NONPAREIL NORMANS. 



247 



IZmo), which display much learning, and are written 

 in a moderate tone. His purpose is to correct the 

 errors and false statements, made partly from igno- 

 rance, partly from prejudice, by Voltaire, in his Es- 

 tai sur les Mteurs et I' Esprit des Nations ; but Vol- 

 taire overpowered him by his wit. Nonote died at 

 Besangon, September 3, 1793. See (Euvres de I'Abbe 

 Nonote (Besangon, 1818, 7 vols.) 



NONPAREIL ; a sort of small printing type ; as, 

 for example, > 



NONSUIT. Where a person has commenced an 

 action, and, at the trial, fails in his evidence to sup- 

 port it, or has brought a wrong action, he is non- 

 suited. There is this advantage attending a nonsuit, 

 that the plaintiff, though he pays costs, may after- 

 wards bring another action for the same cause, which 

 he cannot do after a verdict against him. 



NOOAHIVA, or NOOKAHWA. See Washing- 

 ton Islands. 



NOOTKA SOUND ; a bay of the North Pacific 

 ocean, on the western coast of North America, dis- 

 covered by captain Cook in 1778 ; Ion. 126 36' W.; 

 lat. 49 35' N. The sound embraces several islands. 

 The water is from forty-seven to ninety fathoms deep. 

 There are many anchoring places and good harbours. 

 The shores are inhabited by Indians, and the land is 

 hilly. The climate is much milder than in the same 

 latitude on the eastern coast. 



NORDENEI, or NORDERNEY ; a small island 

 on the coast of East Friesland, to which there is a 

 foot-path from the continent at low tide. On the 

 north-western side is a village, with 550 inhabitants 

 (mostly seamen), and an establishment for sea-bath- 

 ing, much resorted to during the summer. On the 

 south-east side are downs from forty to eighty feet 

 high. 



NORDLINGEN, a town in Suabia, with 7560 in- 

 habitants, which, in 1 802, came into the possession of 

 Bavaria. The Swedes were defeated here, Sept. 6, 

 1634, for the first time on German ground. (See 

 Thirty Years' War). The battles of 1645, 1796, and 

 1800, have also contributed to make the place mem- 

 orable. 



NORE. See Thames. 



NORFOLK, a maritime county of England, bound- 

 ed north and east by the German ocean, south by 

 Suffolk, and west by Cambridgeshire and the Washes. 

 Its extreme length is fifty-nine miles ; and its breadth, 

 from north to south, thirty-eight. Prior to the Ro- 

 man invasion, it was inhabited by the warlike Iceni, 

 celebrated by Tacitus on account of their insurrection 

 against the Roman government, under their brave but 

 unfortunate queen Boadicea. It afterwards formed 

 the northern part of the kingdom of East Anglia, 

 whence its name Nord-folke. The county contains 

 one city, Norwich, and thirty-two market-towns, of 

 which the principal are, Yarmouth, Thetford, Lynn 

 Regis, Cromer, Dyss, and Wymondham. 



Game of various kinds is abundant throughout the 

 county, on some manors the pheasants being so nu- 

 merous as to detract considerably from the profits of 

 the farmer : on the sandy heaths are found great 

 multitudes of rabbits. The air in the marsh districts 

 is cold and damp, and the climate is reckoned un- 

 healthy, agues having been here so prevalent, as to 

 have given rise to the proverbial expression of being 

 " arrested by the bailift" of Marshland," to denote a 

 fit of the ague. Where the soil is sandy, the atmo- 

 sphere is salubrious, mild, and agreeable. The pro- 

 ducts of the county are various, according to the soil 

 and situation. The lighter arable lands afford good 

 crops of barley, much of which is made into malt 

 and exported. Wheat is much cultivated in the 

 stronger soils ; but the growth of turnips forms the dis 

 tinguishing characteristic of Norfolk husbandry, this 



useful root having been introduced from Hanover in 

 the reign of George I. by lord Townshend ; and it is 

 more generally raised here, and in higher perfection, 

 than probably in any other part of the kingdom. 

 Much buckwheat is likewise grown on the light 

 lands, and is used as food for swine and poultry ; 

 mustard is cultivated as a regular crop on the west- 

 ern border of the county ; flax around Downham ; 

 hemp in the neighbourhood of Old Buckenham ; 

 saffron is produced in several parts of Norfolk ; and 

 besides these, may be reckoned among the agricul- 

 tural products, peas, beans, and vetches or tares ; 

 cole-seed, clover, and other artificial grasses ; suc- 

 cory, cabbages, mangel-wurzel, carrots, and potatoes, 

 of which last the culture is increasing as a regular 

 field-crop. The fenny parts of the county furnish 

 abundant pasture for milch kine, which produces 

 great quantities of butter, sent to London for sale 

 under the name of Cambridge butter. Scottish and 

 other cattle are fattened for the supply of the metro- 

 politan and nearer markets ; and sheep are fed here, 

 of a hardy, active, and rather small breed, much 

 esteemed for the excellence of the mutton. Popula- 

 tion of the county in 1831, 390,054. 



NORFOLK, DUKE OF. See Howard, Thomas. 



NORIA. The machine used in Spain under the 

 name of noria, consists of revolving buckets, like 

 the Persian wheel. But instead of a single wheel, 

 two drums or trundles are employed, and the buckets 

 are attached to ropes or chains passing round them. 

 In Spain, earthen pitchers are said to be used, but in 

 other countries wooden buckets are employed, like 

 those of an overshot wheel. 



NORICUM was, among the Romans, that part of 

 the south of Germany which is situated between the 

 Save, the lake Pelso, Rluetia, Vindelicia, and the 

 Danube ; but its boundaries were not the same at all 

 times. The Celts inhabited this country. 



NORMAL YEAR, in German history ; the year 

 1624, because, in the peace of WeStphalia, the state 

 of the ecclesiastical rights and privileges, as they 

 existed on January 1, 1624, was taken as the stan- 

 dard for the regulation of the ecclesiastical relations 

 between the three sects in Germany. 



NORMANDY; an ancient province in the north 

 of France, bounded N. by the channel, E. by 

 Picardy and Isle de France, S. by Maine, and W. 

 by Brittany. It was divided into Upper and Lower 

 Normany; Rouen was the capital of the former, 

 Caen of the latter. It is now divided into five 

 departments (q. v.), containing a population of 

 2,000,000. It is one of the richest and most fertile 

 parts of France. The Norman is' distinguished for 

 intelligence and shrewdness. It derived its name 

 from the Normans, who took possession of it in 912, 

 and became annexed to England, through the acces- 

 sion of 'William, duke of Normandy, to the English 

 throne. (See Normans.) Philip Augustus wrested 

 it from John, and united it to Trance, in 1203. It 

 was afterwards several times invaded by the Eng- 

 lish, but finally recovered by the French, in 1450. 



NORMANN EHRENFELS, CHARLES FREDERIC 

 LEBRECHT, count of, born at Stuttgard, in 1784, died 

 at Missolonghi, while in the Greek service, in 1822. 

 See Greece, Revolution of. 



NORMANS, or NORTHMEN ; the inhabitants 

 of the ancient Scandinavia, or Norway, Sweden, and 

 Denmark. This name was given to them in the 

 Netherlands, in Germany, and France ; in Britain 

 they were called Danes. They were fierce and 

 warlike tribes, who made piratical expeditions to all 

 parts of the European seas, plundering by land and 

 by sea, and often overrunning large tracts of coun- 

 try, in which they practised every enormity. " They 

 had scarcely any inducement," says Mackintosh 



