Part 42 (2/2)

=Nour'eddin' Ali=, younger son of the vizier of Egypt. ”He was possessed of as much merit as can fall to the lot of man.” Having quarrelled with his elder brother, he travelled to Baso'ra, where he married the vizier's daughter, and succeeded his father-in-law in office. A son was born to him in due time, and on the very same day the wife of his elder brother had a daughter. Noureddin died when his son was barely twenty, and unmarried.--_Arabian Nights_ (”Noureddin Ali,” etc.).

=Nourgehan's Bracelet.= Nourgehan, emperor of the Moguls, had a bracelet which had the property of discovering poison, even at a considerable distance. When poison was anywhere near the wearer, the stones of the bracelet seemed agitated, and the agitation increased as the poison approached them.--Comte de Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ (”The Four Talismans,” 1743).

=Nour'jahad=, a sleeper, like Rip Van Winkle, Epimen'ides, etc. (See SLEEPERS.)

=Nourjeham= (”_light of the world_”). So the Sultana Nourmahal was subsequently called.--T. Moore, _Lalla Rookh_ (”The Light of the Haram,”

1817).

=Nourmahal'= (_The sultana_), _i.e._ ”Light of the Haram,” afterwards called _Nourjeham_ (”light of the world”). She was for a season estranged from the sultan, till he gave a grand banquet, at which she appeared in disguise as a lute-player and singer. The sultan was so enchanted with her performance, that he exclaimed, ”If Nourmahal had so played and sung, I could forgive her all;” whereupon the sultana threw off her mask, and Selim ”caught her to his heart.”--T. Moore, _Lalla Rookh_ (”The Light of the Haram,” 1817).

=Nouron'ihar=, daughter of the Emir Fakreddin; a laughing, beautiful girl, full of fun and pretty mischief, dotingly fond of Gulchenrouz, her cousin, a boy of 13. She married the Caliph Vathek, with whom she descended into the abyss of Eblis, whence she never after returned to the light of day.

The trick she played Bababalouk was this: Vathek, the caliph, was on a visit to Fakreddin, the emir', and Bababalouk, his chief eunuch, intruded into the bathroom, where Nouronihar and her damsels were bathing. Nouronihar induced the old eunuch to rest himself on the swing, when the girls set it going with all their might. The cords broke, the eunuch fell into the bath, and the girls made off with their lamps, and left the meddlesome old fool to flounder about till morning, when a.s.sistance came, but not before he was half dead.--W. Beckford, _Vathek_ (1784).

=Nouroun'nihar=, niece of a sultan of India, who had three sons, all in love with her. The sultan said he would give her to him who, in twelve months, gave him the most valuable present. The three princes met in a certain inn at the expiration of the time, when one prince looked through a tube, which showed Nourounnihar at the point of death; another of the brothers transported all three instantaneously on a magic carpet to the princess's chamber; and the third brother gave her an apple to smell of which effected an instant cure. It was impossible to decide which of these presents was the most valuable; so the sultan said he should have her who shot an arrow to the greatest distance. The eldest (Houssian) shot first; Ali overshot the arrow of his eldest brother; but that of the youngest brother (Ahmed) could nowhere be found. So the award was given to Ahmed.--_Arabian Nights_ (”Ahmed and Pari-Banou”).

=Novel= (_Father of the English_). Henry Fielding is so called by Sir W.

Scott (1707-1754).

=Noven'siles= (4 _syl._), the nine Sabine G.o.ds, viz.: Hercules, Romulus, Esculapius, Bacchus, aeneas, Vesta, Santa, Fortuna and Fides or Faith.

(See NINE G.o.dS of the Etruscans.)

=Novit= (_Mr. Nichil_), the lawyer of the old laird of Dumbiedikes.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).

=Novius=, the usurer, famous for the loudness of his voice.

... at hic si plaustra ducenta Concurrantque foro tria funera magna sonabit Cornua quod vincatque tubas.

Horace, _Satires_, i. 6.

These people seem to be of the race of Novius, that Roman banker, whose voice exceeded the noise of carmen.--Lesage, _Gil Blas_, vii.

13 (1735).

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