But that which chiefly contributed to give celebrity to his name was his discovery of logarithms. Napier published his invention in 1614, under the title of Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio; containing a large canon of logarithms, of the kind that is called hyperbolic, with the description and uses of them; but their construction was reserved till the sense of the learned concerning his invention should be known. As soon as Napier had communicated this invention to Mr. Henry Briggs, at that time mathematical professor in Gresham college, the latter immediately set about the application of the rules in his Imitatio Nepeirea. To Napier science is also indebted for considerable improvements in spherical trigonometry, &c., particularly by his Catholic or universal rule, being a general theorem for the resolution of all the cases of spherical triangles, in a manner very simple, and easy to be remembered, which is commonly called "the five circular parts.' He likewise prepared for the press his Construction of Logarithms. The last literary exertion of this eminent man was the publication of his Rabdology, and Promptuary of Multiplication, consisting of instruments and tables for the more easy performance of the arithmetical operations of multiplication, division, &c. His Rabdology describes an invention of rods, or, Napier's bones, as they are commonly called, which are five in number, made of bone, ivory, horn, wood, or pasteboard. Napier died in 1617, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, and was buried in the cathedral of St. Giles at Edinburgh. Besides the works already mentioned, he wrote, Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Constructio: et eorum ad ipsorum numeros habitudines; una cum Appendice, de alia eaque præstantiore Logarithmorum specie condenda. Quibus accessere Propositiones ad Triangula Sphærica faciliore Calculo resolvenda. Una cum Annotationibus Doctissimi D. Henrici Briggii in eas, et memoratam Appendicem; this was published by the author's son in 1619; Secret Inventions, profitable and necessary in these days for the Defence of this Island, and with standing Strangers Enemies to God's Truth and Religion. This was printed by the earl of Buchan in the Appendix to his Account of the Writings and Inventions of Napier of Merchiston.

NAPIER, (William John, lord,) a British naval officer, born at Kinsale, in 1787. He entered the service at the age of sixteen, and was a midshipman on

In

board the Defiance at the battle of Trafalgar. In 1809 he was advanced to the rank of lieutenant, and to that of post captain five years afterwards. In 1815, owing to the peace, he retired from active service, and entered the university of Edinburgh. He afterwards turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. 1824 he was recalled to his naval duties, and took the command of the Diamond, bound for the South American station. In 1833 he was appointed superintendent of the trade and interests of the British nation in China. Here, however, the object of his voyage was frustrated by the governor of Canton, who appeared anxious that his lordship should not reach that place until notice should have been sent to the court of Pekin, and the answer of the emperor be made known upon the subject. Lord Napier, on the 24th of July, sailed up the Canton river, and arrived at the factory on the next morning. The orders and edicts of the governor, that his lordship should return to Macao, were replied to by the latter in terms of positive refusal; commercial transactions between the British and Chinese merchants were prohibited by the governor; and on the 7th September his lordship sent the Imogene and Andromache frigates up the Boyne river, which were fired at by the forts, and which, in return, kept up a heavy and destructive cannonade; but, owing to calms, the ships were obliged to come to an anchor for several days. On the 14th of the same month lord Napier became seriously indisposed; and that the interests of the British merchants might not be injured by a farther suspension of their arrangements, the men-of-war were ordered to move out of the river," and he returned to Macao, where he died on the 11th October.

NAPOLEON. See BUONAPARTE.

NARBOROUGH, (Sir John,) an English naval officer, descended from an old family in Norfolk, received his first commission as lieutenant of the Portland in 1664. After the long and desperate action in June 1666, between the English fleet, under prince Rupert, and Monk, duke of Albemarle, and the Dutch under De Ruyter and Van Tromp, he was promoted to the command of the Assurance, a fourth-rate. After the conclusion of peace, he was selected to conduct a voyage of discovery to the South Seas, for which destination he sailed in 1669, in the Sweepstakes, 36, attended by the Bachelor pink. He embarked at Dept.

