N E G 
G8{ i 
ftretched himfelf upon him; and the child neefecl feven 
times; and opened his eyes, i King's, iv. 35.—How apt 
our nature is to catch and propagate the infection of a 
fuperftitious tradition, may appearfrom that ancient and 
modern ufage of praying for a perfon upon neezing, the 
vulgar prefages confequent to the approach ofanyftrange 
fifli to our fliore, the regarding of any cafual (tops and 
breaches in any known fivers, any odd noii'es, etc. Spencer 
on Prodigies. 
The whole quire hold their hips, and Ioffe; 
And waxen in their mirth, and necze, and fwear 
A merrier hour Was never wafted there. Shah'efpeare. 
NEE'SE-WORT, or Sneeze-wort. See Achillea. 
NEE'SING, f. The aft of fneezing; fternutation.—By 
his ncefings a light doth thine, and his eyes are like the 
eye-lids of the morning. Job, xli. 18. 
You fummer neezings when the fun is fet, 
That fill the air with a quick fading fire, 
Ceafe from your flafhings ! More's Philos. Poems 1647. 
NEESO'LY, a town of Kindooflan, in Oude : four miles 
.north-north-eaft of Gooracpour. 
NEE'TA, a town of Iftria : twelve miles eaft ofPedena. 
NEETAMUN'DY, a town of Bengal: fixteen miles 
weft of Buyhar. 
NEE'VAL, a town of Hindooftan, in the Carnatic: 
thirty miles fouth-weft of Madras, and twenty-eight eaft 
of Arcot. 
NEF, J'. [old French ; from nave.] The body of a 
church ; the nave.—The church of St. Juftina, by Palla¬ 
dio, is the moft handfome, luminous, difincumbered, 
building in Italy. The long rce/'confifts of a row of five 
cupolas, the crofs one has on each fide a ftngle cupola 
deeper than the others. Addifon. 
NEFAN'D, or Nefan'dous, adj. [nefandus, Lat.] Not 
to be named; abominable.—Knowing what nefand abo¬ 
minations arepraftifed. Sheldon, Mirr.of Antichrift, 1616. 
The prefs reftrain’d! nefandous thought! 
In vain our fires have nobly fought. 
Green's Poem of the. Spleen, 1754. 
NEFAN'DOUSNESS, f. Wickednefs beyond what is fit 
to be uttered. Scott. 
NEFA'RIOUS, adj. [nefarius, Latin.] Wicked,; abo¬ 
minable.—The moft nefarious baftards are they whom the 
law ftiies inceftuous baftards, which are begotten between 
afeendants and defeendants, and between collaterals, as far 
as the divine prohibition extends. Ayliffe's Parergon. 
NEFA'RIOUSLY, adv. Abominably; wickedly.— 
That unhallow'ed villany nefariovfy attempted upon the 
perfon of our agent. Milton's Letters of State. 
NEFAS'TUS, adj. [Lat. unlucky or inaufpicious.] The 
Romans ufed the term nefafti dies for thofe days whereon 
it was not allowed to adminifter juftice, or hold courts. 
They were fo called becaufe, nonfari licebat, the praetor 
was not allowed to pronounce the three folemn words or 
formulas of the law, Do,dico, addico; I give, I appoint, I 
adjudge. Thefe days were diftinguifhed in the calendar 
by the letter N. for IXefa/his; or N. P. Nefajtus Prirno, 
when the day w'as only nefdftus in the forenoon, or firft 
part. Thefe days of a mixed kind were called intercifi. 
NEF'ERN. See Nevern. 
NEF'TA, a town of Africa, in Biledulgerid, on the 
Lake of Marks, anciently called Negota : fixty miles foutli 
of Gafsa. Lat. 33. 30. N. Ion. 8. E. 
NE'FUS MUS'CA, a town of Abyffmia: ninety miles 
fouth-fouth-eaft of Gondar. 
NEGA'DA. See Anagada, vol. i. 
NEGANOO'R, a town of Hindooftan, in the country 
of Coimbetore : twenty miles fouth-eaft of Coimbetore. 
NEGAPATAM', a fea-port town of Hindooftan, in 
the kingdom of Tanjore, on the coaft of Coromandel. 
