a genre painter. He inserted the figures in some of his father's pictures. He died in 1703.—(Van Eynden en Vander Willigen, Geschiedenis der Vaderlandsche Schilderkunst, &c.)—R. N. W.
NEES VON ESENBECK, Christian Gottfried, a distinguished German botanist, was born at Darmstadt on 14th February, 1776, and died at Breslau in 1858. He imbibed a taste for natural history at the Pædagogium of Darmstadt. He studied medicine, and took his degree of M.D. at the university of Jena. He afterwards began practice as a medical man at Frankfort-on-the-Maine. He revived the German Academia Naturæ Curiosorum, after it had been dormant for twenty-seven years. He was afterwards president of the academy. He became a fellow of the Linnæan Society in 1827. In 1818 he became professor of botany and director of the botanic garden of the university of Erlangen. In the same year he was appointed editor of the Nova Acta Academiæ Cæsareæ Leopoldino-Carolinæ Naturæ Curiosorum, the direction of which he continued till his death. He was appointed in 1819 ordinary professor of natural history in the university of Bonn, and was instrumental in establishing a botanic garden there. He was transferred to the chair of botany in the university of Breslau in 1821. He took a deep interest in political matters, and rendered himself obnoxious to government by his liberal sentiments. He was one of the most distinguished systematic botanists of his day, and he has published numerous works. Among these the following may be noticed—Treatise on fresh-water Algæ and on Fungi, and on the genera and species of Asters; a "Handbook of Botany;" "Flora of Brazil;" "System of Laurineæ," "Acanthaceæ" of Decandolle's Prodromus; "Monograph of Indian Solancæ;" "Description of Indian Grasses and Sedges;" besides researches on the Ichneumonidæ, and numerous papers in the Nova Acta.—J. H. B.
NEFF, Felix, a laborious and devoted missionary, was born at Geneva in 1798. He was left an orphan at an early age; but his mother, who was a woman of eminent piety, took charge of his education, and from his boyish years he manifested a strong inclination for literature, as well as for the study of natural history and mathematics. His favourite authors were Plutarch and Rousseau. He was apprenticed to a florist gardener near Geneva; but, anxious to relieve his mother from the burden of his support, he entered the army at the age of seventeen, and by his good conduct and diligent discharge of his duties, he soon attained the rank of sergeant. Having come under strong religious impressions, he was induced in 1819 to leave the army, and to devote himself to the duties of a missionary in the wild valleys of the High Alps. After spending two years as a "probationer" in the cantons of Geneva, Neufchâtel, Berne, and the Pays de Vaud, he went in 1821 to prosecute his self-denying and laborious work in the destitute district of Grenoble in France, and subsequently at Mens in the department of the Isère. In 1823 he paid a visit to England, where he was ordained to the office of the christian ministry by the Congregationalists. He then resumed his labours at Mens, but a short time afterwards he took up his residence once more in the High Alps, and laboured with great diligence and zeal among the descendants of the Vaudois in the wild but picturesque valleys of Queyras and Fressinière, where he erected churches, organized schools, constructed canals and aqueducts, and visited and instructed the scanty and scattered population "by day and night, through mud, snow, and ice." He died at Geneva in 1829. While he lay on his deathbed small companies of his flock made long journeys on foot through the snow to visit him.—J. T.
NEGRO. See Nero.
* NEHER, Bernhard, German historical painter, was born in 1806 at Biberach in Würtemburg. After preparatory training under his father, a painter of considerable ability, he entered the Stuttgart Art Academy, and thence passed into that of Munich, where he was for a while a pupil of Cornelius. He then went as exhibitioner to Rome, where he stayed four years, and attracted the notice of Ludwig of Bavaria, at whose invitation he returned to Munich to paint a fresco of the "Return of the Emperor Ludwig, after his victory over Frederick of Austria," on the exterior of the Isarthor; a Virgin, &c. In 1836 he was recalled to Weimar. He then painted a series of seven large pictures in the Schiller Gallery, from Schiller's ballads and dramas; and afterwards in the Göthe Gallery, several from the poems of Göthe. These he completed in 1847, and then proceeded to Leipsic, where he had been appointed director of the Art Academy. He had also been nominated professor of painting in the Stuttgart academy. Herr Neher has painted several frescoes for churches, including a large altar-piece for the new church of St. Peter at Hamburg, and numerous oil paintings from religious and secular history. His works are characterized by elevation of sentiment and much poetic feeling.—J. T—e.
