ly brilliant when the wind is in the E. and SE. points, and in the winter nights preceded by a warm day. If water containing thefe animalcules be kept warm, they retain their light two whole days after they are dead; but in cold wa. ter lofe it in 8 hours: motion and warmth, which increase their vivacity and strength, increase their light alfo.

NERENBERG, a town of France, in the dep. of the Rhine and Mofelle, and late arhbishopric of Cologn: 26 miles W. of Coblentz, and 32 S. of Cologn

NERESHEIM, a town of Suabia in Oettingen, with a princely abbey; 6 m. SW. of Nordlingen. NERESI, a town of Maritime Auftria, in the S. fide of the ifle of Drazza.

NERESTABLE, a town of France, in the dep. of the Rhone and Loire; 12 m. SW. of Roanne. NEREUS, in mythology, a marine deity, the fon of Oceanus and Tethys. He fettled in the Agean Sea, was confidered as a prophet, and had the power of affuming what form he pleased. He married his fister Doris, by whom he had so daughters called NEREIDS, who conftantly attend. ed on Neptune, and when he went abroad furrounded hi chariot.

NERHELBENO, a town of Poland in Kiow. (1.) NERI, Anthony, a learned man, who wrote a curious book, printed at Florence in 1612, in 4to, entitled Dell' Arte verraria libri VII.

(2.) NERI, St Philip DE, founder of the congregation of the ORATORY in Italy, was born of a noble family at Florence, on the 25th of July 1515. Educated in the principles of piety and learning, he foon became diftinguished for his knowledge and virtue. At the age of 19 he went to Rome, where he affifted the fick, and gave many proofs of felf-denial and humility. Being raised to the priesthood at the age of 36, he inftituted, in 1550, a fellowship in the church of St Saviour del Campo, for the relief of poor foreigners, pilgrims, and convalefcents, who had no place whither they could retire. This fociety was the cradel of the CONGREGATION OF THE ORATORY. Having gained over Salviati, brother to the cardinal, Tarugio, afterwards cardinal, the celebrated Baronius, and others, they began to form a society in 1564. The fpiritual exercises had been transferred, in 1558, to the church of St Jerom de la Charité, which Philip did not leave till 1574, when he went to ftay at St John of the Florentines. Pope Gregory XIII. gave his approbation of the congregation in 1575. The order foon fpread throughout Italy. No vow is taken; charity is the only bond of connection. The general continues only three years in office, and his orders are not defpotic. The founder died at Rome on the 26th May 1595, aged 80. He had refigned the generalfhip in 1592, in favour of Baronius. The conftitutions which he left were not printed till 1612. The principal employment, which he allots to the priests, is to give, every day, in their oratory or church, inftructions fuited to their hearers. Philip was canonifed in 1622, by Gregory XV.

(3.) NERI, Thomas, a Dominican, who employed his pen in defence of his fellow monk, the famous Savanarole.

NERICIA, or NERIKE', a province of Sweden, about 60 miles long, and 48 broad; bounded on the N. by Weftmanland, E. by Suderman, S. by Eaft and Weft Gothland, and W. by Warmeland. The foil is fertile, in corn and pafture. The hills abound with wood, iron, alum, lime-ftone, fulphur, &c. Arms and hardware are the chief manufactures. There are 23 lakes and several rivers. OREBRO is the capital.

NERIGLISSAR, the 4th king of Babylonia, was fon-in law of Nebuchadnezzar, and fucceeded Evil-Merodach. See BABYLONIA, § 3. NERIKE' See NERICIA.

NERILKERY, a town of Indoftan, in Mysore. NERIS, a town of France, in the dep. of Allier, with a mineral spring; 3 miles SE. o MontLuçon.

NERISSI, or NERESI. See NERESI.

NERITA, a genus of fhell fish, of the nature of the femicircular mouthed COCHLEA, comprehended under the cochleæ femilunares. NERITIS. See LEUCADIA.

NERITOS, a mountain of Ithaca; whence the island is also often called Neritos; and Ulyffes Neritius dux. Virg En. iii, 271.

NERITUM, an ancient town of Italy, in Calabria, now called NARDO.

(I,) NERIUM. a promontory of Spain, now called CAPF FINISTERRE.

