and on the 9th of January, 1806, his corpse was borne with every demonstration of honour to its resting-place in St. Paul's cathedral. "When he died," says Coleridge, finely, "it seemed as if no man was a stranger to another; for all were made acquaintances by the rights of a common anguish." Of the older biographies of Nelson, the best is the compact and classical performance of Southey; among the more recent, Mr. Pettigrew's Memoirs, 1849, may be mentioned as containing many extracts from the hero's private correspondence. "Nelson's Despatches and Letters," edited by Sir Harris Nicolas, were published in seven volumes in 1844-47.—F. E.
NELSON, Robert, surnamed "The Pious," was the son of a London merchant, and born in London, January 22, 1656. After attending St. Paul's school he entered Trinity college, Cambridge, as a gentleman commoner. On leaving college he made a continental tour, in the course of which he met with Theophila, widow of Sir Kingsmill Lucy, and daughter of the earl of Berkeley, a lady whom he married after his return to England. His wife had been a secret convert to popery, but his domestic happiness was not marred by the discovery. On the accession of William, Nelson joined the non-jurants, though he still maintained an unshaken friendship with Tillotson, who died in his arms. In 1709 he became reconciled to the church, and remained in her communion till his death at Kensington on the 16th of January, 1715. He was interred in the burial ground of St. George the Martyr. Nelson was a man of private fortune, and was very benevolent and devout. His devotional works have been exceedingly popular, particularly his "Companion to the Festivals and Feasts," and his "Practice of True Devotion." He wrote a life of Bishop Bull, who in early life had been his tutor, and also "The Whole Duty of a Christian," "Transubstantiation Contrary to Scripture," a "Letter on the Trinity," and the "Duty of Frequenting the Christian Sacrifice."—J. E.
NEMESIANUS, Marcus Aurelius Olympius, a Latin bucolic poet, flourished at the court of the Emperor Cerus in 283. A long fragment of his "Cynegeticon" remains, and he is by some considered as the author of four of the Eclogues which commonly pass under the name of Calpurnius.—(See Professor Conington's Virgil, vol. i. p. 108.) His style is pure and graceful, especially if we consider the late period at which he wrote.—G.
NEMESIUS, a christian philosopher who lived most probably at the end of the fourth century or beginning of the fifth, after Christ. Scarcely anything is known of his personal history, as he is seldom mentioned by other writers. He seems to have been bishop of Emesa in Syria, since Anastasius Nicenus so styles him. The interest attaching to his person arises from the work Περὶ φύσεϖς ἀνθώπου, De natura hominis, which is philosophical, not theological—a work marked by intellectual ability as well as ingenuity. Two passages particularly have attracted notice, from their being supposed to prove the author's acquaintance with the circulation of the blood and the functions of the bile. The passages are both curious and remarkable; but scarcely establish the fact that the bishop preceded Harvey and Sylvius in their memorable discoveries. The first edition in Greek, with a Latin version, appeared at Antwerp, 1565, 8vo, by Ellebodius. The best is that of Matthaei, 8vo, 1802. The work has been translated into English, French, German, and Italian. It is a singular document, containing some curious opinions on theological as well as philosophical points.—S. D.
NEMOURS, Gaston de Foix, Duc de, son of Jean de Foix, Viscount de Narbonne, and of Marie d'Orleans, sister of Louis XII. He received the duchy from the king in exchange for the county of Narbonne, after the death of Louis, son of Jacques D'Armagnac, upon whom it was conferred in 1461 by Louis XI. On the 11th April, 1512, there was fought the great battle of Ravenna between the French and the confederate Spanish and papal armies. Gaston de Foix was in command of the French army, and during the fight performed prodigies of valour. The confederate army was routed with great loss; but the valorous leader of the French, pursuing too eagerly the retreating enemy, was mortally wounded. His death abruptly closed the fortunes of the French in Italy.
