pay. In June 1850 he commissioned the Agincourt, from which in August he was moved to the St. George, as flag-captain to Commodore Seymour, then superintendent of the dockyard at Devonport [see Seymour, Sir Michael, (1802–1887)], and as captain of the ordinary. In 1852 Captain James Scott [q. v.] of the navy, in conversation with a friend at the United Service Club, made some reflections on Nias's conduct in China. Though duelling was then not quite extinct, the feeling of the navy was strongly opposed to it, and Nias took the then unusual practice of bringing an action against Scott, who, after the evidence of Sir Thomas Herbert (1793–1861) [q. v.] and others, withdrew the imputation, and under pressure from the lord chief justice expressed his regret, on which the plaintiff accepted a verdict of 40s. and costs (Times, 22, 23 June; Morning Chronicle, 24 June 1852).
Nias commanded the ordinary at Devonport for the usual term of three years, and from 1854 to 1856 was superintendent of the victualling yard and hospital at Plymouth. He had no further service, but was made rear-admiral on 14 Feb. 1857, vice-admiral 12 Sept. 1863, K.C.B. 13 March 1867, and admiral 18 Oct. 1867. After his retirement from active service he resided for the most part at Surbiton, but in 1877 moved to London, where he died on 17 Dec. 1879. He was buried in the Marylebone cemetery at East Finchley. He married in 1855 Caroline Isabella, only daughter of John Laing, and left issue two sons and three daughters.
[Information from the family; O'Byrne's Nav. Biog. Dict.]
NICCOLS, RICHARD (1584–1616), poet, born in London in 1584, may possibly have been son of Richard Niccols or Nichols of London, who entered the Inner Temple in 1575, and is usually (according to Wood) styled ‘the elder.’ Richard Niccols died before 1613, and after his death there appeared in London in that year a volume assigned to his pen containing ‘A Treatise setting forth the Mystery of our Salvation,’ and ‘A Day Star for Dark Wandring Souls; showing the light by a Christian Controversy.’
The younger Richard Niccols accompanied the Earl of Nottingham, when only in his twelfth year, on the voyage to Cadiz, and was on board the admiral's ship Ark at the taking of the city, when a dove rested on the mainyard of the ship and did not leave it till the vessel arrived in London. Niccols thrice refers to the picturesque incident in his published poems (cf. Winter Nights Vision, Ded.; England's Eliza, pp. 861 and 869). Niccols matriculated from Magdalen College, Oxford, on 20 Nov. 1602, but soon migrated to Magdalen Hall, whence he graduated B.A. on 20 May 1606. He was then ‘numbered,’ according to Wood, ‘among the ingenious persons of the university.’ Coming to London, he spent his leisure in studying Spenser's works, and in writing poetry somewhat in Spenser's manner. At the same time he followed a profession, which neither he nor his biographers specify. But all his avocations left him poor. The families of the Earl of Nottingham, and Sir Thomas Wroth and James Hay, earl of Carlisle, were his chief literary patrons.
His earliest publication, which appeared while he was an undergraduate, was entitled ‘Epicedium. A Funeral Oration upon the death of the late deceased Princesse of famous memorye, Elizabeth. Written by Infelice Academico Ignoto,’ London, 1603, 4to. In one of the poems the author makes sympathetic reference to Spenser and Drayton. Appended is ‘The true Order and formall Proceeding at the Funerall’ of the queen, with which verse is intermixed. There followed in 1607 a very attractive narrative poem called ‘The Cuckow,’ with the motto ‘At etiam cubat cuculus, surge amator, i domum’ (Brit. Mus.). The volume, which is dedicated to Master Thomas Wroth, and was printed by F[elix] K[ingston], has no author's name, but in his later ‘Winter Nights Vision’ Niccols describes himself as having ‘Cuckow-like’ sung ‘in rustick tunes of Castaes wrongs.’ It tells the story of a contest between the cuckoo and nightingale for supremacy in song, and frequently imitates Spenser, who is eulogised in the course of his poem (Corser, Collectanea, ix. 72 seq.). The work seems to have been suggested by Drayton's ‘Owl,’ 1604.
One of Niccols's largest undertakings was a new and much revised edition of the ‘Mirror for Magistrates,’ which had originally been issued by Baldwin in 1559, with Sackville's famous ‘Induction.’ Since its first appearance nine editions had appeared with continuations by Thomas Blenerhasset [q. v.], John Higgins [q. v.], and others. The latest edition before Niccols turned his attention to the work was supervised by Higgins, and was dated 1587. In 1610 Niccols's version was printed by Felix Kingston. In an address to the reader he stated that he had rearranged the old poems and improved their rhythm, and had added many new poems of his own. He, moreover, omitted Baldwin's ‘James I of Scotland,’ Francis Segar's ‘Richard, Duke of Gloucester,’ the anonymous
