If AHUM. 



NAPIER, JOHN. 



be bad a r* u > IM for t* 1 * satirical, which proved unluciy to him ; for, 

 hsvriny 11 pond In hit i lavs some of the ! ading men at Rome, among 

 uihm com* of tb Metrlli fam IT. be WM imprisonml and banished ai 

 an alirn. He U said to have retired to I'tica in Africa, where ho died 

 tout nc. '.'l' 4. accotdiog t*> the chronicle of Kiuelimn. Aulus Gellitis 

 ys that, being imprisoned at Rome, he compoeed two comedies 

 in hl prison through which he was mtored to liberty. 



NAHUM, one of the twelve minor Hebrew po.t<, was called the 

 Elkoahite (Nahum L 1), probably from the place of bis birtli, Elkosb, 

 a Tillage in Galilee. (Hieronymua. * Proem, in Nalium ; ' Eusebius, 

 Onoma>ticoD,' art. ' E*i '). He prophesied iu the kingdom of 

 Judah, whither we may rappoea be had gone after the overthrow of 

 Israel. Hie age can only be conjectured from certain indications con- 

 tained in hi* prophecy, from which it appears that both the kingdoms 

 of Israel and Judah bad ben subject to severe attacks from the 

 Aseyrkni (chap. L), and that the captivity of Israel had already taken 

 place (chap. ii. 2). He U thought to allude to the dei-truction of 

 Sennacherib's army (L 11-14), as having occurred recently (ii. 1). He 

 also prophesies the speedy restoration of Judah to prosperity (L IS ; 

 ii. 71, which happened in the reign of Jotiah. These circumstances 

 would place his prophecy towards the close of Hexekiah's reign, about 

 B.C. 705. Some suppose that the destruction of Thebes and the cap- 

 tivity of the Egyptians and Ethiopians, spoken of in Nahum (ii. 8-10), are 

 the same events to which Isaiah refers (chap, xx.) ; but this is uncertain. 



Nalium's prophecy is a complete poem, the subject of which is 'the 

 burden of Ninevrh (i. 1), that it, the destruction of Nineveh and the 

 Assyrian empire, M the punishment of its wickedness and oppression. 

 Tb prophecy commences with a sublime description of the power of 

 Jehovah in punishing his enemies and protecting his people, and pro- 

 ceeds to foretell the impending destruction of Nineveh (chape, i. ii.), 

 which is described in tho most vivid poetry in chap. iii. The event 

 which be prophesies took place in the year B.C. 625, in the reign of 

 Chyniladanus, king of Assyria, when Nineveh WM detroyed and the 

 Assyrian empire overthrown by Cyaxarea L and Nabopolassar. 



" None of the minor prophets seem to equal Nahum in boldness, 

 ardour, and sublimity. His prophecy too forms a regular and perfect 

 poem ; the exordium is not merely magnificent, it is truly majestic ; 

 the preparation for the destruction of Nineveh, and the description of 

 ita downfall and desolation, are expressed in the most vivid colours, 

 and are bold and luminous iu tho highest degree." (Bishop Lowth, 

 ' Prelect,' xxL) Some expressions and images which are peculiar to 

 him occur in L 10; it 4-9; iii. 17. The canonical authority of 

 Nabum's prophecy is undisputed. 



.HIMUV, AK1M NIKOLAEVITCH, a Russian poet, was born 

 at Kharkov, of wealthy parents, in 1742, and educated at the Univenity 

 of Moscow. According to the usual custom of that period, he entered 

 the military service at an early g-, but did not lung continue iu it ; 

 for, on the new univenity being opened at Kharkov, he enrolled him- 

 self among the students, and applied himself to literature with such 

 *al and diligence M to excite gmeral astonishment Having taken 

 hit degree, he retired to bis own estate to indulge in that fulness of 

 litenry enjoyment which his fortune permitted him, and in that 

 domestic society which he shortly after secured to himself by his union 

 with a very aniiable young lady. Thus eminently favoured in every 

 res|ct, the tranquil felicity of his life met with no other interruption 

 than that of a premature death, for he WM suddenly carried off by a 

 fever, July 17-29, 1814, in the thirty-second year of his age, leaving 

 behind him two infant children, to whom he had looked M pledges of 

 the increasing happiness in store for him. 



