N I C 
machus is called a Manual, and divided into two books. 
In the firft: he treats of the elements of harmony, (by 
which the ancients meant melody, or mufical intervals fit 
for fong or melody;) of the two kinds of human voice, 
i. e. that of fpeech and that of fong; of the mufic of the 
fpheres, or harmonical proportions in the diftances, mag¬ 
nitude, and motion, of the heavenly bodies ; of the expref- 
fion of founds by the ratio of numbers; of the feven firings 
of the ancient lyre, to which Pythagoras added an eighth, 
or the oftave ; how the ratio of arithmetical founds was 
invented; of the diapafon, or oftave, in the diatonic ge¬ 
nus ; of the divifion of the fcale by Timaeus Philolaus ; 
of the bis-diapafon, or double oftave in the diatonic ge¬ 
nus ; and of the progreflion and divifion of founds in the 
three genera. The fecond book contains a {ketch of the 
liiftory of mufical inventions, of the lyre by Mercury, of 
Orpheus, Linus, and Terpander, &c. names and ratios of 
mufical founds in the three genera. 
NICHOUAN', a town ofPerfia, in the province of Irak: 
twenty miles eaft-north-eaft of Confar. 
• NIC'IA, in ancient geography, a river falling into the 
Po at Brixellum. It is now called Lenza, and feparates 
the duchy of Modena from Parma. 
NIC'IAS, an Athenian of confiderable note, eftimable 
as a man, but unfortunate as a general. He was a com¬ 
mander in the Peloponnefian wars; and, having been de¬ 
feated and taken pnfoner by the Syracufans, put an end to 
his life in the year4i3 B. C. See the article Greece, 
vol. viii. p. 877-885. 
NIC'IAS, a celebrated painter of Athens, flourifiied 
about 32a years before the Chriftian era ; and was uni- 
verfally extolled for the great variety and noble choice of 
his fubjefts, the force and relievo of his figures, his fkill in 
the diftribution of the lights and fhades, and his dexterity in 
reprefenting all forts of four-footed animals, beyond any 
mafter of his time. His moft celebrated piece was that of 
Tartarus or Hell, as it is defcribed by Homer, for which 
king Ptolemy, the fon of Lagus, offered him 60 talents, or 
11,2501. which he refufed, and generoufly prefented it to 
his own country. He was much efteemed likewife for his 
excellent talent in fculpture. 
NICK,/ [ niche , Teut. the twinkling of an eye.] Exaft 
point of time at which there is neceffity or convenience. 
—This nick of time is the critical occafion for the gain¬ 
ing of a point. L'Ejlrange .—That great inftrument of 
ffate fuffered the fatal thread to be fpun out to that length 
for fome politic refpefts, and then to cut it off in the very 
nick, Howell's Vocal Forejl. 
And fome with fymbois, figns, and tricks, 
Engrav’d in planetary nicks, 
With their own influences will fetch them 
Down from their orbs, arreit and catch them. Hudibras. 
A notch cut in any thing; [corrupted from nock or notch.] 
•—Though but a flick with a nick. Fotherlnf s Atkeom. 1622. 
A fcore; a reckoning; from reckonings kept anciently 
upon tallies, or notched flicks.—Launce, his man, told 
me, he loved her art of all nick. Shakefpeare's Two Gent, 
of Ver.- —A winning throw; [from niche, Fr. a ludicrous 
trick.] 
Come, [even's the main, 
Cries Ganymede ; the ufual trick 
Seven, flur a fix, eleven a nick. Prior. 
NICK, an evil fpirit of the waters in the northern 
mythology of elder times; and in later, transferred to the 
devil himfelf, by the English, with the addition of old. 
Nocca or Nicken was a deity of the waters, which the an¬ 
cient Danes and Germans worfliipped ; whom they repre- 
fented as appearing in a monftrous fhape, prefaging Ship¬ 
wreck and death,and ftranglingperfons that were drowning. 