NEILL, James George Smith, Brigadier-general, an officer who distinguished himself highly in the repression of the Indian mutiny, was born about 1810. He was the eldest son of the late Lieutenant-colonel Smith Neill of Barnweill in Ayrshire. Joining the 1st European fusiliers (Madras) in 1826, he served in the first Burmese war, was afterwards resident at Nagpore, and took part in the second Burmese war. On the breaking out of the war with Russia he volunteered for active service in Turkey, and commanded the Turkish contingent. He returned to India at the close of the war and was in command of the 1st fusiliers at the beginning of the Indian mutiny. Ordered up with his regiment from Madras he arrived in Calcutta at the end of May, 1857, and by his energy and decision saved Benares, where he quelled the outbreak with a strong hand. He then reduced Allahabad to subjection, and was of great assistance in the battle by which Havelock regained possession of Cawnpore. It was Neill who took signal vengeance for the massacre of Cawnpore by forcing high caste Brahmins, who had connived at it, to wash with their hands the floor stained by the blood of Nana Sahib's English victims, and thus to forfeit their caste. In Havelock's final advance to relieve Lucknow, September, 1857, General Neill, as he had become, commanded the first brigade, and was killed while forcing his way through one of the gates of the city. After his death it was officially notified that he was to have been made a knight companion of the bath had he survived, and her majesty signified her pleasure that his widow should enjoy all the privileges which would have belonged to her rank.—F. E.
NEILL, Patrick, an eminent naturalist and horticulturist, was born in 1776, and died at Edinburgh on the 5th September, 1851. In early life he prosecuted science, and was particularly devoted to botany and horticulture. He was one of the founders of the Caledonian Horticultural Society, and acted as secretary of the society for forty years. He was also instrumental in forming the experimental garden at Edinburgh. He was secretary of the Wernerian Society during the whole period of its existence under the presidentcy of Professor Jameson. He carried on the business of a printer in Edinburgh, and devoted his leisure to natural history. His residence at Canonmills was the resort of all naturalists, and his garden there was famous for the plants which it contained, many of which were figured in botanical periodicals. His attention was directed to zoology, and he kept many live animals at his residence. Those who visited him remember with interest the many scenes which took place at his table by the inroads of cats, parrots, cockatoos, and animals of rare stamp, which were allowed full liberty in his establishment. He set agoing a zoological garden in Edinburgh, which has now, however, been given up. He took a particular interest in practical gardeners, and did much to promote their welfare and advancement. He was a hospitable man in every respect. He continued to the last to take an interest in his favourite pursuits. An attack of paralysis was the main cause of his death. He bequeathed the sum of £500 to the Royal Society of Edinburgh to found a biennial prize for scientific papers, and a similar one to the Horticultural Society for a prize in the department of horticulture. He became a member of the Linnæan Society in 1813. From the university of Glasgow he received the degree of LL.D., and he was a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Among his published works may be mentioned the following—"Tour through Orkney and Shetland," published in 1806; "An Account of the Basalts of Saxony," from the French of Daubuisson; "Annals of British Horticulture;" the "Flower, Fruit, and Kitchen Garden," which originally appeared as an article in the Encyclopædia Britannica; "Journal of a Horticultural Tour through some parts of Flanders, Holland, and the North of France;" "Account of a Fin-whale;" "List of Fishes in the Firth of Forth;" besides various articles in Jameson's Journal, the Wernerian Memoirs, and the Transactions of the Caledonian Horticultural Society.—J. H. B.
NELEDINSKI-MELEZKI, Jury Alexandrovitch, a Russian writer of merit, is best known by his short lyrical poems. He was born in 1751, trained for the army, and achieved some distinction in the Turkish and Finland campaigns.