ford the 26th November; and on the 22d October in the following year he entered the Strait of Magalhaens. He returned home in June 1671, without accomplishing the principal design of his voyage. On the breaking out of the second Dutch war in 1672, he was taken by the lordhigh-admiral, the duke of York, into his own ship, the Prince, as second captain; and in the obstinately contested battle of Solebay with the Dutch fleet under De Ruyter, he acted with an energy and promptitude that called forth the highest commendations. In 1673 he was raised to the rank of rear-admiral, and knighted. In 1674 he was appointed commanderin-chief of a fleet sent to the Mediterranean, and he compelled the bey of Tripoli to release all his British captives, to pay 80,000 dollars in reparation for injuries to the British trade, and to grant to British subjects very honourable and valuable privileges. He returned to England in 1677; but he was immediately despatched again to the Mediterranean, to chastise the piracies of the Algerines. He cannonaded Algiers with good effect, though without being able to bring the pirates to terms; and he concluded his operations by capturing and carrying into Cadiz a whole squadron of five Algerine frigates, which the dey had equipped to obtain satisfaction for his previous losses. In 1680 he was made a commissioner of the navy; and he held that office until his death in 1688.

NARDI, (Jacopo,) an eminent Italian historian, was born of a noble family at Florence in 1476. He was sent ambassador to Venice in 1527. Upon his return to Florence he espoused the party adverse to the Medici family, and distinguished himself as well in counsel as in arms. He was one of the emigrants who, in 1535, laid their complaints before the emperor Charles V. at Naples; but the application proving fruitless, he retired to Venice, where he employed himself in the composition of various works. He wrote the history of Florence from 1494 to 1531, a period all within his own observation. It was first printed at Lyons in 1582. This History forms a sequel to that of Machiavelli, which ends with the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent in 1492, and the two together form a complete history of the Florentine republic from its rise till the overthrow of its independence. Nardi likewise composed the Life of Antonio Giacomini Tebalducci Malespini, printed at Florence in 1597. These original works, however, contributed per

haps less to his reputation than his translation of Livy, first published at Venice in 1540, and several times reprinted. It has always been accounted one of the best versions in the Italian language. He also translated Cicero's Oration for Marcellus. Nardi moreover cultivated Italian poetry, and composed some Canti Carnaschialeschi, printed in the collections of poems of that kind; and a comedy in verse, entitled L'Amicizia. He is supposed to have given the first example of the versi sciolti, or Italian blank verse. He died about 1555, at a very advanced age.

NARES, (James,) an eminent musical composer, was born in 1715, at Stanwell, in Middlesex, and received his musical education under Bernard Gates, in the King's Chapel, and afterwards under Dr. Pepusch. In 1734 he was chosen organist of York, though only nineteen years of age. On the death of Dr. Green in 1755 he obtained the united places of organist and composer to George II. On this promotion he came to London, and was soon after created doctor in music at Cambridge. In 1757 he succeeded Mr. Gates as master of the choristers in the Chapel Royal; this office he resigned in 1780 to his pupil, Dr. Ayrton. He composed a great many anthems and services for the royal chapel, of which a number have been printed. He died in 1783, leaving a character as a man not less respectable than his reputation as a musician. His principal works are, several sets of Lessons for the Harpsichord; the Royal Pastoral, a Dramatic Ode; Catches, Canons, and Glees; and Anthems. He published, Twenty Anthems in Score, composed for the use of the ChapelsRoyal, and now constantly heard in every cathedral in England and Ireland; A Collection of Catches, Canons, and Glees, dedicated to the earl of Mornington, including the prize-glee, "To all Lovers of Harmony," and, "Fear no more the Heat o' the Sun;" A Treatise on Singing, with a set of English duets; and, The Royal Pastoral, a Dramatic Ode.