Keyfler fuggefts the Germ, neigen, fignifying, as the Latin 
necare, to kill.—Mr. Warburton is of opinion, that this is 
a blunder of the editors, to fuppofe the devil was called 
Old Nick, from Nick Machiavel, who lived in the fix- 
Vol. XVII. No. n 6 u 
NIC 61 
teenth century ; whereas they could not but know, that 
our Englilh writers, before Machiavel’s time, ufed the 
word Old Nick very commonly to fignify the devil; and 
that it came from our Saxon anceltors who called him old 
Nicka. The Goths, I will add, called the devil Nidkog, 
and the god of the fea Nocka, and fome Nicken. Shering- 
ham de Gentis Angl. Orig. cap. xiv. Dr. Grey's Notes on 
Hudibras. 
To NICK, v. a. To hit; to touch luckily ; to perform, 
by fome flight artifice ufed at the lucky moment.—Take 
any paflion of the foul of man, while it is predominant 
and afloat, and juft in the critical height of it, nick it with 
fome lucky or unlucky word, and you may certainly over¬ 
rule it. South. 
Is not the winding up of witnefs 
A nicking more than half the bus’nefs ? Hudibras. 
To cut in nicks or notches : 
My mafter preaches patience, and the while 
His man with fcifl'ars nicks him like a fool. Shakefpeare. 
To fuit, as tallies cut in nicks.—Words, nicking and re- 
fembling one another, are appliable to different fignifica- 
tions. Camden's Remains. —To defeat or cozen, as at dicej 
to difappoint by fome trick or unexpected turn : 
The itch of his affeftion fliould not then 
Have nick'd his captainfliip at fuch a point. Shakefpeare. 
NICK-NA'ME, f. [nom de nique, Fr.] A name given 
in feoff or contempt; a term of derifion ; an opprobrious 
or contemptuous appellation.'—The time was when men 
were had in price for learning; now letters only make men 
vile. He is upbraidingly called a poet, as if it were a con¬ 
temptible nick-name. li. Jonfon. 
To NICK'-NAME, v.a. To call by an opprobrious ap¬ 
pellation : 
You nick-name virtue vice ; 
For virtue’s office never breaks men’s troth. Shakefpeare, 
NICKAJACK', a town of the ftate of Georgia, on the 
Tenneffee-river. Lat. 33. 50. N. Ion. 85. 57 W. 
NICK'EL. See the article Mineralogy, vol. xv. p. 
5°4> 5- 
NICK'ELHAJEN, a town of Pruffia, in the province 
of Oberland : nine miles fouth-eaft of Salfeldt. 
NICK'ELSDORF, a town of Pruffia, in the palatinate 
of Culm : twelve miles north of Strafburg. 
NICK'ELSTADT, a town of Silefia, in the princi¬ 
pality of Liegnitz: five miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Lieg- 
nitz. 
NICK'ENICK, a town of France, in the department 
of the Rhine and Mofelle : twelve miles weft of Coblentz, 
NICK'ER,/ One who watches an opportunity to pil¬ 
fer, or praftife fome knavifh artifice. A low word.—T) id 
not Pythagoras flop a company of drunken bullies from 
ftorming a civil houfe, by changing the ftrain of the pipe 
to the fober fpondteus ? And yet your modern muficians 
want art to defend their windows from common nickers. 
Arbuihnot and Pope's Mart. Scrib. 
NICK'ER-TREE. See Guilandina. 
NICK'ERSFELDEN, a town of the duchy of Wurz¬ 
burg : five miles north-weft of Munnerftatt. 
NICK'ING, f. The lucky performance of any bufinefs. 
The aft of cutting in notches; the ftate of being cut in 
notches. 
Breaks watchmen’s heads, and chairmen’s glaffes, 
And thence proceeds to nicking faflies, Prior. 
NICKIO'BING, a town of North Jutland, fituated on 
the eaft coaft of the ifland of Mors, with a good harbour 
in the Lymford Gulf: thirty-eight miles north-north- 
weft of Wiborg. Lat. 56. 54. N. Ion. 8. 52. E. 
NICLOWI'TA, a town of Moravia, in the circle of 
Znaym : ten miles north of Znaym. 
NICji'MID. See Ismid, vol. xi. 
R 
NICOBA'RS. 
