648 
N A X 
thriving wood. Juft by this place all'o runs the famous 
Roman wall, erefted as a barrier to prevent the ravages 
of the Caledonian Britons. After ramparts of earth had 
been tried in vain, by emperors and generals, to check 
the fury of the valiant but uncultivated fons of the 
north, Severus at laft built one of ftone. This fortifica¬ 
tion extended from Tinmouth to Solway Frith, and di¬ 
vided the kingdom from fea to fea. At proper and con¬ 
venient diftances, caftles or towers were built upon this 
immenfe wall, to protect the country, and carry intelli¬ 
gence from the one end to the other. The legionary fol- 
diers of the Romans were employed in eredting this won¬ 
derful piece of architecture, the remains of which may 
Hill be traced for feventy miles, and will probably long 
continue a monument of the confummate Ikill and per¬ 
severing induftry of that brave and formidable people. 
Thirlwall-caftle ftands on that part of the wall where it 
erodes the Tippil, near the Irthing, on the borders of 
Cumberland. Here the Scots forced a paflage into Eng¬ 
land ; for, having Summoned in the boors, with their 
mattocks and pick-axes, they made gaps in the wall for 
paflage, from which gaps, this part of it was called Thirl- 
wall, which in Saxon iignifies “ the perforated wall.” 
The caftle, which is about twenty yards long, and twelve 
broad, ftands dole by the north fide of the wall, has been 
curioufly vaulted underneath, and its walls are nine feet 
thick, and on the top are fix little turrets. The floor of 
one of the apartments was lately cleared, and difeovered 
to be of Angular conftruCfion, confiding of three tiers of 
flags, laid upon fand. The only light admitted^ through 
apertures as narrow’ as thofe in ftair-cafes of ancient caftles. 
The whole carries the appearance of a horrid gloomy dun¬ 
geon. Wilkes's Britijh Directory, v'ol. v. Appendix. 
NAXA'RA (Emmanuel de), a learned Spanifh Jefuit, 
was born at Toledo in the year 1605. He entered on his 
noviciate at the age of twenty ; and, after he had taken 
the four vows and finifhed his ftudies, he read leftures on 
the facred Scriptures for many years at the univerfity of 
Alcala, with very great celebrity. Afterwards he lec¬ 
tured on politics in the royal fchools at Madrid, where 
he was appointed preacher to the court. He died in 1680, 
w hen about feventy-five years of age. He was the author 
of, 1. Commentat'd litterales et morales in Jofue, cum 
Appendice de Rahab, &c. 1647, 2 vols. folio. 2. Com¬ 
ment. in Judices, 1656-1664, 3 vols. folio. 3. Comment, 
in lib. i. Regum, 1672, 3 vols. folio. 4. Condones Qua- 
dragefimales, 1649, a vols. 4to. 5. Condones per Ad- 
ventum, 1658, 4to. 6. Condones Panegyricse de Chrifto 
Domino, 1649, 4to. 7. Condones de Dominicis per An¬ 
num, 1657, 4to. 8. Condones Varise, 1650-1658, 5 vols. 
4to. 9. Condones Funebres in Exequis, 1666. 4to. &c. 
Sotvelli Bibl. Script. Soc. JeJ’u. 
NAX'I, a town of South America, in Tucuman : fif¬ 
teen miles fouth of St. Miguel de Tucuman. 
NAX'IA, formerly Naxos, the largeft of the Cyclades, 
and now the mod agreeable and mod tranquil ifland of the 
Grecian Archipelago. Its fertility more than its extent, 
being about forty-eight miles in circuit, has given occa- 
fion for its being called the Queen. The ancients called 
it Sirov gyle ; and it is faid to have been firft peopled by 
Thracians, who, being in want of women, ftole them from 
Theflaiy, and, among others, Iphidemia and her daughter 
Pancratis. Alveus lent his fons Otus and Ophialtes to 
recover their mother Iphidemia; thefe brothers van- 
quilhed the Thracians, made themfelves mafters of the 
ifland, and called it Diet , The Carians eftablifhed them¬ 
felves in this ifland, and gave it the name of Naxos, their 
king. 
