N E S 
N E S 735 
Carry her acrofs the river Events. (See DCJANIRa.) Her¬ 
cules haw the did refs of his \v' r e from the oppofite Ihore 
of the river, and immediately let fly one of his poifoned 
arrows, which ftruck the Centaur to the heart. Neffus, 
as he expired”, gave the tunic he then wore to Dejanira, 
alluring her that from the poifoned blood which had 
flowed from his wounds, it had received the power of 
calling a hufband away from unlawful loves. Dejanira 
received it with pleafure; and this mournful prefen t caufed 
the death of Hercules. See Hercules. 
NEST, f. [lie ye, Sax. the pad participle of neyan, to 
vifit frequently, to haunt. Toohe.~\ The bed formed by 
the bird for incubation and feeding her young.—If a 
bird’s neft chance to be before thee in the way, thou lhalt 
not take the dam with the young. Dent. xxii. 6. 
Th’ example of the heavenly lark, 
Thy fellow-poet, Cowley, mark : 
Above the Ikies let thy proud mufick found. 
Thy humble nejl build on the ground. Cuu-Iey. 
Any place where animals are produced.—Redi found that 
all kinds of putrefaction did only afford a ncjl and ali¬ 
ment for the eggs and young of thofe infeCts he admitted, 
j Bentley. —An' abode; place of refidence; a receptacle. 
Generally in a bad fenfe : as, a nejl of rogues and thieves: 
Not farre away, not meete for any gueft. 
They fpide a little cottage, like fome poor man’s nejl. 
SpenJ'er. 
Come from that nejl 
Of death, contagion, and unnatural deep. Shakefpeare. 
A warm clofe habitation, generally in contempt.—Some 
of our minifters, having livings offered unto them, will 
neither for zeal of religion nor winning fouls to God be 
drawn forth from their warm nejls. SpenJ’er. —Boxes or 
drawers; little pockets or repofitories. 
To NEST, v. n. To build nefts.—This poor dove, being 
driven thrice away by that horrible northern wind, which 
razed at length the dove-houfe and the city, did fhe not 
tityl, and as it were hide her head, infecret holes ? Harmar's 
Tv. of Beza, 1587.—The cedar ftretched his branches as 
far as the mountains of the moon, and the king of birds 
nejted within his leaves. Howell's Vocal For eft. 
NEST'-COCK, J'. A fondling; one that has never 
been much from home. 
NEST'-EGG, J’. An egg left in the neft: to keep the 
hen from forfaking it: 
Books and money laid for (hew, 
Like neft-eggs, to make clients lay. 
Iludih •as. 
NES'TE, a riverof France, which runs into the Garonne 
at Montreal. 
NES'TES, before the revolution, a fmall country of 
France, now in the department of the Higher Pyrenees. 
La Barthe was the capital. 
NESTI'ER, a town of France, in the department of the 
Higher Pyrenees': four miles eaft of La Barthe. 
To NES'TLE, v. n. To fettle; to harbour; to lie clofe 
and fnug, as a bird in her neft.—Their purpofe was, to 
fortify in fome ftrong place of the wild country, and there 
•neftle till fuccours came. Bacon .—The king’s fiflier wonts 
commonly by the water-fide, and ncjtles in hollow banks. 
L'Ef range. 
Fluttering there, they neftle near the throne, 
And lodge in habitations not their own. Dryden. 
To NES'TLE, v. a. To houfe as in a nefl: 
Cupid found a downy bed. 
And nefiled in his little head. Prior. 
To cherifh, as a bird her young: 
This Ithacus, fo highly is endear’d 
To this Minerva, that her hand is ever in his deeds: 
She, like his mother, ntjiles him. Chapman's Iliad. 
NES'TLING, J'. A young bird in the nefl: in fome 
joarts, the fmslleit bird of the nefl, and call alfo neftle-cock. 
-—The chief object of children, looking after nefts, is the 
eggs, or neft lings, not the bird which lays them. Barring - 
ton's EJfays. —A receptacle ; a neft. Hot in ufe. —They 
[the phylicians] inquire not of the diverfities of the parts, 
the fecrecies of the paflages, and the feats or nejilings of 
the humours. Bacon's Adv. of Learning. 
