N2BNIA NAIRN. 



125 



distributed among his officers, valuables to the 

 amount of 112,000,000. On his return, he levied 

 war against the Usbecks and others ; but had nearly 

 lost his life by an assassin, instigated by his own 

 son. In 1745, lie defeated the Turks at Erivan. 

 A conspiracy having been formed against him by the 

 commander of his body-guard, and his own nephew, 

 he was assassinated in his tent, June 8, 1747 ; his 

 nephew, Ali Kouli, succeeding to the throne. This 

 extraordinary usurper was of a tall stature and 

 robust form, with handsome and expressive features. 

 His conduct sufficiently marks his cruelly, ambition, 

 and rapacity. His most favourable feature appears 

 to have been a disposition to religious toleration. 

 On his accession to the throne, lie required certain 

 curses pronounced annually on the caliphs preceding 

 Ali, and other incentives to religious strife, to be 

 dispensed with; which being objected to by the 

 head of the clergy, lie had him bow-strung. 



N.<ENIA (Latin); a funeral song, among the 

 ancients, sung generally by women, at interments. 

 As they were composed by the persons who sung 

 them, and were rather unmeaning, the word came to 

 signify any trifling, unmeaning song. Neenia was 

 also the goddess of lamentation, who was invoked at 

 the funerals of the aged, and had a temple before 

 the Viminal Gate. 



N^EVIUS, CNEIUS, one of the most celebrated 

 among the earliest Roman poets, was born in Cam- 

 pania, and wrote tragedies and comedies after the 

 model of the Greek. He also wrote an epic poem 

 upon the Punic war, and another in imitation of the 

 Cyprian Ilias. He lived in the first half of the sixth 

 century after the building of Rome. By the intro- 

 duction of some of the Roman nobility into his com- 

 edies, he provoked their anger, was banished from 

 the city, and retired to Utica. Fragments only of 

 his works have come down to us. 



NAGASAKI, or NANGASACKI; a seaport of 

 Japan, on the south-west coast of Ximo, situated at 

 the end of a commodious bay ; Ion. 129 45' E.; 

 lat. 32 44' N. It is a large commercial town, the 

 only place where Europeans are permitted to trade, 

 a privilege now confined to the Dutch. The Dutch 

 town is built on the island of Desima, 600 feet long, 

 and 120 broad, adjoining Nagasaki, and contains 

 several large storehouses. The harbour is three 

 miles long, and one broad. The Japanese town is 

 divided into the inner and outward town ; the former 

 of which contains twenty-six, and the latter sixty- 

 one streets, in none of which strangers are suffered 

 to dwell ; they have particular suburbs allotted to 

 them, where they are narrowly watched by the 

 emperor's officers. The chief public buildings are 

 ftvejanaguras, or large houses, of timber, where are 

 Kept three imperial junks, or men-of-war, ready to 

 be launched at command ; the palaces of the two 

 residing governors, and other princes and grandees 

 of the first and second rank ; about sixty-two temples, 

 within and without the city ; most of them built on 

 eminences, and serving not only for devotion, but 

 also for recreation ; the common prison, standing 

 near the middle of the town, and consisting of about 

 one hundred huts, or cages, separated from each 

 other. The houses are low and mean : the inhabi- 

 tants are mostly merchants, tradesmen, shopkeepers, 

 and handicraftsmen. See Japan. 



NAHANT is the Indian name of a peninsula, 

 which extends into the sea from the township of 

 Lynn, Massachusetts, nine miles south of Salem, 

 and fourteen north-east from Boston. It is divided 

 into Great Nahant, Little Nahant, and Bass Neck. 

 The isthmus leading from the main land to Little 

 Nahant is a mile and a half long, and very narrow. 

 Passing over this small peninsula, another delightful 



beach, ninety rods long, connects it with Great 

 Nahant. These beaches are very hard and smooth, 

 and are of sufficient width, at low water, to accom- 

 modate thousands with a delightful walk or ride. 

 Great Nahant contains 305 acres of land. The 

 shores of this peninsula are bold and rocky. When 

 an easterly wind drives the sen into the bay, the 

 dashing of the waves against these shores presents a 

 scene of great sublimity. During the most sultry 

 part of summer, there is usually a refreshing breeze 

 at Nahant, which renders it a place of great resort 

 for those who seek for health or pleasure. 



NAHL, JOHANN AUGUST, a sculptor, born 1710, 

 at Berlin, and educated there under the celebrated 

 Schluter. After having made a tour through France 

 and Italy, he returned to Berlin in 1741, where, and 

 likewise at Potsdam, Sanssouci, and Charlottenburg, 

 many of his works are to be seen. In 1746, he went 

 to Switzerland, and passed nine years in that country, 

 principally at Berne. In 1755, Nahl was created 

 professor in the academy of arts in Cassel, and there 

 executed the admirable colossal statue of the land- 

 grave Frederic, which stands in Frederic's square. 

 He died in Cassel, 1781. 



NAHUM ; one of the twelve minor prophets, 

 whose prophecies relate to the destruction of Nineveh, 

 which he describes in vivid colours. His object, 

 according to some late German writers, seems to be 

 to represent to his nation, groaning under the oppres- 

 sion which they had suffered from the Assyrians, the 

 total destruction of the haughty capital, as a just 

 punishment of Jehovah. The period in which he 

 lived is, however, uncertain, some placing it before, 

 and some contemporary with that event. 



NAIADS (from the Greek cuu, to inhabit, or , 

 to swim), in the Greek mythology; nymphs of foun- 

 tains and brooks. The notions and tales of the 

 ancients concerning the Naiads resemble, in some 

 points, those which the northern mythology gives us 

 of the Nixies. The Naiads are represented as beau- 

 tiful women, with their heads crowned with rushes, 

 and reclining against an urn, from which water is 

 flowing. 



NAIL-MAKING. Nails are made both by hand 

 and by machinery. Wrought nails are made singly 

 at the forge and anvil, by workmen who acquire, 

 from practice, great dispatch in the operation. 

 Machines have been made for making these nails 

 perfectly, and with rapidity ; yet they have not come 

 into general use, owing to the cheapness of the pro- 

 duct by manual labour. Cut nails are chiefly made 

 by machinery invented in the United States of 

 America. The iron, after having been rolled and 

 slit into rods, is flattened into plates of the thickness 

 intended for the nails, by a second rolling. The end 

 of this plate is then presented to the nail machine, 

 by a workman, who turns the plate over once for 

 every nail. The machine has a vapid reciprocating 

 motion, and cuts off, at every stroke, a wedge-shaped 

 piece of iron, constituting a nail without a head. 

 Tliis is immediately caught near its largest end, and 

 compressed between gripes. At the same time, a 

 strong force is applied to a die at the extremity, 

 which spreads the iron sufficiently to form a head to 

 the nail. Some nails are made of cast iron, but these 

 are always brittle, unless afterwards converted into 

 malleable iron by the requisite process. 



NAIN ; a village eight miles from Nazareth, forty- 

 two from Jerusalem, at the foot of mount Hermon, 

 celebrated as the place where Christ restored a dead 

 man to life. 



NAIRN; a small county in the north-eastern part 

 of Scotland, formerly included in Morayshire, by 

 which it is bounded on the east and south ; on the 

 north, it borders on the Moray Firth, and on Ihe 



