Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 40

? 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 ill.u.s.trious persons of the period, as Moliere, 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 Niobe, 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 Nippotate lies amongst the rest.

_Sutton Nicholls._

=Niquee= [_Ne'.kay_], the sister of Anasterax, with whom she lived in incest. The fairy Zorphee was her G.o.dmother, and enchanted her, in order to break off this connection.--Vasco de Lobeira, _Amadis de Gaul_ (thirteenth century).

=Nisroch= [_Niz'.rok_], "of princ.i.p.alities the prince." A G.o.d of the a.s.syrians. In the book of _Kings_ the Septuagint calls him "Meserach,"

and in _Isaiah_ "Nasarach." Josephus calls him "Araskes." 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, t.i.t, 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= (_Caesar or_). Julius Caesar said, "Aut Caesar aut nullus." And again, "I would sooner be first in a village than second at Rome."

Milton makes Satan say, "Better to reign in h.e.l.l 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 h.o.a.re, 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=, Wala (3 _syl._), who endeavored to persuade the people that her husband was distraught.

The wife of Noah [_Wala_] and the wife of Lot [_Wahela_] were both unbelievers ... and deceived their husbands ... and it shall be said to them at the last day, "Enter ye into h.e.l.l fire."--Sale, _Al Koran_, lxvi.

=n.o.bbs=, the horse of "Dr. Dove of Doncaster."--Southey, _The Doctor_ (1834).

=n.o.ble= (_The_), Charles III. of Navarre (1361, 1387-1425).

Soliman, _Tchelibi_, the Turk (died 1410).

? Khosrou or Chosroes I. was called "The n.o.ble 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 Gren.o.ble_, 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. d.i.c.kens, _Nicholas Nickleby_ (1838).