, =Doto=, and =Nyse=, 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 Nyse and Nerine 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 Cur 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 Hercules over a river, and, attempting to run away with her, was shot by Hercules. As the centaur was dying, he told Deani'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 Hercules put the shirt on, his body suffered such agony, that he rushed to Mount ta, collected together a pile of wood, set it on fire, and rushing into the midst of the flames, was burnt to death.

When Creusa (3 _syl._), the daughter of King Creon, was about to be married to Jason, Medea 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 Ma.s.sacre, replied that his family contained a long list of warriors, but not one a.s.sa.s.sin.

=Neville= (_Major_), an a.s.sumed 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 Cur 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 a.s.sociation 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 Ma.s.singer (1625). Wellborn, the nephew of Sir Giles Overreach, having run through his fortune and got into debt, induces Lady Allworth, out of respect and grat.i.tude 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."

? Sh.e.l.ley was before Macaulay in the same conceit.--See _Dedication of Peter Bell the Third_.

=Newcastle= (_The d.u.c.h.ess 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 ap.r.o.n. 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 b.a.l.l.s 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. d.i.c.kens, _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 d.i.c.kens, _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.