Bucks, and studied at Christ church, Oxford, of which college he became tutor. In 1710 he was principal of Hart hall. He was tutor to the duke of Newcastle, and to Mr. Pelham, for whom he is said to have sometimes written the king's speeches. He obtained a charter for Hart hall as a perpetual college in 1740, and in 1752 was made canon of Christ church. He died April 21, 1753. He edited Theophrastus (published 1754), but published nothing of importance.—B. H. C.
NEWTON, Thomas, an eminent English writer of Latin poetry, was a native of Butley in Cheshire. He was educated at Queen's college, Cambridge, and became both a schoolmaster and physician at Macclesfield. He is also said to have been in holy orders, and to have held the benefice of Little Ilford in Essex, where he kept a school and resided until his death, which took place in 1607. He translated the Thebais of Seneca, and published all the other pieces of the same writer as translated by Heywood, Nevile, and others. A list of his fugitive pieces will be found in Ritson's Catalogue of English poets.—R. H.
NEWTON, Thomas, prelate, was born at Lichfield on the 1st of January, 1704, and had his earliest education in Lichfield and Westminster schools, from which he passed to Trinity college, Cambridge, where he became a fellow. Having entered into orders, he was appointed reader and afternoon preacher at Grosvenor chapel. South Audley Street, London. He was a diligent hunter of preferment and succeeded well in the chase. Mr. Pulteney, when Lord Bath, made him his chaplain, and in 1744 gave him the rectory of St. Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside. In 1766 he was made a royal chaplain; in 1767 a prebendary of Westminster; in 1758 dean of St. Paul's; and in 1761 he was promoted to the bishopric of Bristol, which see he continued to occupy for twenty-one years. He died in 1782. He was a diligent editor of Milton. His edition of Paradise Lost with notes of various authors came out in two vols., 4to, in 1749; and a corresponding edition of Paradise Regained and the smaller poems, in one vol. in 1752. But the work by which he is best known is his "Dissertations on the Prophecies," which appeared in 1754, and has been very useful in the service of christian truth. He left also his autobiography to the world, upon which it has been remarked that if he had withheld it, his character would probably have stood higher than it does, for he gives his history as that of a preferment hunter, and of a literary rather than a religious man.—P. L.
NEY, Michael, a celebrated warrior, was born at Sarre-Louis on the river Sarre, which flows into the Moselle, on the 10th January, 1769. He was the son of a soldier, who had fought with distinction at the battle of Rosbach. The future marshal received a better education than most of Napoleon's marshals. After having been for a time in a notary's office, he held a situation in the mines. Peaceful employment, however, was not well adapted to his martial temper; and spite of the energetic opposition of his parents, he enlisted at the age of eighteen in a regiment of hussars. His promotion was not at first rapid; but having by his brilliant exploits attracted the notice of Kleber, he was in 1794 appointed adjutant-general. Having been wounded by a musket shot in one of those combats in which he was always the foremost and fiercest, he retired for a time to his native Lorraine. Returning to serve under Kleber, he was by Kleber's influence created brigadier-general, a rank which he was at first, from modesty, inclined to refuse. He contributed to the victory of the French at the battle of Neuwied; but flung from his horse, and rolling down a ravine, he fell into the hands of the enemy. An exchange of prisoners soon restored him to that army of which he was alike a stay and an ornament. His services under Massena were of the most eminent and important kind. Repeatedly and dangerously wounded, he had again and again to withdraw from the scenes where his presence to the soldier was so inspiring. In the spring of 1800 Ney, scarcely convalescent, joined the army of the Rhine. As active and prompt as he was bold, Ney had his full share in the crowning triumph of the French at Hohenlinden. Peace brought Ney to Paris, where Napoleon heaped on him all the honours in his power, and all the flatteries he could invent. Bonaparte and Josephine arranged an advantageous marriage for Ney with a young lady called Auguié, the boarding-school companion and intimate friend of Hortense Beauharnais. The marriage took place early in the summer of 1802. Sent as a plenipotentiary to Switzerland, Ney displayed much adroitness and vigour, and was exceedingly successful in difficult