N I T 
N I T 
river Sinemari, in Guiana, flowering and fruiting in Octo¬ 
ber and November. The Items twine about the tailed: 
trees to their very tops. The leaflets are about four pair 
with an odd one, gradually larger upwards, veiny, clothed 
with nifty down at the back. Clufters compound, large, 
terminal; the ftalks and calyx covered with rufty down ; 
petals violet-coloured. The natives call this plant qni- 
nata. The bark of the trunk exudes a red tranfparent 
aftringent gum; probably like that of Pterocarpus draco. 
See Iathyrus. 
NISSU'WA, or Naza'wa, a town of Arabia, in the 
province of Oman : eighty miles fouth-weft of Mu (chat. 
NIS'TER, a river of Germany, which' runs into the 
Sieg near Schonitz. 
NI'SUS, a fon of Hyrtacus, born on mount Ida near 
Troy. He came to Italy with ./Eneas, and fignalized him- 
felf by his valouragainft the Rutulians. He was united in 
the cloleft friendlhip with Euryalus, a young Trojan ; and 
with him he entered, in the dead of night, the enemy’s 
camp. As they were returning victorious, after much 
bloodfhed, they were perceived by the Volcians, who at¬ 
tacked Euryalus. Nifus, in endeavouring to refcue his 
friend from the enemy’s darts, periflied himfelf with him ; 
and their heads were cut oft’ and fixed on a fpear, and 
carried in triumph to the camp. Theirdeath was greatly 
lamented by all the Trojans; and their great friendlhip, 
like that of Pylades and Oreltes, or of Theleus and Piri- 
thous, is become proverbial. Virg. JEn. 
NI'SUS, a king of Megara, fon of Mars, or more pro¬ 
bably of Pandion. He inherited his father’s kingdom 
with his brothers, and received as his portion the country 
of Megaris. The peace of the brothers was interrupted 
by the hoftilities of Minos, who wifhed to avenge the 
death of his fon Androgens, who had been murdered by 
the Athenians. Megara was belieged, and Attica laid 
wafte.. The fate of Nifus.depended totally upon a yellow 
Jock, which, as long as it continued on his head, ac¬ 
cording to the words of an oracle, promifed him life, and 
fUccels to his affairs. His daughter Scylla (often called 
JSiJeia 'Virgo) faw from the walls of Megara the royal be- 
fieger, and became defperately enamoured of him. To 
obtain a more immediate interview with thisobjeCI of her 
paflion, the ftole away the fatal hair from her father’s head 
as he was afleep. The town was immediately taken ; but 
Minos difregarded the fervices of Scylla, and flie threw 
herfelf into the fea. The gods changed her into a lark ; 
and Nifus aiiumed the nature of the hawk, at the very mo¬ 
ment that he gave him lei f death, not to fall into the enemy’s 
hands. Thele two birds have continually been at variance 
with each other; and Scylla, by her apprehenfions at the 
fight of her father, leems to fuffer the punifliment which 
her perfidy deferved. 
NISY'ROS, an ifland in the iEgean Sea, at the weft of 
Rhodes, with a town of the’fame name. It was originally 
joined to the ifland of Cos, according to Pliny; and bore 
the name of Porphyris. Neptune, who was fuppofed to 
have leparated them with a blow of his trident, and to 
have then overwhelmed the giant Polybotes, was vvor- 
. j'hipped there, and called Nifyveus. 
NIT ,f. [buret!,.Sax.] The egg of a loufe, or other fmall 
animal.—1 hewhame, or burrei-fly, is vexatious to holies 
in fummer, not by flinging them, but only by their bom- 
.bylious noife, or tickling them in flicking their nits, or 
eggs, on the hair. Berham's Plryftco-Theql. 
NIT.CHOU', a river which riles in'a mountain of 
Thibet, and runs into the Burramoooter at Ghergong. 
NIT CHOU' KON KIA'MEN, a poft of Chinefe Tar- 
tar.y. Lat. 44. 16. N. Ion. 106. 49. E. 
NITCU'DY, a river of Hindooftan, which runs into the 
Manzorah thirty-five miles eaft of Oudigher. 
NI'TENCY, J. [from the Lat. niteo, to fhine.] Luftre; 
.clear brightnefs, 
NI'TENCY, f. [from the Lat nilor, to endeavour.] En¬ 
deavour; fpring to expand itfelf. —'The atoms of fire ac¬ 
celerate the motion of thele particles ; from which acce- 
Vol. XVII. Mo. 1164. 