Though of amiable disposition, and possessed of a fund of good 

 MOM and philosophy, Nakhimov had many singularities, and was at 

 time* morbidly shy even among bis most intimate acquaintance. 

 Another trait in bit character WM bis singular difti.l, m-e of his own 

 literary UUnU, notwithstanding that bis favourite subjects, and those 

 in which he best suooeede-1, were of a satirical cast. This turn for 

 entile observation displays itself al o iu his ' Fable*,' which are 

 .rkabls for tbiir epigrammatic point Besides hit satires in vein -, 



h wrote many pieces in proao that partake more or lets of the lame 



spirit, more particularly that entitled ' The Speakii 



WM composed in derision of the attempted conquest of ituwia by 



Hapoleon I., and which may challenge comparison with Voltaire's 

 Micromtfaa.' A abort memoir of him, with a critical notice of hit chief 

 produrtionf,wa* published at St Petersburg in 1818 by Dr. Moslovi'ch. 



NAN SI. GIOVANNI, called Giovanni di Udine, WM born at Udine 

 In 14*0. He ntudied first'lu the school of Oiurxone, and aftrrwards 

 passed to that of Raflaello, under whose direction he executed the 

 greater part of the stuccoes and grotesque ornaments in the liygie and 

 oth'r apattmenU of the Vatican. He it considered M the most emi- 

 nent in this (ranch ..f the art His bowers, plants, and foliage, his 

 aviari.-e, with birds of every description, are so true to nature M almost 

 to orreive the eye by the clo. e- of the imitation. After the sack 

 of Koine be vi.it*d other parts of Italy, and many of bis works are at 

 Florence, Genoa, and Udine, He died in 1484. Vaiari frequently 

 calls him ' Kicaiuv 



MA 'HiKRT, a celebrated French engraver and draft* 



man, ** born at Ubaime in 1630, and WM the pupil of his brother in 

 law, N. Befieesou. lie engraved chiefly portrait*, in which chut he 

 ii on* of the moat ditttaguUhd engravers, though he generally 



engraved the head only, without accessories; but ha frequently 



executed them of the size of life. He also took portraits from the 



ife in pastel In a very able manner; but M he ued these chiefly to 



ngrava from, few of them have been preserved. Ho engraved in line 



and in stipple, and generally combined both styles, stippling the 



middle tint* ; and he contrived to express colour to a considerable 



legreo in his prints. Nanteuil died in 1678, and thouirh he lived to 



he age of forty-eight only, he has engraved nearly three hundred 



lates, almost exclusively portraits, and comprising many of the prinoei 



of Europe, and most of the celebrated men of France during the reigu 



of Louis XIV., of whom alone he engraved nineteen portraits, all in 



lifierent periods of his life. His master-pieces are .1. II. van Steenberg- 



len, after Duchatel, known as ' L'Advocat de llollunde,' 1668 ; M. de 



'omponne, after la Brun ; F. M. la Mothe le Vayer, 1661 ; and 



ilarshal Tureune, besides some others. 



NAl'IKK, JOHN, boron of Merchinton, WM born at Merchiston 

 Castle, near Edinburgh, in the year 1550, at which time his l 

 was but sixteen years old. His lineage is traced from John de 

 S'apicr, who, in 1296, swore allegiance to Edward I. of England : and 

 among his more immediate" ancestors are meutionrd William Napier, 

 governor of the castle of Edinburgh, and Alexander Napier, vice- 

 admiral of Scotland. His father, Sir Archibald Napier, was master of 

 the mint of Scotland. Napier was never raised to the peerage, M 

 might be inferred from the writings of some authors, Briggs among 

 others. (' Letter to Archbishop Usher,' vol. v. p. 422.) His name 

 IM been variously written. Besides the Latinised forms Nrper and 

 Neperus, we meet with Naper, Napier, and Nepair. The last is the 

 orthography adopted in the title-page of Wright's translation of the 

 ogorithmic canon, which work was revised by Napier himself the year 

 Before his death. The name at the bead of this article appears to 

 bave been the family name, and is certainly that by which he is now 

 generally known. 