NARES, (Robert,) son of the preceding, was educated at Westminster school, and at Christ church, Oxford, where he proceeded M.A. in 1778. After entering into holy orders he was presented to the rectory of Sharnford, in Leicestershire. He was also chosen preacher at Lincoln's-inn; and he obtained the office of assistant librarian at the British Museum. In 1799 he was made archdeacon of Stafford, when he

resigned his first preferment. He was also a prebendary of Lincoln, rector of St. Mary's, Reading, archdeacon of Stafford, canon of Lichfield, and rector of All Hallows, London Wall, in the city of London. His principal productions are, An Essay on the Demon, or Divination of Socrates; Elements of Orthoepy, containing a distinct view of the whole Analogy of the English Language; A Connected Chronological View of the Prophecies relating to the Christian Church, in Twelve Sermons preached at the Warburton Lecture; and, A Glossary, or Collection of Words, Phrases, Names, &c., in the works of English Authors of the Age of Queen Elizabeth. In conjunction with Mr. Beloe, he established and conducted the British Critic; and he was also a contributor to the Classical Journal. He died in 1829.

soon

NARES, (Edward,) nephew of the preceding Dr. James Nares, was the third son of Sir George Nares, one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas, and was born in London in 1762, and educated at Westminster school, and at Christ Church, Oxford, under the tuition of Dr. Randolph, afterwards bishop of London. After taking his bachelor's degree, he was elected a fellow of Merton college in 1788. In 1792 he entered into holy orders, and was afterwards presented by his college to the cure of St. Peter's in the East. He vacated his fellowship in 1797, on his marriage with lady Charlotte Churchill, third daughter of George, fourth duke of Marlborough. In 1798 he was presented by the archbishop of Canterbury to the rectory of Biddenden, in Kent. In 1805 he was appointed Bampton lecturer. In 1814, George IV. then Prince Regent, appointed him to the professorship of modern history at Oxford. He wrote, An Attempt to show how far the Philosophical Notion of a Plurality of Worlds is consistent or not with the Language of Scripture; Sermons composed for Country Congregations; A View of the Evidences of Christianity, at the close of the pretended Age of Reason, in eight Sermons, preached at the Bampton Lectures; A Letter to the Rev. F. Stone, M.A. in reply to his Visitation Sermon preached at Danbury; The Duty and Expediency of Translating the Scriptures into the current Languages of the East-a Sermon preached before the University of Oxford; A Jubilee Sermon, preached Oct. 25th, 1809; Remarks on the Version of the New Testament, lately published by the

Unitarians, 1810; Thinks I to Myself, a novel, 2 vols, 1811, which passed through several editions; Discourses on the Three Creeds, and on the Homage offered to our Saviour, on certain particular Occasions during his Ministry; Memoirs of the Life and Administration of Lord Burghley; Elements of General History, Ancient and Modern, being a continuation of Prof. Tytler's work; and, Heraldic Anomalies, By it matters Not Whom. He died in 1841.

NARNI, (Jerom Mautin de,) a famous Capuchin preacher, who flourished in Italy in the seventeenth century. He was called to Rome, and appointed to preach before the pope and cardinals; on which occasion he struck such a terror into his hearers, by showing the sinfulness of a neglect of duty, that no less than thirty bishops posted the next day to their dioceses. The effects of his oratory upon the people were no less extraordinary, and many went from the church crying for mercy as they walked along the streets. Narni, however, saw so little real fruit produced by his eloquence, that he retired to his cell, where he employed himself in writing the history of his order.

NARSES, a eunuch, who had been an Asiatic slave, and who became one of the most successful generals of the emperor Justinian I. by whom he was raised successively to the office of groom of the bedchamber, and afterwards to that of keeper of the emperor's privy purse. In 538 he was appointed to the command of a body of troops which were sent to Italy to act under Belisarius, with whose cooperation he compelled the Goths to raise the siege of Ariminum. In 539 he was recalled by Justinian. In 552 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Italian expedition, and marched against the Goths, led by Totila, whom he defeated. He afterwards routed Teias, the successor of Totila; and he finally destroyed the residue of that force on the banks of the Volturno, and thus put an end to the Gothic kingdom in Italy. In 553 Justinian appointed him exarch of Italy, and he fixed his residence at Ravenna. After the death of Justinian (565), the enemies of Narses obtained his recall from the emperor Justinus II. It is said that Sophia, the wife of Justinus, added to the letters of recall an insulting message, to the purport that he ought to leave to men the command over other men, and return to the use of the distaff among the women of the palace; to which Narses is said to have retorted, that he

would spin her a thread that she should not be able to unravel. Narses now withdrew to Naples, but soon after removed to Rome, where he died in 568.