NES'TLING, adj. Newly hatched; newly depofited in 
the ijeft.—I have taken four young ones from a hen fky- 
lark, and placed in their room five neft ling nightingales, 
as well as five wrens, the greater part of which were 
reared by the fofter-parent. Barrington's EJfays. 
NES'TON (Great), a fmall market-town in the county 
of Chefter, is lituated clofe upon the fhore, on the fouth- 
weftern fide of a peninfula formed by the eftuaries of the 
Dee and Merfey. It is a place of very little importance, 
and chiefly fupported by the number of perfons who re¬ 
fort to it as a fummer refidence. The market-day is 
Friday. The manor here was at an early period in the 
pofleflion of the family of Montalt, and was bequeathed 
by Robert de Montalt to queen Ifabel in the reign of 
Edward III. This prince afterwards granted it to Wil¬ 
liam Montacute, earl of Salifbnry; but, reverting to the 
crown foon after by attainder, it was given by Henry IV. 
to fir John Stanley, anceftor to the earls of Derby, by one 
of whom it was fold to the Whitmores of Leighton, and 
from them paffed, by female heirs, to the Savages and 
Moltyns. The parifli is of great extent; and contains the 
townfhips of Lidfliam, Leighton, Little Nefton, Nefs, 
Raby, Thornton, Mayow’, and Willafton ; the whole com- 
prifing 625 houfes, and 1909 inhabitants, as appears from 
the parliamentary returns of 1811. 
NES'TOR, a diftinguilhed Grecian chief in the time of 
the Trojan war, was king of Pylos in the Peloponnefus. 
He was one of the twelve fons of Neleus, of whom all 
but himfelf were (lain in the invafion of the country by 
Plercules. Neftor W'as preferved from daughter by his 
tender age, and by being educated among the Gerenians. 
He was very lhccefsful in battle, while young, againft the 
Eleans. He was placed by Hercules on the throne of 
Pylos ; and, as king of that country, and of Meflenia, he 
led his fubjefts to the Trojan war, where he diftinguilhed 
himfelf among the reft of the Grecian chiefs, by eloquence, 
addrefs, wifdom, juftice, and an uncommon prudence in 
the adminiftration of affairs. His charatter is reprefented 
by Homer as the moil perfect of all his heroes; and Aga¬ 
memnon is made to exclaim, that if he had ten fuch 
generals as Neftor he fliould foon fee the walls of Troy 
reduced to utter ruin. His wifdom, the refult of long 
experience, isdiiplayed on feveral occafions in the councils 
of the Greeks, and his honey-like eloquence is employed 
in conciliating the dilfentions between the leaders. The 
garrulity of old age, joined to the qualities of a veteran 
ftatefman, and w'arrior, renders him a very natural and 
interefting perlonage in the Iliad. After the Trojan war, 
Neftor is fuppofed to have retired to Greece, where he en¬ 
joyed in the bofom of his family the peace and tranquillity 
which were due to his wifdom and his old age. The 
manner and time of his death are unknown : the ancients 
are all agreed that he lived three generation^ of men ; 
which length of time is fuppofed to be 300 years, though 
more probably only 90 years, allowing 30 years for each 
generation. From that circumftance, therefore, it was 
ufual among the Greeks and the Latins, when they wifhed 
a long and happy life to their friends, to wifh them to fee 
the years of Neftor. He had two daughters and ieven 
fons : among the latter was Antilochus, a brave warrior, 
who penflied before the walls of Troy. 
NES'TOR, or Letopis Nestorova, a Ruffian his¬ 
torian ,_ born in the year 1056 at Bielozero, afiumed the 
monaftic habit in the 19th year of his age, and took the 
name by which he is known. When he entered the mo- 
naftery, he cultivated the Greek language with diligence, 
though he is thought to have ftudied it rather in the 
Byzantine hiftorians than in the older clafiics. He is 
fuppofed to have died in 1115; the work by which he is 
1 chiefly 