NEMOURS, Jacques d'Armagnac, Duc de, was son of Bernard, Comte de la Marche, governor of the dauphin, who was afterwards Louis XI. In 1442 he was married to Louise, daughter of the Comte de Maine, and received from Louis XI. the investiture of the duchy of Nemours. Soon afterwards he quelled an insurrection in Roussillon. Although at first he engaged in what was known as the League for the public good, his shrewd sense soon led him to make peace with the king. The government of Paris and of the Isle of France rewarded him for his timely surrender, but he continued to betray the king and to correspond with his enemies. On the 4th August, 1477, his crooked courses were stopped for ever by the axe of the executioner. The cruelty of Louis XI. has sometimes excited pity for Nemours, yet there seems no doubt that, although there was much unnecessary harshness in the details of his execution, the punishment itself was simply what he had deserved.—W. J. P.
NEMOURS, Louis d'Armagnac, Duc de, held a command in the army of Louis XII. in Italy, against the Spaniards, under the great captain, Gonsalvo de Cordova, and was killed at the battle of Cerignola in 1503. In his person the line of Armagnac ended, and after his death the duchy of Nemours was bestowed by Louis XII. upon Gaston de Foix, killed in the battle of Ravenna in 1512. In 1528 it was given by Francis I. to his uncle, Philip of Savoy, continuing in his line until 1659, when Henry II. of Savoy and duke of Nemours died. The title is now borne by the second son of Louis Philippe.—W. J. P.
NEMOURS, Marie d'Orleans, Duchesse de, the only daughter of the Duc de Longueville, was born in 1625. In 1657 she married Henry II. of Savoy, Duc de Nemours, who died but two years afterwards. Mary long survived him, and in 1694 she inherited from her brother the Abbé de Longueville the county of Neufchâtel in Switzerland. She died in 1707, leaving Mémoires of the wars of the Fronde, which contain stories and anecdotes to which her own position as an actress in the scenes she described lends a special and peculiar interest. They are printed with those of De Retz and Joli, and an English translation of them has appeared in eight duodecimo volumes.—W. J. P.
NENNIUS is the traditionary name of the author of an ancient chronicle of Britain, variously called "Historia Britonum," and "Eulogium Britanniæ." The work is a brief one and of slight historical value, but, as all its critics admit, interesting as embodying the ancient British traditions of the first colonization of our island, its subjugation by the Saxons, and such romantic stories as that of King Arthur. The authorship of the "Historia Britonum" and the date of its composition, are matters of dispute. They have been discussed with learning, ingenuity, and originality, by the Honourable Algernon Herbert in his introduction to the Irish version of the "Historia Britonum," printed in 1848 by the Irish Archæological Society. Most of the difficulties of the subject are removed by Mr. Herbert's theory. This is, that the work was written by Marcus, a Briton (referred to in it), educated in Ireland, where he was a bishop, and that it was compiled by him for the edification of the Irish; that it was reproduced about the year 858 by one Nennius, a Briton of the Latin communion; and was afterwards treated as "the album or common-place book of Britannia, to which any one might laudably add such passages as he knew of, and elucidate or obscure, according to his ability what he found there." Of the modern editions of Nennius, the chief are the Rev. W. Gunn's, with an English translation, 1818; Mr. Stevenson's Latin text, with an introduction, 1838, among the publications of the English Historical Society, and that in the "Monumenta Historicæ Britannicæ," 1848. Mr. Gunn's version is reprinted in the Six Old English Chronicles, 1848, which form a volume of Bohn's Antiquarian Library.—F. E.
NEPAIR or NEPER. See Napier.
NEPOMUCKY, Jan (Joannes Nepomucuus), the patron saint of Bohemia, is said to have been born at Pomuk in 1320, and entering the church to have become almoner and confessor to Jane, wife of Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia. The king suspecting the fidelity of his wife ordered Nepomucky to reveal the secrets of the confessional, and on his refusal, imprisoned and tortured him, finally drowning him in the Moldau in 1383. This is the traditional account of the patron-saint of Bohemia, who is revered by his countrymen as a martyr, and was canonized early in the eighteenth century. Palaky and other historians, however, have endeavoured to prove that tradition has confounded with the saint a certain John de Pomuk, said to have been drowned by Wenceslaus for resistance to his will in his government of the church.—F. E.
NEPOS, Cornelius, a Roman author, contemporary with Cicero. Catullus dedicates his poems to Cornelius Nepos, and compliments him highly on his extensive learning. Nepos wrote an epitome of universal history under the title of "Chronica" in
