Part 41 (1/2)

=Noko'mis=, mother of Weno'nah, and grandmother of Hiawatha. Nokomis was the daughter of the Moon. While she was swinging one day, some of her companions, out of jealousy, cut the ropes, and she fell to earth in a meadow. The same night her first child, a daughter, was born, and was named Wenonah.

There among the ferns and mosses ...

Fair Nokomis bore a daughter, And she called her name Wenonah.

Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, iii. (1855).

=Non Mi Ricordo=, the usual answer of the Italian courier and other Italian witnesses when on examination at the trial of Queen Caroline (the wife of George IV.), in 1820.

”Lord Flint,” in _Such Things Are_, by Mrs. Inchbald (1786), when asked a question he wished to evade, used to reply, ”My people know, no doubt, but I cannot recollect.”

”Pierre Choppard,” in _The Courier of Lyons_, by Edward Stirling (1852), when asked an ugly question, always answered ”I'll ask my wife, my memory's so slippery.”

The North American society called the ”Know Nothings,” founded in 1853, used to reply to every question about their order, ”I know nothing about it.”

=Nona'cris' Stream=, the river Styx, in Arcadia. Ca.s.sander says he has in a phial some of this ”horrid spring,” one drop of which, mixed with wine, would act as a deadly poison. To this Polyperchon replies:

I know its power, for I have seen it tried.

Pains of all sorts thro' every nerve and artery At once it scatters,--burns at once and freezes-- Till, by extremity of torture forced, The soul consents to leave her joyless home.

N. Lee, _Alexander the Great_, iv. i (1678).

=Nonent.i.ty= (_Dr._), a metaphysician, and thought by most people to be a profound scholar. He generally spreads himself before the fire, sucks his pipe, talks little, drinks much, and is reckoned very good company.

You may know him by his long grey wig, and the blue handkerchief round his neck.

Dr. Nonent.i.ty, I am told, writes indexes to perfection, makes essays, and reviews any work with a single day's warning.--Goldsmith, _A Citizen of the World_, xxix. (1759).

=Norbert= (_Father_), Pierre Parisot Norbert, the French missionary (1697-1769).

=Norland= (_Lord_), father of Lady Eleanor Irwin, and guardian of Lady Ramble (Miss Maria Wooburn). He disinherited his daughter for marrying against his will, and left her to starve, but subsequently relented, and relieved her wants and those of her young husband.--Inchbald, _Every One has His Fault_ (1794).

=Norma=, a vestal who had been seduced, and discovers her paramour trying to seduce a sister vestal. In despair, she contemplates the murder of her base-born children.--Bellini, _Norma_ (1831); libretto, by Romani.

=Norman=, forester of Sir William Ashton, lord-keeper of Scotland.--Sir W.

Scott, _Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).

_Norman_, a ”sea-captain,” in love with Violet, the ward of Lady Arundel. It turns out that this Norman is her ladys.h.i.+p's son by her first husband, and heir to the t.i.tle and estates; but Lady Arundel, having married a second husband, had a son named Percy, whom she wished to make her heir. Norman's father was murdered, and Norman, who was born three days afterwards, was brought up by Onslow, a village priest. At the age of 14 he went to sea, and became captain of a man-of-war. Ten years later he returned to Arundel, and though at first his mother ignored him, and Percy flouted him, his n.o.ble and generous conduct disarmed hostility, and he not only reconciled his half-brother, but won his mother's affection, and married Violet, his heart's ”sweet sweeting.”--Lord Lytton, _The Sea-Captain_ (1839).

=Norm-nan-Ord= or Norman of the Hammer, one of the eight sons of Torquil of the Oak.--Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).

=Normandy= (_The Gem of_), Emma, daughter of Richard I. (died 1052).