The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 326

NORTH CAROLINA. See CAROLINA, NORTH.

NORTH SEA or GERMAN OCEAN, between the E. coast of Britain and the Continent, spreads out into the Arctic Ocean, is shallow, is crossed by many sandbanks, and is subject to frequent violent storms; the Dogger Bank, between England and Denmark, 8 to 16 fathoms deep, is rich in fish, especially cod.

NORTH-EAST and NORTH-WEST Pa.s.sAGES, the name given to the sea-routes through the Arctic Ocean, the former by the N. of Europe and Asia and the latter by the N. of North America, which the northern nations were ambitious to open up into the Pacific, the access to which by the Capes in the S. was in possession of the fleets of Spain and Portugal; the attempts to achieve it cost much money and much life, and realised no permanent material advantage.

NORTH-WEST Pa.s.sAGE. See NORTH-EAST.

NORTH-WEST PROVINCES (46,905), a province and lieutenant-governors.h.i.+p of British India, embraces the upper portion of the Ganges Valley and Doab, and reaches from Bengal to the Punjab, enclosing Oudh on all sides but the N.; area twice that of England, is the chief wheat province, and also raises opium, cotton, tea, and sugar; was separated from Bengal in 1835, and with it in 1877 was conjoined Oudh; Allahabad is the capital.

NORTHALLERTON (4), a market-town and capital of the North Riding of Yorks.h.i.+re, 30 m. NW. of York; in the vicinity was fought the famous Battle of the Standard, in which David I. of Scotland was routed by the English, August 22, 1138.

NORTHAMPTON (70), capital of Northamptons.h.i.+re, on the Nen, 66 m. NW.

of London; has two fine old Norman churches, is the centre of the boot and shoe manufacture, and is actively engaged in brewing, lace-making, &c.; in the outskirts is a popular racecourse; was the scene of Henry VI.'s defeat by the Yorkists on July 10, 1460.

NORTHAMPTONs.h.i.+RE or NORTHANTS (302), a midland county of England, bordering upon nine others; has an undulating fertile surface, and is distinguished from the surrounding counties by extensive woods and plantations; is chiefly engaged in agriculture and stock-raising; the Nen and the Welland are the princ.i.p.al rivers; among its antiquities are Fotheringay Castle, where Mary Stuart was beheaded, and Burleigh House; the battles of Edgecote (1469) and Naseby (1645) were fought within its borders.

NORTHCOTE, JAMES, English portrait-painter; studied under Sir Joshua Reynolds, whose Life he wrote as well as t.i.tian's; wrote also "Fables"

and "Conversations."

NORTHCOTE, SIR STAFFORD HENRY. See IDDESLEIGH, LORD.

NORTHMEN or NORs.e.m.e.n, the name given in the Middle Ages to the sea-roving, adventure-loving inhabitants of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; in their sea-rovings they were little better than pirates, but they had this excuse, their home was narrow and their lands barren, and it was a necessity for them to sally forth and see what they could plunder and carry away in richer lands; they were men of great daring, their early religion definable as the consecration of valour, and they were the terror of the quieter nations whose lands they invaded; at first their invasions were mere raids for plunder, but at length they were satisfied with no less than conquest and the permanent occupancy of the lands they subdued, settling some of them on the sh.o.r.es of England and France, and even in the S. of Italy; these invasions were common and frequent during the whole of the 9th and the early part of the 10th centuries.

NORTHUMBERLAND (506), the most northerly county of England, lies on the border of Scotland, from which it is separated by the Cheviots and the Tweed; its eastern sh.o.r.e, off which lie the Farne Islands, Lindisfarne, and Coquet Isle, N. of Durham, fronts the North Sea; is fifth in size of the English counties; in the N. the Cheviot slopes form excellent pasturage, but the Pennine Range towards the W. presents dreary and less valuable moorland; on the W. are arable lowlands; Tweed, Tyne, Till, Alne, Wansbeck, are the chief rivers. Its great coal-field in the S.E. is the most celebrated in the world, and is the county's greatest source of wealth, and includes upwards of 100 collieries; Newcastle, Alnwick (county town), Hexham, and North s.h.i.+elds are the princ.i.p.al towns.

Within its borders were fought the battles of Otterburn, Homildon Hill, and Flodden.

