NISUS, a Trojan youth who accompanied AEneas into Italy, and whose friendship for Euryulus is so pathetically immortalised by Virgil in the ninth book of the “AEneid.”

NITHSDALE, WILLIAM MAXWELL, EARL OF, a noted Catholic, who took part in the Jacobite rising of 1715, was captured at Preston, found guilty of treason, and sentenced to death; the night before the day appointed for his execution (24th February 1786) he effected an escape from the Tower by exchanging clothes with his daring and devoted countess, who had been admitted to his room; he fled to Rome, where he lived in happiness with his wife until her death (1676-1744).

NITROGEN, a gaseous element which constitutes one-fourth in volume of the atmosphere, is the basis of nitric acid, and is an essential constituent of proteids, alkaloids, and albuminoids.

NITZSCH, KARL LUDWIG, German theologian, born at Borna; became professor at Bonn, Saxony, in 1822, whence in 1847 he was removed to succeed Marheineke at Berlin; was of the Schleiermacher school of theologians, and author, among other works, of a “System der Christlichen Lehre” and “Practische Theologie,” the former an able work, but most vilely translated into English, and the latter in evidence of the importance the author attached to the ethical element in the Christian religion (1787-1860).

NIXIE, in German folk-lore a water-sprite of a mischievous disposition, believed to have been suggested to the imagination by the reflection of the stars in the water.

NIZAM, the name given to a viceroy or administrator of justice in the Mogul Empire of India.

NIZAM’S DOMINIONS, THE, or HYDERABAD (11,537), in the heart of the Deccan, situated between the Central Provinces and the Presidency of Madras; it is highly fertile, and the largest of the native States in India.  See HYDERABAD.

NOAH, the patriarch of Scripture antiquity who, by the command of God, constructed an ark for the preservation of the human race and the dry-land animals during the prevalence of the deluge that would otherwise have swept all these forms of life away.

NOAILLES, the name of an old French family, several members of which distinguished themselves in the service of both Church and State:  ANNE JULES N., marshal of France, celebrated for his cruelties against the Huguenots (1650-1708); LOUIS ANTOINE DE, his brother, archbishop of Paris, who was made cardinal (1651-1729); LOUIS MARIE, VICOMTE DE, deputy to the States-General, who took part for a time in the Revolution (1756-1804).

NOAKES, JOHN O’, a fictitious name for a litigious person, used by lawyers in actions of ejectment.

NOBLE, a gold coin first minted by Edward III., formerly current in the country; worth 6s. 8d., and ultimately 10s., when the value of the gold increased.

NOCTURNE, picture of a night scene; also a musical piece appropriate to the night.

NODES, name given to the two points in the orbit of a planet where it crosses or intersects the ecliptic, called ascending when it goes N., and descending when it goes S.