N I C 
N I C 
•was the difciple of Antonio Begarelli, a Modenefe fculp- 
tor, whofe models Corregio is faid to have often made ufe 
of in his works. Little is known of his' progrefs at Mo¬ 
dena, except that, in partnerfhip with his fellow-fcholar 
Alberto Fontana, he painted the pannels of the butcher’s 
hall in that place ; and, at the age of thirty-five, for the 
church of the Benediftines, the celebrated piflure of the 
Martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul, now in the gallery 
at Drefden ; with fome frefco-paintings drawn from 
Ariofto and Virgil, in the palace of Scandiano. Of his 
works at Bologna, tradition has left a very diftinguilhed 
account, though little or nothing exifts of them now but 
the large fymbolic picture in the Via di St. Mamolo, 
which Malvafia calls a hieroglyphic ; a Nativity of Chrift, 
under the portico of the Leoni palace ; and four conver- 
lation-pieces and concertos, ofexquifite tafte and urbanity, 
in the frieze of an upper apartment in the Academical In- 
ftitute, which have been engraved. 
Notwithftanding the innate vigour, the genial facility, 
and independent ftyle, of Nicolo Abate, he owes the per¬ 
petuity of his name, in a great meafure, to his technic 
coalition with Francefco Primaticcio, and to the facility 
with which he executed the comprehenfive and luxuriant 
plans of that clalfic machinift : even his own name was 
funk in the title of that patron, rather than partner of 
his labours, and he is called Nicolo del Abate, becaufe 
Primaticcio was abbot of St. Martin, near Troyes. He 
went to France at his call in 1552, and his was the prin¬ 
cipal hand which executed, in frelcos of unparalleled vigour 
and glow, the extenfive Tides and ceilings of the galleries 
and apartments at Fontainebleau, from the defigns of Pri¬ 
maticcio. The fubjefts were epic and mythologic : in the 
great gallery, the adventures of Ulyffes, in 58 compart¬ 
ments, below; and the gods of Homer, in 15 of various 
dimenfions, above. This magnificent work, to the eter¬ 
nal difgrace of the barbarian of an architect who gave, 
and the Goth of a minifter who liftened to, the advice, 
was dilapidated and levelled with the ground in Dec. 1738, 
to make room for a new fabric ; and nothing remains but 
a few pidtures of the hiftory of Alexander, in the apartment 
of madame d’Eftampes, which was left Handing. The ad¬ 
ventures of Ulyffes have been etched by Theodore van 
Fulden ; and fome of the lunettes and larger compofi- 
tions of the gallery, have been engraved by G. Mantuano, 
Anthony Gamier, and Stephen de Laulne. Fujeli's Pil- 
hington. 
NICOI.G'SIO (John Baptift), a Sicilian geographer of 
merit, who died at Rome in the year 1670. He was well 
Prilled in the mathematics and geography 7 and, by his fci- 
entific works, recommended himfelf to the notice and 
efteem of pope Alexander VII. The principal of thefe 
are, 1. Hercules Siculus, five Studium Geographicum, 
&c. in 2 vols. 2. Guida alio Studio Geographico. 3. La 
Theorica del Globo Terre ft re. 4. Orbis Defcriptio, in 
ten large maps. 5. A Defcription of the Dominions of 
the Church. 6. A Defcription of the Kingdom of Na¬ 
ples. 7. Maps and Charts, with Notes, illuftrative of the 
Hiftory of Alexander by Quintius Curtius, See. 
NIC'OLSBURG, a town of Moravia, in the circle of 
Brunn : twenty-two miles fouth of Brunn. Lat. 48. 52. N. 
Ion. 16. 33. E. 
NIC'OLSON (William), a prelate diftinguifhed for the 
knowledge of the hiftory and antiquities of his country, 
was born about 1655 at Orton in Cumberland, in which 
county his father was a parilh-re&or. He ftudied at 
Queen’s College, Oxford; and, foon after quitting the 
univerfity, was fent by fir Jofeph Williamfon, fecretary 
of ftate, (probably his relation,) to travel on the continent. 
From his obfervations in this tour he was enabled to draw 
up a copious defcription of Poland, Denmark, and Ger¬ 
many, printed in Pitt’s Atlas, 1680-81. On his return 
from his travels, he took the degree of M.A. became fel¬ 
low of his college, and was made chaplain to the bifnop 
of Carlifle, who gave him a prebend and an archdeaconry, 
with a vicarage, in his diocefe. In 1696 he publiflied the 
Vol.XVII. No. 1162. 