circumstances. He was recalled to assume a high command in the army of Boulogne, which menaced England. One of Napoleon's earliest acts on mounting the imperial throne, was to name Ney a marshal. In the glorious campaigns of Napoleon which led to the peace of Tilsit in 1807, Ney was, as ever, intrepid and indefatigable. For his terrible onslaught on Elchingen, so fruitful in results, he was created Duke of Elchingen, receiving from the emperor six hundred thousand francs to support his new dignity. If the battle of Eylau, though one of the bloodiest of Napoleon's battles, was also one of the least decisive, it was not the fault of Ney, who flashed along from point to point, a miracle of valour. At Friedland Marshal Ney was saluted as the "Bravest of the brave," and as such he has ever since been famous throughout the world. Spain was the next theatre on which Ney appeared. But it was the awful Russian campaign which was destined to render Ney immortal. If mighty when the vast army rolled on to conquest, he was far mightier in the unparalleled reverses which befel it. In the most tragical retreat which history records, Ney seemed able, by the mere glance of his eye and the mere wave of his sword, to save from full and final destruction the vanquished French. He was now prince of Moskowa, for such he had been created by Napoleon the very evening of the day on which the battle of Moskowa had been fought—a battle which strewed the field with thirty thousand dead. In the despairing contest of Napoleon in Germany and France with the allies, there was no figure more conspicuous than Ney's, except Napoleon's own. But Napoleon's magnificent strategy was unavailing: the game had been played out. Napoleon abdicated, Ney and others approving. Louis XVIII. gave Ney numerous marks of his respect and trust; but the extreme royalists slighted him, and he retired to his country seat in anger and disgust. When Napoleon landed from Elba, Ney, after a moment's hesitation, joined him. In the brief campaign which followed, he achieved all that it was possible for skill and valour to achieve. At Waterloo he combated with the madness of a man who had ceased to hope alike for himself, for Napoleon, and for France; had five horses killed under him; and, covered with blood, he was torn from the midst of the slain. The Bourbonists deemed and declared Ney a traitor, who, however, relying on an article in the capitulation of Paris proclaiming a general amnesty, did not seek to escape as advised by his friends and family. He was apprehended, dragged to Paris, and rudely treated in prison. A large majority of the chamber of peers condemned him to death. With his wife and family he had a farewell interview, and the "bravest of the brave" broke into tears. Early on the morning of the 7th December, 1815, he fell, pierced by many balls, in the garden of the Luxembourg. He died with a sublime calm, uttering with his last breath his love for France. If the execution of Ney was an act of justice, it was still more an act of vengeance, while it was one of the most signal blunders which the Bourbonist bigots committed. Ney was an honest and patriotic man, and erred only where it was difficult for the most upright not to err. He left four sons, most of whom have displayed remarkable and diversified ability. His granddaughter married the Count De Persigny. The name of Ney is one of the most popular in all nations—one of those the most warmly cherished in France.—W. M—l.
NIBBY, Antonio, an Italian antiquary, born at Rome in 1792; died 29th December, 1839. He early distinguished himself as a Greek scholar, and in his seventeenth year originated a Greek academy, the Hellenica or Tiberina, as it was afterwards called. In 1820 he was appointed professor of archæology in the university of Rome. He published a number of valuable works on antiquarian subjects, amongst which we mention—"Le mure di Roma disegnate da W. Gell; "Hand-books of Archæology and of Roman Antiquities; translation of Pausanias; and an edition of the Roma Antica by Nardini.—K. E.
NICANDER, a Greek poet, was a native of Claros in Ionia, and flourished in the second century before Christ. Of his numerous works two hexameter poems are alone extant—one, termed "Theriaca," upon noxious reptiles and the cures for their bites—the other, termed "Alexipharmaca," on poisons and their antidotes. They are of a pedantic and antiquarian cast, having little poetic merit. Two of Nicander's lost works, his "Georgics," and his poem on bees, were imitated by Virgil in his Georgics. There are also two passages, if not more, in the "Theriaca" which have been closely followed by Virgil. Nicander is praised by Cicero and other ancient authorities.—G.