NORTHUMBRIA, one of the ancient English kingdoms; comprised the eastern half of the island from the Humber to the Firth of Forth, and was divided into the Northern Bernicia and the southern Deira; was founded in 547 by Ida the Angle.

NORTHWICH (14), a town in Ches.h.i.+re, with springs in and around of brine, from which salt has been procured for centuries.

NORTON, CHARLES EDWARD, American litterateur, born in Cambridge, Ma.s.sachusetts; has travelled a good deal in Europe; edited, with Lowell, the _North American Review_ and the early Letters of Carlyle, as well as the "Reminiscences," which had been too carelessly edited by Froude; _b_.

1827.

NORTON, MRS., English novelist and poet, _nee_ Sheridan, granddaughter of Sheridan, auth.o.r.ess of "Stuart of Dunleath," "Lost and Saved," &c., described by Lockhart as "the Byron of poetesses," figures in Meredith's "Diana of the Crossways" (1808-1877).

NORWAY (2,000), a kingdom of North Europe, comprising the western side of the Scandinavian peninsula, and separated from Sweden on the E.

by the Kjolen Mountains; the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans beat upon its long and serrated western seaboard, forcing a way up the many narrow and sinuous fiords; Sogne Fiord, the longest, runs into the heart of the country 100 m.; off the northern coast lie the Loffodens, while the Skerries skirt the E. The country forms a strip of irregular and mountainous coast-land 1160 m. long, which narrows down at its least breadth to 25 m.; 70 per cent, of the surface is uncultivable, and 24 per cent, is forest; the lakes number 30,000, of which Lake Wenner (2136 sq.

m.) is the largest; immense glaciers are found in the great mountain barrier, and innumerable rivers run short and rapid courses to the Atlantic and to the Skager-Rak in the S.; the Glommen, flowing into Christiania Fiord, is the largest (400 m.). The climate of the W. coast districts is tempered by the Gulf Stream; inland there is a great decrease in the rainfall, but much intenser cold is experienced. The wealth of the country lies in its forests and fisheries, mines and s.h.i.+pping; only 2 per cent, of the land-surface is under cultivation, and 2.8 per cent is utilised for grazing; the copper, iron, and silver mines are declining. Christiania (the capital) is the centre of the industrial area; the s.h.i.+pping almost equals that of the United States, and ranks third in the world. The Norwegians are intensely democratic (t.i.tles and n.o.bility were abolished in 1821), and although under a king, who also includes Sweden in his dominions, they enjoy democratic home rule, no members of the Storthing (Parliament) being paid. Education is free and compulsory, and the bulk of the people are Lutherans. The monetary unit is the _Krone_ (= 1/1). Norway, originally inhabited by Lapps and Gothic tribes, was first unified by Harold Haarf.a.ger (A.D. 863-930), and subsequently welded into a Christian kingdom by his descendant St. Olaf (1015). From 1536 it was held as a conquered province by Denmark up to 1814; in that year it was ceded to Sweden, and received national rights and a free const.i.tution.

NORWICH, 1, an ancient cathedral city and capital of Norfolk (101), situated on the Wensum, immediately above its junction with the Yare, 114 m. NE. of London; its beautiful woodland surroundings have won it the name of "the city in an orchard"; chief of its many fine buildings is the cathedral, a handsome Norman structure, founded in 1096; of the old Norman castle only the keep now stands, crowning a central hill; its celebrated triennial musical festivals began in 1824; textile fabrics are still an important manufacture, but have been superseded in importance by mustard, starch, and iron-ware factories; has been a bishopric since 1094. 2, Capital of New London County (16), Connecticut, on the Thames River, 36 m. SE. of Hartford.

NORWOOD (24), a healthy southern suburban district of London, at one time the locality of a gypsy encampment.

NOSTRADAMUS, a celebrated astrologer, the a.s.sumed name of Michel de Notredame, born at St. Remi, Provence; was a medical man by profession, but gave himself to divination, uttered in rhymes in a series of published predictions called "Centuries" (1503-1566).

NOTABLES, THE, name given to certain actual or virtual rulers of the different districts of France, consisting of men of different ranks, summoned together in a time of civic perplexity and trouble to advise the king, and especially the convocation of them summoned at the instance of Controller Colonne, and that a.s.sembled at the Chateau of Versailles on 22nd February 1787 to the number of a "round gross," including seven princes of the blood, and who were "organed out" nine weeks after, their debates proving ineffectual, to be recalled on the 6th November the year following, to "vanish ineffectual again on 12th December, and return no more."

