GO N I C 
1712, about the age of forty-eight. He was the author of, 
1. An Anfwer to an heretical Book, called, “ The Naked 
Gofpel,” which was condemned and ordered to be burnt 
by the Convocation of the Univerfity of Oxon, See. with 
fome Reflections on Dr. Bury’s new' edition of that 
Book; 1691, 4to. 2. A lhort Hiftory of Socinianifm, 
printed with the preceding. 3. An Effay on the Con¬ 
tempt of the World, 1694, 8vo. of which a fecond edition 
appeared in 1704, with a preface add relied to the deifts, 
and vicious libertines of the age. 4. The Duty of Infe¬ 
riors towards their Superiors, in five Difcourfes, &c. to 
which is prefixed, a Differtation concerning the divine 
Right of Princes, 1701, 8vo. 5. An Introduction to a 
devout life, by Francis Sales, Bifliop and Prince of Geneva; 
tranflated and reformed from the Errors of the Romifli 
edition ; to which is prefixed, a Difcourfe of the Rife and 
Progrefs of the fpiritual Books in the Romilh Church ; 
1701, 8vo. 6. A Conference with a Theift, in five parts, 
1703, 8vo. of which a third edition was publifhed in 
1723, in 2 vols. 8vo, with the addition of “Two Confer¬ 
ences, one with a Machiavelian, and the other with an 
Atheift,” all carefully reviled and prepared for the prefs 
by the author. 7. The Religion of a Prince; Ihewing 
that the Precepts of the Holy Scriptures are the belt 
Maxims of Government; 1704, 8vo. 8. Defenfio Eccle- 
fiffi Anglicanae, 1707, nmo; an Englilh tranflation of 
which, by the author, w>as publilhed after his death, 1715, 
nmo. 9. A Comment on the Book of Common Prayer, 
and Adminiftration of the Sacraments, &c. 1710, folio; 
10. A Supplement to that Work, 1711, folio, n. Hifto- 
rioe Sacra; Libri VII. ex Antonii Cocceii Sabellici Enea- 
dibus Concinnatum in ufum Scholarum et Juventutis 
Chriftianae, 1711, nmo. 12. A Commentary on the firft 
fixteen Articles of the Church of England, 1712, folio, 
See. 13. In the year 1712, a volume of Manufcript Let¬ 
ters, in correfpondence between the author and Jablon- 
Iki, Oftervald, Wetftein, &c. in the Latin language, 
was prefented by his widow to the archbifhop of Canter¬ 
bury, and is preferved in the library at Lambeth. Wood's 
Athcn. Oxon. vol. ii. Gen. Blog. 
NIC'HOLSON (William), an Englilh mathematician 
and various writer, was born in the year 1753, in London, 
where his father praCtifed the law, as a folicitor in the 
Inner Temple. The fon received his education at a 
fchool in the north of Yorklhire ; but at the age of fix¬ 
teen he entered into the Eaft India fervice, in which he 
made two voyages before the year 1773. He was after¬ 
wards employed in the country-trade in India ; but in 
1776 he was engaged on the continent as a commercial 
agent to the late Mr. Wedgewood. Soon after this he 
fe'ttled in London, and became a teacher of mathematics; 
to which profeffion he added that of an author, tranllating 
from the French with great facility, and publifhing be- 
fides manyufeful compilations of his own, chiefly on hif- 
torical and fcientific fubjeCts. In 1781, he printed an “ In¬ 
troduction to Natural Philofophy, in 2 vols. 8vo. which 
work was fo well received, as to fuperfede Rowning’s 
Syftem of Natural Philofophy, which had long been an 
elementary book for ftudents. The year following Mr. 