69 
firll part of his ** Englifh Hiftorical Library,” a work in¬ 
tended to give a Ihortview and character of moll of our 
national hiftorians whofe writings are extant, either in 
print or manufeript. It was followed by a fecond part in 
1697, and a third in 1699 ; and all the parts were pub- 
lilhed together, correfted and augmented, in 1714, folio. 
In 1702 he publifhed a “ A Scottifh Hiftorical Library” 
of the fame kind ; and in that year he was promoted to 
the bifhopric of Carlifle. An attack having been made 
upon his Englifh Library by Atterbury, then preacher at 
the Rolls, in his work on the Rights,-Powers, and Privi¬ 
leges, of an Englilh Convention, Dr. Nicolfon replied to 
it in “ A Letter to the Rev. Dr. White Kennet,” 1702. 
In 1717 he was engaged in an unpleafant difpute, refpeft- 
ing fomething he was reported to have faid in relation to 
the famous fermon of Dr. Hoadly, then bilhop of Bangor, 
which occafioned the Bangorian controverfy; and, in the 
courfe of difeuflion, bilhop Nicolfon and Dr. White Ken¬ 
net publicly and pofitively contradicted each other as 
to an occurrence between them. This circumftance is 
thought to have occafioned the bilhop’s removal to Ire¬ 
land, where he was tranllated to the fee of Londonderry in 
1718. His enquiries in that country gave rife to his “ Irifli 
Hiftorical Library,” printed at Dublin in 1724. He mani- 
fefted his attention to the interefts of his fee by erefting a 
building in the palace-garden for the prefervation of the 
records and other manuferipts relating to it. In January 
1726-7 he was tranllated to the archbilhopric of Caftiell; 
but, before he could take poffeflion of it, he died at Lon¬ 
donderry in the February following. The three Hiftori¬ 
cal Libraries, with the Letter to Dr. Kennet, were pub- 
lilhed together in an edition called the third, Lond. 1736, 
folio. They form a valuable work to the Undents of na¬ 
tional hiftory, though they are not without confiderable er¬ 
rors and omiflions, efpecially in the Irifli part, on account 
of the author’s ignorance of the Irifli language. Befides 
this performance, by which the bilhop is principally known, 
lie publiflied fome occaflonal fermons, and fome papers 
on antiquarian fubjefts. He left in manufeript a Hiftory 
of Cumberland, from which large materials have been 
taken for the Hiftory and Antiquities of that county, 
publiflied by Jof. Nicolfon, efq. and Richard Burn, LL.D. 
in 1778. Biog. Brit. Gen. Biog. 
NICOME'DE, or Nicome'des, a faint and martyr, 
whofe memory is preferved in our calendar, was a pupil 
of St. Peter, and one of the moft zealous and amiable of 
the firft converts. When the perfecution raged again!!: 
the Chriftians in the reign of Domitian, he exerted him¬ 
felf in an exemplary manner, vifiting them in their pri- 
fons, and aiding them to the utmoft of his abilities; for 
which,and for affording to the bodies of the martyrs therites 
of fepulture, he was beaten to death with clubs, or leaden 
plummets. Of the birth, precife time of death, or other 
particulars, of this good man, nothing, except the general 
fafls already noticed, have been transmitted to pofterity; 
why, therefore, his anniverfary has been fixed for the ill 
of June, cannot be decided ; nor, indeed, can any reafon 
be afligned why our reformers continued to notice his fef- 
tival, unlefs it were to induce a contemplation of the vir¬ 
tues and bufferings of a contemporary with the apoftles, 
and thereby to imprefs on the memory and fenfibility of 
mankind, the great exertions and noble firmnefs of all 
thole, whofe labours and endurances eftablilhed, for our 
benefit, an holy faith, which may be now enjoyed by every 
individual, undifturbed by thofe oppreffions againft which 
“ the noble army of martyrs” had to contend. Brady's 
Claris Calendaria. 
NICOME'DES, an ancient geometrician, celebrated 
for having been the inventor of the curve called conchoid, 
which ferves equally for the refolution of the two pro¬ 
blems relating to the duplication of the cube, and the tri- 
feftion of an angle. It was much ufed by the ancients, 
in the conftruftion of folid problems. Newton alfo ap¬ 
proved of it for trifefting angles, or finding two mean 
proportionals, and for conftrufting fome other folid pro- 
T blems j 