NARUSZEWICZ, (Adam Stanislaus,) a Polish poet and historian, was born in 1733, and educated under the Jesuits at Lyons. After travelling through Italy, France, and Germany, he was appointed professor of poetry at the university of Wilna, and soon afterwards to a similar professorship in the college of Nobles at Warsaw. King Stanislaus Augustus conferred upon him the bishopric of Smolensk after the suppression of the order of the Jesuits, and in 1790 that of Lukow. He died in 1796. Besides fables, satires, pastorals, and several books of odes and other lyrical pieces, he wrote, a History of Poland, in six volumes; a Translation of Tacitus; a description of Taurida, or history of the Crim Tartars; a translation of all the odes of Horace; and Stanislaus Augustus' Journey to Kaniow in 1786, which contains an account of the origin of the Cossacks.

NARY, (Cornelius), a learned Irish Roman Catholic divine, was born in the county of Kildare in 1660, and educated at Naas, in the same county. In 1684 he received priest's orders in the town of Kilkenny, and the year following went to Paris to pursue his studies in the Irish college, of which he was made afterwards provisor. He took the degree of LL.D. in 1694, in the college of Cambray, and, returning to London in 1696, was appointed tutor to the earl of Antrim. He was afterwards made parish priest of St. Michan's in Dublin. His publications are, The New Testament translated into English from the Vulgate, with marginal notes; A new History of the World, containing an historical and chronological account of the times and transactions from the Creation to the Birth of Christ, according to the computation of the Septuagint. He died in 1738.

NASH, (Thomas) a dramatic poet and satirist, was born in 1558 at Lowestofft, in Suffolk, and educated at St. John's college, Cambridge. He closed a life of literary adversity, an account of which is given by Mr. D'Israeli, in 1600, or 1601. He wrote three dramatic pieces, Dido, queen of Carthage, a tragedy; Summer's Last Will and Testament, a comedy; and, The Isle of Dogs. He engaged on the side of the Church against Martin Marprelate, against whom he wrote, A Countercuffe given to Martin, junior; Martin's Month's Minde; The

Returne of the renowned Cavaliero Pasquill of England. He had a vigorous understanding, well stored with learning, and was capable of giving powerful descriptions of things and striking characters of persons, as will be found by his Supplication of Pierce Penniless to the Devil, 1592; this latter work was followed up, though with less effect, by his Christ's Tears over Jerusalem, 1593. Summer's Last Will and Testament has been reprinted in the last edition of Dodsley's Old Plays.

NASH, (Richard,) an extraordinary character, was born at Swansea, in Glamorganshire, in 1674, and educated at Carmarthen school, and at Jesus college, Oxford, where he became known more for his love of pleasure, and his intrigues, than for his industry. He then entered the army; but this profession he soon relinquished for a town life, and the study of the law at the Temple. Admired and courted as a boon companion, he became the arbiter elegantiarum of the fashionable world; and when the Middle Temple, according to custom, gave an entertainment to William III., Nash had the management of the ceremony, which was so well conducted, that the monarch offered him the honour of knighthood, which he declined. In 1704 Nash went to Bath, which now began to be a place of resort, and being elected master of the ceremonies, by the influence of his friends, and the popularity of his own character, he soon made that city the resort of the gay, the fashionable, and the opulent. Under his direction the greatest regularity was made to prevail in the public rooms, and Bath, lately known to few, became the centre of attraction for persons in the higher rank of life. In the midst of this gay assemblage, Nash supported his expenses chiefly from the gaming table; but with this vicious propensity predominant in his character, he was humane, generous, and charitable; and though pressed by creditors, he has often been known to bestow on the cravings of indigence what was due from him to patient industry. Flattered with the appellation of the King of Bath, and called in his palmy days, Beau Nash, this umpire of fashion continued his career of dissipation, though his income was precarious, and his resources depended on chance. He died in indigence in 1761.

