678 NEE 
tended made the needle lefs liable to cut the thread; but, 
as the merely gilding a piece of fteel could not be called a 
new invention, the patent was revoked in the court oF 
King’s Bench on the 27th of July, 1813. 
NEEDLE ROCK', a rock in the Mergui Archipelago, 
about half a mile north-weft of Cat Ifland. 
NEE'DLE-WORK, J'. The bufinefs of a fempftrefs. 
Embroidery by the needle.—In a curious brede of needle* 
work, one colour falls away by fuch juft degrees, and an¬ 
other rifes fo infenfibly, that we lee the variety with¬ 
out being able to diftinguilh the total vanilhing of the one 
from the firft appearance of the other. Addifon. 
NEE'DLEFUL, J\ As much thread as is generally put 
at one time in the needle. 
NEE'DLES (The), rocks in the Englilh Channel, near 
the weftern extremity of the Ifle of Wight. There were 
formerly three of thefe rocks; but, towards the end of the 
eighteenth century, the tailed: of them, called Lot's Wife, 
which rofe 120 feet above low-water mark, and in its 
lhape refembling a needle, being undermined by the con- 
ftant efforts of the waves, overfet, and totally dilappeared. 
Lat. 50. 44. N. Ion. 1. 33. N. 
NEE'DLESS, adj. Unneceffary ; not requifite.—Would 
not thefe be great and needlefs abatements of their happi- 
nefs, if it were confined within the compafs of this life 
only ? Atterbury. 
This fudden ftab of rancour I mifdoubt; 
Pray God, I fay, I prove a needlefs coward. 
Shahefpeare, Rich. III. 
Not wanting. Out of ufe. 
For his weeping in the needlefs ftream, 
Poor dear, quoth he, thou mak’ft a teftament 
As worldlings do, giving thy fum of more 
To that which had too much. S/ialiefp. As you like it. 
NEE'DLESSLY, ado. Unnecelfarily; without need.— 
The conlequences whereof have been to render languages 
more difficult to be learnt, and needlefsly to advance or¬ 
thography into a troublefome and laborious art. Holder's 
Eletn. of Speech. 
NEE'DLESSNESS, f. Unneceffarinefs. To explain St. 
Paul’s Epiftles, after fo great a train of expofitors, might 
feem cenfurablefor its needle Ifnefs, did not daily examples 
of pious and learned men jultify it. Locke. 
NEE'DMENT, J\ Something neceflary: 
Behind 
His fcrip did hang, in which his needments he did bind. 
SpenJ'er, F. Q. 
NEEDS, ado. [nebey, Saxon, unwilling. Johnfon. —It 
is merely need is, ufed parenthetically. H. Tooke.~\ Necef- 
farily; by compulfion ; indifpenfably.—Another being 
elefted, and his ambaffadours returned, he would needs 
know the caufe of his repulfe. Davies. —To fay the prin¬ 
ciples of nature mult needs be fuch as philofophy makes 
them, is to let bounds to Omnipotence. Glanville. —I muft 
needs after him, madam, with my ietter. Shahefpeare. 
■ I pel-ceive 
Thy mortal fight to fail: objefts divine 
Muft needs impair, and weary, human lenfe. Milton, P.L. 
I have affairs below, 
Which I muft needs difpatch before I go. Dryden. 
NEEDSO'RE POINT, a cape of England, on the 
coaft of Hamplhire: four miles weft-north-weft of Cowes. 
NEEDUMARAN', a town of Hindooftan, in the Car¬ 
natic : fifteen miles north-eaft of Nattam. 
