NAPOLEON. 



NARRIEN, JOHN. 



HeoomUoo of the Legion of Honour, in testimony to the success which 

 had attended the vessels fitted out by him for the Atlantic navigation. 

 IloSArAHTK] 



NAItlAiHol'till. SIH JOHN, an Engluh naval commander of tome 

 distinction, wa* deeoended from on old family in Norfolk, and received 

 hi. first oommawion, aa lieut-uant of the Portland, in the year 1664. 

 In theraouini; Dutch war hi* braTcry and good aerrioei soon became 

 10 conspicuous that, within two Tear*, after the long and desperate 

 aoUon. in June 1606, between the English fleet, under Prince Rupert, 

 and Monk, duke of Albemarle, and the Dutch under Da Kuyter and 

 Van Tromp, he was promoted to the command of the Aasurance, a 

 fourth-rote. After the conclusion of peace he ws selected to conduct 

 vojagrof discoTery to the South Seas, for which destination ho 

 ailed in 1669, in the Sweepstakes, of 86 gun , attended by the Bachelor 

 pink. In the following year he passed the Strait of Magalliaens ; 

 and, afur being impeded m the ports of the Pacific, by the jealousy 

 of the Spanish authorities, with the uaual obstacles to either inter- 

 course or research, from which he extricated himself with remarkable 

 prudence, he returned home in 1671. Captain Philip Parker King, 

 in speaking of the early navigators who explored the Strait of Magal- 

 baco*, observe* that, " among the numerous plans of it that tire 

 exUnt, those of Sir John Narboioujh and Cordova are the most 



Oa the breaking out of the second Dutch war, in 1672, he wai 

 taken by the lord-high-odmiral, the Duke of York, into his own ship, 

 the Prince, as second capUin ; and in the obstinately contested battle 

 of Solobay with the Dutch fleet under De Kuyter, in which the first 

 caj.Uin of the Prince, Sir John Cox, was killed, and the vessel so dis- 

 abled that the Duke of York was compelled to shift his flag into the 

 Bt Michael, Narborough's energy and ability in refitting the ship for 

 action in a few bourn, as well as his courage during the fight, were 

 liwmixl sufficiently meritorious to be made the subject of special 

 commend ilion in the account of the action published by authority of 

 government. After being next successfully employed in convoys and 

 other duties, he ws raised, in 1673, to the rank of rear-admiral, and 

 received the honour of knighthood. In 1674 he was appointed com- 

 muiderm chief of a fleet sent to the Mediterranean, for the purpose 

 of overawing the Tripoline* and other piratical states, and obtaining 

 redn-n for their depredations upon the national commerce ; and he 

 acquitted himself with so much spirit, address, and success in this 

 duty, that he compelled the Bey of Tripoli to release all his llriti-h 

 captives, to pay 80,000 dollars in reparation for injuries to the British 

 trade, and to grant to British subject* more honourable and valuable 

 privileges than any other nation had before possessed or claimed. 

 Having achieved these objects, Sir John Narborough returned to 

 England with his squadron in 1677 : but the kill and gallantry with 

 which he hail fulfilled bis instructions, caused him nlmo-t immediately 

 to be despatched again to the Mediterranean, in command of another 

 fleet, with a similar commission to chaatio the piracies of the Alge- 

 rinee. In this expedition he acted with his accti'tomed vigour; burnt 

 or sunk many AUerine vessel* of war ; cannonaded the city of Algiers 

 itself with good effect, though without bring able to bring the pirate* 

 to term* ; and concluded hit operations by capturing and carrying 

 into Cadiz a whole squadron of five Algcrine frigates, which the Dey 

 had equipped to obtain aati-faction for his previous losoe*. This 

 exploit, after which he returned home in Ili7i' t was Sir John Nar- 

 borougb's Iwt important service at sea ; but in the following year ho 

 WM made commissioner of the navy, and continued to hold that 

 office both during the remainder of the reign of Charles II., and 

 throughout the whole of that of hi* patron James II., until his death, 

 wl.i'-h occurred towards the close of 1688. 



(Charnock, Biographia ffarnlu ; Captain P. P. Kin;, in the London 

 Ottgrapliical Jo*rn<il, vol. L; Sir John Narborough, Journal.) 



MAHDI, JA'COPO, born at Florence in 1476, served fint In the 

 troop* of the republic, snd afterwards in a civil capacity. He wax 

 not in 1527 a* ambassador to Venice. He died at a very advanced 

 M, after the fall of the republic. He wrote 'Storia della CitW di 

 nrenn dell' anno 1494 al l.Vil.' published at Lyon in Franco, 4to, 

 1583: another edition was publinhed at Florence in 1584. Some 

 pwsagea which were expunged in both editions, but especially in that 

 of Florence, on account of the political feelings of the author, are 

 found in the manuscript* in the libraries of Stro//.i of Florence and 

 Nani of Venice. Nardi was warmly attached to the republican con- 

 stitution of hi* country, of which he witnessed and described the 

 overthrow, whilst bis contemporary Nerli, who composed a general 

 history of Florroee including tha name period (' < '..HUM. nUrii del Katli 

 i irdi ocoorsi in Kircnia dall' anno 1215 all' anno 1C37,' foL, Au 

 1728), wrote in manner favourable to the Medici, and .-. 

 office under the gnml- uke Coanio I. The hintory of Nardi forms a 

 sequel V that of M*chiavelli. which end* rrith the ilcsth of Lorenzo 

 the Magnificent in 1492, and the two together form a c 

 history of Uw Florentine republic from it* rise till the overthrow of its 

 laoVpendaooe. 