NOTARY PUBLIC, a professional person appointed to certify to a formality required by law as observed in his presence.

NOTRE DAME, celebrated metropolitan church of Paris, situated on the "Ile de la Cite"; it was begun to be erected in 1163 on the site of a prior Merovingian cathedral, which itself had superseded a pagan temple on the spot, and completed, at least the general ensemble of it, in 1230.

NOTTINGHAM (214), capital of Nottinghams.h.i.+re, on the Trent, 126 m.

NW. of London; is a s.p.a.cious and well-built town, with an arboretum, castle (now an art gallery), two theatres, university college, free library, old grammar-school, racecourse, &c.; is the centre of lace-making and hosiery in England, and manufactures cottons, silks, bicycles, cigars, needles, beer, &c.; a fine granite and iron bridge spans the river.

NOTTINGHAMs.h.i.+RE (446), a north-midland county of England, lies wedged in between Lincoln (E.) and Derby (N.), and touches York on the N.; embraces the broad, level, and fruitful valley of the Trent, Sherwood Forest, and Wolds in the S.; excepting the Vale of Belvoir in the E., part of the Wolds and the Valley of the Trent, the land is not specially productive; coal and iron ore are found. The princ.i.p.al towns, Nottingham, Newark, Mansfield, &c., are busily engaged in the manufacture of all kinds of lace, hosiery, and various woollen goods; iron-founding and cotton mills are also numerous.

NOUMENA, the philosophical name for realities as distinct from phenomena, which are regarded as but the appearances of reality.

NOVA SCOTIA (450), a province of Canada, lies E. of New Brunswick, facing the Atlantic, which, with its extensions, Bay of Fundy and Gulf of St. Lawrence, all but surrounds it; consists of a peninsula (joined to New Brunswick by Chignecto Isthmus) and the island of Cape Breton, separated by the Gut of Canso; area equals two-thirds of Scotland, short rivers and lakes abound; all kinds of cereals (except wheat and root-crops) are grown in abundance, and much attention is given to the valuable crops of apples, pears, plums, and other fruits; gold, coal, iron, &c., are wrought extensively, manufactures are increasing; the fisheries (mackerel, cod, herring, salmon, &c.), and timber forests are the chief sources of wealth; the province is well opened up by railways, education is free, government is in the hands of a lieutenant-governor, an executive council (9), and a legislative a.s.sembly (38); HALIFAX (q. v.) is the capital; climate varies in temperature from 20 below zero to 98 in the shade, fogs prevail in the coast-land; was discovered in 1497 by Cabot, formed a portion of French ACADIE, and finally became British in 1713.

NOVA ZEMBLA, a long and narrow island (sometimes cla.s.sified as two islands) in the Arctic Ocean, between the Kara Sea and Barentz Sea, 600 m. by 60 m.; the Matochkin Shar, a narrow winding strait, cuts the island into two halves; belongs to Russia, but is not permanently inhabited; is visited by seamen and hunters.

NOVALIS, the _nom de plume_ of Friedrich von Hardenberg, a German author, born at Wiederstadt, near Mansfeld, one of the most prominent representatives of the Romantic school of poets, author of two unfinished romances ent.i.tled "Heinrich von Ofterdingen" and "Lehrlinge zu Sais,"

together with "Geistliche Lieder" and "Hymnen an die Nacht"; was an ardent student of JACOB BOEHME (q. v.), and wrote in a mystical vein, and was at heart a mystic of deep true feeling; p.r.o.nounced by Carlyle "an anti-mechanist--a deep man, the most perfect of modern spirit seers"; regarded, he says, "religion as a social thing, and as impossible without a church" (1772-1801). See Carlyle's "Miscellanies."

NOVATIAN, a priest of the Church in Rome, a convert from paganism, who in the third century took a severe view of the conduct of those who had lapsed under persecution, particularly the Decian, and insisted that the Church, having no power to absolve them, could not, even on penitence, readmit them, in which protest he was joined by a considerable party named after him Novatians, and who continued to trouble the Church for centuries after his death, a.s.suming the name of Cathari or purists.