This, in the language of the natives, fignifies the City of 
Serpents 5 fo called, not only becaufe the country behind 
1 
N E G 
it is very full offerpents,but likewife on account of a kind 
ol religious refpeft that is paid them by the natives, who 
look upon it as a fort of impiety to kill them. When the 
Portuguefe came into the Indies, this was very little better 
than a ftraggling village, or at moft but an open town; but 
they, quickly perceiving the ufes that might be made of 
it, and more efpecially how conducive it would be to 
the fecurity of their trade in the gulf of Bengal, not only 
erefted walls, but improved it in other refpefts to fuch a 
degree, that it became a fair and beautiful city, adorned 
with feveral fine churches, and a fuperb college belonging 
to the Jefuits. They held it till they loft the Bland of 
Ceylon ; and it then became a place of fuch confequence 
to the Dutch, that they praftiled upon the rajah or prince 
of Tanjore, to abandon his old allies the Portuguefe, and 
by his affiftance became mafters of it. The Portuguefe 
knew the value of it too well to part with it eafily, or to 
forget the lofs of it foon; and therefore they made a great 
effort to recover it, in which they fucceeded ; but did not 
keep it long, for the Dutch were now grown fo ftrongin 
the Indies, and had difpoffeffed the Portuguefe of fo 
many places, that it was impoftible for them to relieve it 
when befieged: this was the reafon that the Dutch be¬ 
came mafters of it again. The Dutch fortified it, and kept 
it till the year 1782, when it was taken from them by the 
Englifti, and was confirmed to them by the peace of 1783. 
The ftreets are broad, and the houfes convenient, but 
ancient; the churches are handfome, and in the environs 
are a great number of pagodas, feme of which are orna¬ 
mented with tafte, and rich; others mean and dirty. It 
is at this time a place of very great trade, though the 
port is not extraordinary, and almoft all the different 
nations in the Indies, Moors, Indians, and Armenians, 
are here fettled, and trade, under the proteftion of the 
fort: 42 miles eaft of Tanjore, and i5ofouth of Madras. 
Lat. 10. 46. N. Ion. 79. 55. E. 
NEGAPAT'LA, a town of Hindooftan, in the Car¬ 
natic : thirty miles north-north-weft of Bomrauzepollam. 
NE'GAR PAR'KAR, a town of Hindooftan, in Cutch: 
ninety-three miles weft of Radunpour. 
NEGA'RA, a town of the ifland of Iferneo, and capi¬ 
tal of the kingdom of Banjat Maffim, fituated on the eaft 
fide of a large river, which runs into the fea : a hundred 
miles from the fea, and fixty north from the town of Ban- 
jar Maffim. 
NEGA'TION, f. [negatio, Lat.] Denial; the contrary 
to affirmation. —Our affertions and negations fhould be yea 
and nay, for whatfoever is more than thefe is fin. Rogers. 
—Defcription by denial, orexclufion, or exception.— Ne¬ 
gation is the abfence of that which does not naturally be¬ 
long to the thing We are fpeaking of, or which has no 
right, obligation, or neceflity, to be prefent with it; as 
when we fay a ftone is inanimate, or blind, or deaf. 
Watts's Logick. —Chance fignifies, that all events called 
cafual, among inanimate bodies, are mechanically and 
naturally produced according to the determinate figures, 
textures, and motions, of, thofe bodies; with this only ne¬ 
gation, that thofe inanimate bodies are not confcious of 
their own operations. Bentley. —Argument drawn from 
denial.—It may be proved in the way of negation, that 
they came not from Europe, as having no remainder of 
the arts, learning, and civilities, of it. Heylin. 
NEGATIVE, adj. [negatif, Fr. negations, Lat.] Deny¬ 
ing ; contrary to affirmative: 
If thou wilt confefs, 
Or elfe be impudently negative, 
To have nor eyes, nor ears, nor thought. Shahefpeare. 
Implying onlv the abfence of fomething; not pofitive; 
privative.—There is another way of denying Chrift with 
our mouths, which is negative, when we do not acknow¬ 
ledge and confefs him. South.— Confider the neceffary 
connexion that is between the negative and pofitive part 
of our duty. Tillotfon.— Having the power to withhold, 
though 