Nicholfon publilhed a new’ edition of Ralph’s Survey of 
the Public Buildings of London and Wertminfter, with 
additions. This work was fucceeded, in 1783, by a tranf¬ 
lation from the French of the Hiftory of Ayder Ali Khan, 
Nabob Buhader, or New Memoirs concerning the Eaft 
Indies; with hiftorical notes, in 2 vols. 8vo. In 1784, our 
author brought out his “ Navigator’s Afliftant, containing 
the Theory and PraCtice of Navigation.” This compen¬ 
dium of a moft ufeful fcience was intended to fupplant 
that very fuperficial though popular book, the Practical 
Navigator, by John Hamilton Moore : it happened, how¬ 
ever, unfortunately, that Mr. Nicholfon’s work was too 
refined and laboured for the clafs of perfons to whom it was 
addrefled ; and therefore it is not much to be wondered 
that this Afliftant was negleCted, while the eafy treatife of 
Moore, which gave the conclufions without reafon, and 
C 
lays no tax upon the judgment or the memory, ftill con¬ 
tinued to hold its ground. In 1784, we find Mr. Nichol¬ 
fon publifhing “ An Abftract of the Arts relative to the 
Exportation of Wool;” to which fubjeCt he was.led by 
his acquaintance with the clothiers. The next year he 
printed a “ Review of the Controverfy between Kirwan 
and the French Academicians on the SubjeCl of Phlo- 
giftonand in the Philofophical TranfaCtions for the 
fame year, is a paper of his containing “The principles 
and illuftration of a method of arranging the differences 
of Logarithms, on lines graduated for the purpofe of 
computation.” In the following volumes of the Tranf¬ 
aCtions, are tw’o papers of Mr. Nicholfon’s : one, “ The 
Defcription of an Inftrument which produces the two 
ftates of EleCtricity without friftion, or communication 
with the earth ;” the other, “ Experiments and Obferva- 
tions on EleCtricity.” In 1778, appeared his tranflation 
of Fpurcroy’s Elements of Natural Hiftory and Chemif¬ 
try, in 4 vols. 8vo. to which, the year following, he added 
a fupplemental volume “ On the Firft Principles of Che¬ 
miftry.” In 1790, Mr. Nicholfon tranflated from the ori¬ 
ginal manufcript, “ Memoirs and Travels of the Count de 
Benyowlky,” 2 vols. 410. The next year came out the 
tranflation of Chaptal’s Elements of Chemiftry, in 3 vols. 
8vo. In 1795 appeared “ The Dictionary of Chemiftry,” 
in two quarto volumes, which, in 1808, were compreffed 
into one clofely-printed oCtavo, more valuable than the 
original work. In 1797, appeared the firft number of his 
“ Journal of Natural Philofophy, Chemiftry, and the 
Arts 5” which was printed originally in the quarto form, 
but was afterwards changed to the more portable one of 
an oCtavo. About the year 1799, he opened a fchool in 
Soho for twenty pupils, which inftitution he carried 
on feveral years ; but it at laft declined, chiefly owing, as 
we believe, to the attention paid by Mr. Nicholfon toother 
objedts ; particularly the Weft Middlefex Water Works, 
the plan of which originated with him, as alfo did that 
for the fupply of Portfmouth and Gofport. He was alfo en¬ 
gaged in a fimilar undertaking for the borough of South¬ 
wark; and, befldes thefe different concerns, he prepared 
drafts of patents for mechanical inventions. In 1799, he 
printed a work tranflated from _the Spanifli, “ On the 
Bleaching of Cotton Goods, by oxygenated muriatic 
acid and, in 1801, appeared, “A general Syftem of Che¬ 
mical Knowledge, with a fetof Synoptic Tables, from the 
French of Fourcroy,” in 2 vols. 8vo, and one m folio. 
In 1808, he lent his name to a work entitled, “ The Bri- 
tilh Encyclopedia,” in 6 vols. 8vo. This work was un¬ 
dertaken by the London bookfellers, in oppofition to one 
then publilhed under the name of Dr. George Gregory ; 
and it is a curious faCt, that the perfons to whom they 
are aferibed had little, if any, fliare in the compilations, 
and that both, though rivals, were executed by the fame 
hand, the Rev. J. Joyce. In 1810, Mr. Nicholfon had 
fome dilpute relative to the work in which he was em¬ 
ployed, as engineer to the Portfea Ifland Water Work 
Company, on which he publilhed “ A Letter to the Pro¬ 
prietors of the Portfea Water Works, occafioned by an 
application made to them by the Afiigns under an ACt for 
bringing water from Farlington.” This truly ingenious 
and indefatigable man died in June 1815, having fhared 
the common fate of projectors, to be continually em¬ 
ployed without enjoying any material advantage from 
his labours. Though inceffantly occupied in ufeful con¬ 
cerns, and ardent in promoting the interefts of fcience, 
he was generally embarraffed in his circumftances; and, 
notwithftandinghis uncommon induftry, he lived in trou¬ 
ble, and died poor. New Monthly Blag, for Aug. 1815. 
NICHOM'ACHUS, one of the feven Greek writers on 
mufic that have been preferved, and collected and pub- 
liflied by Meibomius, whofuppofes him to have flourilhed 
in the time of Auguftus. He is the only Greek theorift 
of the Pythagorean feCt whofe writings are come down to 
us. He was clofely followed by Boethius, as may be feen. 
in his fifth chapter De Mufica. The treatife of Nicho- 
i machus 