NEE'DWOOD FOR'EST, an extenfive diftriCt of 
wood-land, in the county of Stafford. It anciently formed 
a portion of the property of the dukes of Lancafter, in 
whofe right i has belonged to the Englilh monarchs for 
feveral centuries. It is divided into the four wards of 
Marchington, Yoxali, Barton, and Tutbury, each of 
them containing about five miles in compafs, exclufive of 
NEE 
Uttoxeter-wood, Boughay, &c. The afpeCl of this foreft 
is finely varied with hill and dale ; and, more particularly 
towards its northern parts, exhibits a ieries of deep glens*, 
inclofed by fteep and rugged precipices, covered with a 
profulion of trees. According to a furvey made in 1765, 
this foreft extends from the confines of Hanbury to Yox¬ 
ali, about a mile to the north of the river Trent, and 
comprifes 9920 acres of land, of which about 1000 acres 
contain oak-trees of full growth and fize. Among thefe 
is the Swilcar oak, perhaps the moft majeftic tree in 
England, which is fuppofedTo have ftood upwards of fix 
hundred years. There were formerly eight parks empaled 
within the ring of this foreft. The officers are a lieute¬ 
nant and chief ranger, affifted by a deputy, fourlieute- 
nants, four keepers, and an axe-bearer. A court is ftill 
held every year by the king’s fteward of the honour of 
Tutbury, in which Needwood is included, when a jury 
of twenty-four perfons, refident within the jurifdi&ion, 
prefent and amerce all perfons guilty of “ encroaching on 
the foreft, or committing offences in vert or venifon.” 
Some part of the foreft has been lately inclofed for culti¬ 
vation. 
NEE'DY, adj. Poor ; neceffitous; diftreffed by poverty. 
—We bring into the world a poor needy uncertain life, 
ffiort at the longeft, and unquiet at the beft. Temple .—• 
To relieve the needy, and comfort the afflicted, are duties 
that fall in our way every day. AddiJ'on. 
In his needy ffiop a tortoife hung. 
An alligator fluff’d, and other fkins 
Of ill-fhap’d fifties. ShaheJ'peare's Rom. and Jul, 
Nuptials of form, ofintereft, or of ftate, 
Thofe feeds of pride are fruitful in debate : 
Let happy men for generous love declare, 
And choofe the needy virgin, chafte and fair. Granville - 
NEEFS (Peter), a painter of fingular eminence in one 
particular branch of the art, was born at Antwerp, pro¬ 
bably about 1570, and was a fcholar of Henry Steenwyck, 
who excelled as an architectural painter. Imitating the 
manner of his matter, Neefs reprefented the infides of 
churches and convents, efpecially thofe in the Gothic 
ftyle, with fuch minute and laborious exaCtnefs of detail, 
and fuch truth of perfpeCtive, neatnefs of finifhing, and 
judicious difpofition of lights, that his pieces were the 
objeCts of univerfal admiration, and are ftill unrivalled. 
The beft of them have a bright and clear colouring, in 
which refpeCt they excel the works of his matter, which 
are too much upon the dark-brown tint. He drew figures 
but indifferently, and frequently borrowed the pencil of 
Breughel and Teniers for that purpofe, which gave his 
pictures an additional value. He died in 1651. 
His fon, Peter Neefs the Young', was an artift in the fame 
line, but of much inferior excellence. Pilhington. 
NEEFS (James), a Dutch engraver, was born at An¬ 
twerp in 1630, and was probably related to the preceding. 
He worked principally with the graver, and handled it 
with great facility. He drew the human figure with fome 
degree of correCtnefs, but in a mannered ftyle. The cha¬ 
racters which he has given to the heads of his figures, 
efpecially when they required alfo an animated expreffion, 
is often exaggerated. He engraved both portrait and 
hiftory j and his beft works, though faulty in the above 
refpeCts, have much merit on the whole. 
NEEHEEKOW, or Oneehow, one of the Sandwich 
Ifiands, in the North Pacific Ocean, containing about 
10,000 inhabitants: fifteen miles weft of Atooi. The 
anchoring-place is laid down in lat. 21. 50. N. Ion. 160^ 
15. W. 
NEEKAL'LA, a town of Hindooftan, in Baglana: tea 
miles eaft of Naderbar. 
NEEL, ,/.' [iiael, icel. naael, Dan.] A needle. Written 
alfo neelcl and neld. 
Thefe and ill lucke together 
Have ftacke away my dear neele, Gatnm . Gurton's Needle . 
Shg 
