Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 39

_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. d.i.c.kens, _Nicholas Nickleby_, (1838).

=Nicneven=, a gigantic, malignant hag of Scotch superst.i.tion.

? 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.--Moliere, _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 pa.s.sages 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 ent.i.tled _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 Dakianos 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 G.o.ds= (_The_) of the Etruscans: Juno, Minerva, and Tin'ia (_the three chief_). The other six were Vulcan, Mars, Saturn, Hercules, Summa'nus, and Vedius. (See NOVENSILES.)

Lars Por'sena of Clusium By the nine G.o.ds he swore That the great house of Tarquin Should suffer wrong no more.

By the nine G.o.ds 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) Princ.i.p.alities, (8) Archangels, (9) Angels (_in the third circle_).

In heaven above The effulgent bands in triple circles move.

Ta.s.so, _Jerusalem Delivered_, xi. 13 (1575).

Novem vero angelorum ordines dicimus; ... scimus (1) Angelos, (2) Archangelos, (3) Virtues, (4) Potestates, (5) Princ.i.p.atus, (6) Dominationes, (7) Thronos, (8) Cherubim, (9) Seraphim.--Gregory, _Homily_, 34 (A.D. 381).

=Nine Worthies= (_The_). Three were _pagans_: Hector, Alexander, and Julius Caesar. Three were _Jews_: Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabaeus.

Three were _Christians_: Arthur, Charlemagne, and G.o.dfrey 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.