101 
leration their fpring, or endeavour outward, will be aug¬ 
mented ; that is, thofe zones will have a ftrong nitency to 
fly wider open. Boyle. 
NITH, a river of Scotland, which rifes in Ayrfhire, 
and, paffmg through Dumfrieslhire, enters Solway-frith 
about ten miles below, Dumfries. Lat. 55. 2. E. Ion. of 
the mouth, 3. 32. W. 
NITH'SDALE, or Nithisdale, a diftriCl of Dumfries- 
lliire in Scotland, lying to the weftward of Annandale. 
It is a large and mountainous tracf, deriving its name 
from the river Nith. This country was formerly Ihaded 
with noble forefts, which are now almoft deftroyed ; fo 
that, at prefent, nothing can be more naked, wild, and 
favage. Yet the bowels of the earth yield lead, and, as 
is laid, filver and gold : the mountains are covered with 
fheep and black cattle; and here are ftill fome confiderable 
remains of the ancient woods, particularly that of Holy- 
wood, three miles from Dumfries, noted for a handfome 
church, built out of the ruins of an ancient abbey, and 
alfo for being the birth-place of the famous aftrologer, 
hence called Joannes fie Sacro BoJ’co. Mr. Pennant calls 
it a beautiful vale, improved in appearance by the bold 
curvatures of the meandering ftream ; and for fome fpace, 
he fays, it is adorned with groves and gentlemen’s feats. 
NITH'ARD, an hiftorian of the ninth century, was 
the fon of Angilbert, abbot of St. Riquier, and of Bertha, 
daughter of the emperor Charlemagne. He was born be¬ 
fore the year 790, and was probably educated at the court 
of his grandfather. It is fuppofed that he fucceeded his 
father in the poft of duke or count of the maritime coaft ; 
and that, in this quality, heferved in the armiesof Charle¬ 
magne. Tie was much attached to Louis le Debonnaire, 
and lik^vvile to his fon Charles the Bald, king of France. 
By this prince he was deputed in 840 to his brother the 
emperor Lothaire, in order to accommodate the differences 
between them ; and in 842 he was one of the commiffion- 
ers of Charles in regulating the partition of territory with 
Louis of Germany. The ill fuccefs of his endeavours to 
preferve peace between rhefe brothers difgufted him with 
the court, from which he retired, and is thought to have 
embraced the monaftic life in the abbey of St. Riquier; 
though others fuppofe that he continued to ferve in the 
army, and was only buried in that monaftery. Nithard 
was the author of a valuable work, containing the hiftory 
of the divifions between the fons of Louis le Debonnaire. 
It was divided into four books, of which the three firlt 
were written in 842; the fourth is loft. His Latin ftyle 
is obfcure and einbarraffed; but his narrative is methodi¬ 
cal, and he was well-informed in all he relates. This 
hiftory was firft publilhed by M. Pithou, in his Annaliiun 
& Hillorias Francorum Scriptores coetanei, 1594; and 
afterwards more correftly by Duchefne and Bouquet, in 
their Collettion of French Hiftorians. It was tranflated 
into French by Coufin, in his Hiftory of the Wellern 
Empire. Gen. Biog. 
NITH'ING, orNiDiKG,y.' A coward, daftard, poltroon. 
See Niding, p. 77. 
NI'TI TOD'DA VAL'LI, /.’ in botany. See Mimosa. 
NIT'ID, (idj. [nitidus, Lat.] Bright; ftiining; luftrous. 
—Wereftore old pieces.of dirty gold to a clean and nit id 
yellow, by putting.them into fire and aqua fortis, which 
take off the adventitious filth. Boyle011 Colours.- —Applied 
to perfons, gay, fpruce, fine.—Amongft thele doth the 
nitid fpark fpend out his time : this is the gallant’s day ! 
Reeve's God's Plea for Nineveh, 1657. 
NITID'ITY, f. Splendor; brightnefs. 
NITID'ULA, f. in entomology, a genus of infefls of 
the order coleoptera. Generic characters—Antennae cla- 
vate, the club folid ; (hells margined ; head prominent; 
thorax a little flattened, margined. There are fortv- 
three fpecies, divided into two feCrions; viz. thofe that 
have a cylindrical lip, and. thofe that have a fquare lip. 
In the former diviffon there are thirty-three fpecies ; in 
the latter only ten. Thefe lall form the tribe Elophorus 
of Fabricius. The infe&s are chiefly inhabitants of Eu~ 
D d rope; 