Napier's matriculation into the University of St. Andrews took place 

 in the year 166263, as appears from the books of the university. 

 That it took place early also appears from the following passage iu 

 the preface to hia '1'lain Discovery of the Revelation of St. John,' 

 pub lulled at Edinburgh in 1593, 4to. Speaking of the university, ho 

 says, " In my tender years and bairn age at schools, having on the 

 one part contracted a loving familiaritie with a certain gentleman, a 

 papist, and on the other part being attentive to the sermons of that 

 worthy man of God, mai*ter Christopher Goodman, teaching upon 

 the Apocalyp*, I was movtd in ad nnr.it ion against the blindness of 

 papists, that could not most evidentlie see their seven-hilled citie of 

 Home pointed out there so lively by St John M the mother of all 

 spiritual whoredom : that not only bunted I oute in continual! reason- 

 ing against my said familiar, but al-o from thenceforth I determined 

 with myself, by the assistance of God's spirit, to employ my r-tndy 

 and diligence to search out the remanent mysteries of that holy 

 booke, as to this houre, praised be the Lord, I have bin doing at all 

 luch times as convenientlie I might have occasion." One objfct of 

 tin) ' I'l.iin 1 li.-covcry ' was to show that the doctrines of the pope were 

 autirhrisiiau, which to accorded with the views of the Fruncb. 

 Huguenot*, that a translation of the work, stated in the title-page to 

 have been revised by Napier, appeared at llochelle in 1603, and tho 

 eanie ye ir the council of Gap formally declared the pope to be Anti- 

 christ In the same work he fancies he has determined the dates at 

 which the completion of the prophecies will take place, and he assigns 

 the destruction of the world to th year 1786. 



From the time of his entering the univenity to the publication of 

 the above work, scarcely anything is known concerning him. His 

 biographers, David Stewart, earl of Buchan, and Walter Minto, about 

 the close of the last century made inquiries among the descendants of 

 Napier for letters or other documents which might throw light on hiu 

 history during this long interval. Their exertions in tliii respect 

 seem to have been attended with little success. MacKenzie, in his 

 ' Lives and Characters of the most eminent Writers of the Scottish 

 N.ilmn,' folio, published at Edinburgh in 1708-22, informs us, but 

 without meutioning any authority, that Napier pasted some years in 

 France, the Netherlands, and Itily, and that while absent he applied 

 himself to the study of the mathematics. Thin is confirmed by his 

 biographer, Mark Napier, who supposes him to havu left Scotland M 

 early as the year 1566, and adds that his college residence had been 

 too .hort to entitle him even to the degree of I! A. In 1571 he had 

 returned to Scotland. In 1593 he WM chosen by the General Assembly 

 one of the commissioners appointed to assemble nt Kdmhurgh to 

 counteract the attempt* of the Roman Catholics to put nsidu Pro- 

 testantism, then recently established. We are left to conjecture at 

 what time prior to the year 1594 the mind of Napier first l> 

 occupied with the discovery of a method which should supersede 

 the long and laborious arithmetical operations which the solution of 

 the most simple trigonometrical problems then exacted. That he 

 WM thus occupied in tho year 1694 is probable from a letter written 

 by Kepler to Crngenis, dated 1624, wherein, speaking of Nnpi- r' 

 logaritnmio tables, which had then been published ton yean, he says, 

 " Nihil autem supra Napi-ri.mam rationem esse puto: i-tsi quidom. 

 Scotua quidatn, literis ad Tychouein anno 1594 scriptis, jam op 

 oanonis illius mirilici/ (Kepi., Kpi-t.,' Lips., 1718, foL, p. 460.) The 

 Scotchman here alluded to was Dr. Craig, of whom a circumstance is 