Nardi wrote also ' Vite di Antonio Oiacomlnl,' 4to, 1597. Oiaoo- 

 mini WM one of the rnont distinguished captains of the Florentine 

 republic. He was also the author of an Italian translation of l.iw, 

 and a comedy, ' L'Amacizia,' one of the earliest comedies in Italian 



NAKKS, JAMES, Mm. Doc., was born at Stan well in Middlesex, 

 in 1715, and received his musical education first as a chorister in the 

 King'a Chape.!, under Bernard Gates, and afterwards under the cele- 

 brated Dr. Pepiuch. At an early age he was chosen organist of the 

 cathedral of York, and in 1756 was appointed organist and composer 

 to George II., on the decease of Dr. Oreene; and about the same 

 time the degree of Doctor in Music was conferred on him by the 

 University of Cambridge. In 1757 he succeeded Mr. Gates as master 

 of the children of the Chapels- Hoyal, which office he held till 1780, 

 when declining hralth induced him to rei-ign it to his friend Dr. 

 Ayrton, who hd been his pupil He died in 1783, "regretted," say* 

 his eldest son, the late Archdeacon Nares, " not only by the family he 

 left, but in a proportionate degree by all related to or connected with 

 him." Among these were, hi* younger brother, Sir George Nar< s, one 

 of the judges of the court of Common Plea*, and hi* nephew, the Itev. 

 K I ward Nares. D.D., author of the ' Life and Administration of Cecil, 

 lord Burlcigh ; ' also of Sermons and other works. 



Dr. Nare published several musical works, the most important of 

 which are : ' Twenty Anthems in Score, composed for the Use of 

 the Chapels-Royal,' and now constantly heard in every cathedral in 

 England and Ireland; 'A Collection of Catches, Canons, and Glees,' 

 dedicated to the Earl of Mornington, including the prize-gle 

 all Lover* of Harmony," and "Fear no more the Heat of the Sun ; " 

 ' A Treatise on Singing,' with a set of English duet* ; and ' The Royal 

 Pastoral, a Dramatic Ode.' After his do ith a second set of anthems, 

 six in number, together with hi* popular Service, were, a* he had 

 directed, published by his son ; and though these anthems have not 

 obtained the same celebrity as those in the former set, they are not 

 inferior in merit, and ought to be brought into notice by the 

 influential persons in our choirs. 



* NARIUEX, JOHN. The subject of the present notice, though he 

 may not be considered as ona whose annals are likely to interest 

 posterity, may justly be ranked among the many who have cultivated 

 knowledge under difficulties. He was born in August 1732 at Clu 

 where his father, a utouemoson and builder, was then employed on 

 the bridge over the Thames. Before he was three year* old Ids parent* 

 removed to Kew, and they remained ther.- till the year 179 2, his father 

 being during seven years employed on the construction of the bridge 

 at that place. In a private school at Brentford, Nat-Hen gained the 

 first steps in education, which however extended only to the elementary 

 ports of arithmetic and algebra, with the ruditneuU of Laii 

 K;igli-h. An intelligent father gave him instruction in elementary 

 geometry, and before the boy was ten years of age he had acquired 

 some knowledge of the first book* of Kuclid. 



The bridge at Kew being completed, his parents in 1792 removed 

 to London, where his education was continued at a school which then 

 existed near the church of St. Mary Overy ; but his father dying two 

 years afterwords, big education was for a time suspended : Inn mother 

 being now a widow with four children, of whom John was the eldest, 

 was compelled to seek some employment for him by which he 

 contribute to his own support. He was so fortunate as to be taken in 

 ITlci into the office of a gentleman connected with the legal | >rof< 

 whiT--, during three years, he was employed cliiufly in copying papers 

 relating to the prizes c.iptured on the seas by British cruisers. He 

 was at this time enabled to extend hi* acquirement* in mathematical 

 ncienoe and in the Latin grammar, as well a* to begin the study of the 

 French language, by means of those useful establishments, the night- 

 Hchools for persons in humble circumstances, whose occupations pre- 

 vented them from attending the seminaries for education during the 

 day; and two folio volumes of an old 'Historical Dictionary,' which 

 were placed under him in order to raise the seat of his office chair to 

 a height which would enable him to write at the desk, were the means 

 by which he acquired his first knowledge of general history and 

 geography. This work he diligently studied during the intervals of 

 his regular employment, while the construction of maps, representing 

 th" principal part* of the ancient world, became his chief pleasure. 



About the middle of the year 1799 an opportunity presented itaelf 

 of gratifying a wish he ha I long entertained of making a sea-voyage, 

 and for a time he may be said to hava been " a ship-boy on the high 

 and giddy mast" He wasat St. Petersburg in the reign of the Emperor 

 Paul, bm the knowledge he acquired during tliii trip wo* only BO much 

 of practical navigation as the narrow limit* of the "blown Baltic" 

 could afford. At his return to England in the beginning of the year 

 1800, on the recommendation of a friend of the family, he engaged 

 himself with an optician in London with a view to establish himaelf 

 ultimately in a branch of art, and thus obtain opportunities of ren- 

 dering hi* taste for scientific studies available for his future benefit 

 In this opacity he continued during ten yean, and he employed this 

 interval in extending hi* acquirements in science by the study of the 

 work* then recently published in England and France, both on pure 

 and mixed mathematics and on natural science ; at the same time, by 

 his intercourse with civil engineers and men professing the liberal art*, 

 be in some measure qualified himself for the exercise of any employ- 

 ment* in which the pure sciences are rendered subservient to purpose* 

 of practical utility. 



Mr. Narrien followed the occupation of a mathematical and philo- 

 sophical instrument maker, after the retirement of his friend and 

 patron, from 1810 to 1817, but with a constant aspiration after a state 