Naxos, like the other iflands ot the Archipelago, has 
experienced all the viciflitudes of fortune. It was for¬ 
merly a powerful republic, but unable to maintain its in¬ 
dependence. It was lucceflively in alliance with the 
Athenians ; conquered and ravaged by the Perfians; tri¬ 
butary to the Romans ; ceded by Marc Antony, after the 
N A X 
battle of Philippi, to the Rhodians; afterwards fubjecl 
to the emperors of the Ealt; a long time governed by 
Venetian princes ; and at length united to the Ottoman 
empire,under the reign of Selim II. The Naxians, however, 
have retained a Angular privilege of being governed by then- 
own laws and cuftoms; they have a municipal adminiftra- 
tion, and judges of their own ele&ion. The inconfider- 
able importance of this ifland, and its remotenels from 
the coaft of Afia, have not induced the Turks to ellabiilh 
tbenifelves there. The Porte is content to fend thither 
a waiwode to exercife the police, to gather the taxes, and 
to remit them to Conftantinople. This ifland, more free 
and more independent than Scio, is neverthelefs far from 
having attained the fame degree of profperity. Trade is 
not fufticiently brilk ; the culture of the lands is too 
much neglefted; and the inhabitants poffcfs little or no 
induftry. Poor and haughty, and proud of their ancient 
nobility, they difdain commerce and agriculture; and 
thus thefe noble perlons, boafting of their defeent from 
the firft Italian families, can bear to fee their manfions 
pafs into the hands of plebeians, and their lands almolt 
deftitute of culture. The population of this ifland is efti- 
mated by Dr. Clarke at 18,000 perlons. The capital contains 
2000 ; and the reft are fcattered through 41 villages. The 
taxes which it pays for the lands, the karatch, and the 
cuftoms, amount to about 1666I. fterling; exclufively of 
fome other occafional difburfements. Althoughthe num¬ 
ber of catholics is diminifhing, fo that they have fcarcely 
600 fettled in the town, they have an archbifhop, a coad¬ 
jutor, fix canons, a reftor, and Aeveral curates. They 
have alfo a houfe of lazarifts for the education of youth, 
a convent of capuchins, another of cordeliers, and an¬ 
other of cloiftered nuns. The number of the Greeks, on 
the contrary, is increafing, and their clergy are much lefs 
numerous, and more rich, than thofe of the Latins. 
This ifland is covered with high mountains, whofe bafe 
is fchiftofe or granitical. White marble, and hard calca¬ 
reous ftone, lie every where on the fchiftus, and give rife 
to a great number of fprings, which water and fertilize 
the plains. The higheft of thefe mountains is that of 
Jupiter, which the inhabitants call Dia, or Zia. In this 
mountain is a grotto of beautiful white marble, which has 
been much vifited. The inhabitants regard it as a facred 
fpot, whither the Bacchants of the country came to ce¬ 
lebrate their feltivals and their myfteries. It prefents 
now nothing very remarkable. The fummit of the moun¬ 
tains affords an extenfive and interefting profpedt. On 
the back of the mountains are fome flocks of the little 
fheep of Italy and Provence, with fhort and coarfe wool, 
and of a fmall fpecies of goat, the flefh of which is eaten 
by the poor. The fhepherds are peculiarly wild, and the 
women unfociable. The females of Naxia, like thofe of 
Scio, take pleafure in chewing an inodorous fubftance, 
which is furnifhed by the root of the Atraftylis gummifera. 
The root of the plant affords an aliment equally vvhole- 
fome and nutritious. The hills and rifing grounds of 
this ifland are covered with myrtles, arbutufes, lentifks, 
hypericums, favorys, thorny brooms, leguminous fhrubs, 
and feveral fpecies of rock-rofes, particularly that which 
furnifhes the labdanum. The rivulets are bordered by 
oleanders, agnus-caftules, and plane-trees. In the eaft 
part of the ifland is a mine of emery. The inhabitants 
of Naxos praftife the caprification of the fig, and they 
cultivate the vine. Their wine has been generally com¬ 
mended. Athenaeus, fpeaking of it in ancient times, 
compares it to the nedtar of the gods. Olivier fays, that 
it is generally of an indifferent quality, becaufe they 
know neither how to make nor how to preferve it. The 
ifland furnifhes wheat, kidney-beans, garden-beans, and 
a few other legumes for the home-conlumption. Barley, 
which is much more abundant, is annually exported. 
The oil is of an indifferent quality. Oranges, lemons, 
and bergamot-citrons, are lefs plentiful than they might 
be, as there is no town fufliciently near that furnifhes a 
great 