NASH, (Treadway Russel,) a divine, was born in 1724, and educated at Worcester college, Oxford, where he took his degree of D.D. in 1758. He published,

Collections for a History of Worcestershire, 2 vols, fol.; a splendid edition of Hudibras, 3 vols, 4to; and some papers in the Archæologia. He died in 1811. NASH, (John,) an architect, was born in 1752, and was at first a miniature painter. He is chiefly known as the author or promoter of the extensive improvements in the metropolis, arising out of the formation of Regent-street and the Regent's Park. He also designed the plan of Buckingham Palace, the Pavilion at Brighton, the United Service Clubhouse, the Haymarket theatre, the terraces in St. James's Park, and the entrance to the Queen's mews. He died at his villa near East Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, in 1835.

NASINI, (Giuseppe Nicolo,) a painter, was born near Sienna in 1664, and learned design from his father, Francesco Nasini, till he was eighteen years old, when he was sent to Rome, and placed as a disciple with Ciro Ferri, who used every effort to ensure his advancement; and being requested by the grand duke Cosmo III. to send him a young artist qualified to copy the designs of Pietro da Cortona, in the Palazzo Pitti, he recommended his pupil to that prince. Nasini was in consequence not only munificently rewarded, but, by order of the duke, was admitted into the Florentine Academy at Rome, of which Ciro Ferri was at that time principal director. During his continuance in the above city he gained three prizes at the Academy of St. Luke for his paintings, and one for sculpture. He next visited Venice, where he spent some time with Carlo Loti; and then returning to Tuscany, was appointed to an employment of considerable profit and honour at that court. Among many fine performances of Nasini are the death of Cato, and a Lucretia, He died in 1736.

NASMITH, (James,) a divine and antiquary, was born at Norwich in 1740, and educated at Amsterdam, and at Bene't college, Cambridge, of which he became fellow. Having entered into holy orders, he served the sequestration of Hinxton, in Cambridgeshire, for some years. He was afterwards elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and became a justice of peace for the county of Cambridge. In 1773 he was presented to the rectory of St. Mary Abchurch, in London, which, in the following year, he exchanged for Snailwell, in Cambridgeshire. He took his degree of D.D. in 1797. His last preferment was the rectory of Leverington, in the Isle of

Ely, where he died in 1808. After having arranged and methodized the MSS. in archbishop Parker's library at Bene't college, he printed at the university press, in 1777, a catalogue of them, in 4to, with a Latin preface. In 1778 he published an edition of the Itineraries of Symon, son of Simeon, and William of Worcester, with a tract on Leonine verses from Parker's MSS. 8vo. About 1788 he completed his edition of Tanner's Notitia Monastica, to which he made considerable additions.

NASMYTH, (Peter,) a landscapepainter, was born in 1785 at Edinburgh, where his father also followed the same branch of the profession. At the age of twenty he removed to London, where his talents soon attracted notice, and procured him the appellation of the English Hobbima. He died in 1831.

NASSIR-ED-DEEN, (Mohammed Ben Hussein al Thussi,) a Persian astronomer, born about 1200. When Hulaku (commonly written Holagu), surnamed Ilkhan, had overrun Persia, he fixed his seat of government at Maragha, in Azerbijan, where he collected men of science, built an observatory, and placed Nassir-eddeen at the head of both. The tables made at this observatory, and called the Ilkhanic Tables, from the name of their author's patron, enjoyed great reputation in the East, and are known in Europe from the Synopsis Tabul. Astron. Persicarum of George Chrysococca, printed by Bouillaud in 1645, and the Commentary of a Persian, whose Latinized name is Shah Cholgius, printed by Greaves in 1642. Nassir-ed-deen also wrote a work on geography, which was printed by Greaves in 1652. He also published the most esteemed Mahometan editions, with commentaries, of Euclid's Elements of Geometry, and the Spherics of Theodosius and Menelaus, together with a treatise on moral subjects, entitled, Akhlak al-Nasseri; and another on economics and politics, entitled, Al-Menzeli, and Alc Medeni. Ebn Aluari, in his Kheridat Alagiaïb, attributes to him a work on Mussulman law, with the title of Schar Altedh Kerah, or, A Commentary on the Book entitled, Tedhkerah. Nassir-eddeen died in 1254, according to some writers; but others assign his death to the year 1269.

NATALIS, (Michael,) an engraver, was born at Liege about 1589, and was instructed in design by Joachim Sandrart. He afterwards went to Antwerp, where he learned engraving under Charles Mallery.

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