(II.) NERIUM, in botany, OLEANDER, or Rose BAY, a genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the pentandria class of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 30th order, Contorte. It is called nerium, from vagos humid, becaufe the plants grow in moift places. There are two erect follicles; the feeds plumy; the tube of the corolla terminated by a lacerated crown. Its peculiar characters are thefe; the empalement of the flower is permanent, and cut into 5 acute fegments; the flower has one funnel-shaped petal, cut into 5 broad obtufe fegments, which are oblique; it hath a nectarium, terminating the tube, which is torn into hairy fegments; it hath 5 fhort awl-shaped ftamina within the table; it hath an oblong germen, which is bifid, with fcarce any ftyle, crowned by fingle ftigmas; the germen afterwards turns to two long, taper, acute-pointed pods, filled with oblong feeds lying over each other like the fcales of a fish, and crowned with down. There are 5 fpecies, all natives of warm climates. The moft remarkable are these :

1. NERIUM ANTIDYS INTERICUM, a native of Ceylon. The bark is an article of materia medica, under the name of Coness.

2. NERIUM OLEANDER, South Sea rofe, a beautiful fhrub, cultivated in gardens on account of its flowers, which are of a fine purple, and in clufters. The whole plant is poisonous, and efpecially the bark of the roots. Oleanders are generally propagated by layers in this country; for although they will take root from cuttings, yet that being an uncertain method, the other is generally preferred; and as the plants are very apt to produce fuckers or fhoots from their roots, thefe are beft adapted for laying; for the ald branches will not put out roots: when these are laid down, they should be flit at a joint, in the fame manner as is practised in laying carnations.

There

There are few plants which are equal to them either to the fight or fmell, for their scent is very like that of the flowers of the white thorn; and the bunches of flowers will be very large if the plants are ftrong. The plant has a force which is infuperable; for its juice excites fo great and violent an inflammation, as immediately to put a ftop to deglutition; and if it be received into the ftomach, that part is rendered incapable of retaining any thing; the pernicious drug exerting its force, and purging both upwards and downwards, The Nerium Oleander in qualities refembles the apocynum. See APOCYNUM. But when handled and examined upon an empty ftomach, in a clofe chamber, it caufes a gradual numbness, with a pain in the head; which thows that fomething poisonous belongs even to the fmell, though there is no danger, if it be received in the open air. Antidotes faid to be good against its poifon are vinegar and all acids.

3. NERIUM TINCTORUM, a new fpecies, with beautiful blue flowers, lately difcovered by Dr. Roxburgh at Madras. A decoction of the leaves, with an addition of lime-water, makes an indigo of fine quality.

(1.) NERO, Claudius Domitius Cæfar, the 6th emperor of Rome, and the laft of the family of the Cæfars, was the fon of Caius Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus. He was adopted by the emperor Claudius, A. D. 50, and four years after fucceeded him. In the beginning of his reign he affumed the appearance of the greatest kindness, condefcenfion, affability, complaisance, and humanity. The ob ject of his administration feemed to be the good of his people; and when he was defired to fign his name to a lift of malefactors that were to be executed, he exclaimed, Would to heaven I had never learned to write! When the fenate had liberally commended the wisdom of his government, he defired them to keep their praifes till he deferved them. These apparent virtues, however, proved to be artificial: Nero foon difplayed the real propenfities of his nature. He delivered himfelf from the fway of his mother, and at laft or dered her to be murdered. Many of his courtiers shared her unhappy fate; and Nero facrificed to his fury or caprice all who obftructed his pleafure or inclination. In the night he generally went from his palace to vifit the meaneft taverns, and all the scenes of debauchery which Rome contained, In these nocturnal riots he infulted the people in the streets; and his attempts to offer violence to the wife of a Roman fenator nearly coft him his life. He also turned actor, and appeared publicly on the Roman ftage. To excel in mufic, and to conquer the difadvantages of a hoarfe difagreeable voice, he moderated his meals, and often paffed the day without eating. He next went into Greece, and prefented himself a candidate at the Olympic games. He was defeated in wrestling; but the flattery of the fpectators adjudged him the victory, and he returned to Rome with all the pomp and fplendour of an eaftern conqueror, drawn in the chariot of Auguftus, and attended by a band of musicians, actors, and ftage-dancers. These amufements, however, were comparatively innocent; but his conduct foon

became abominable. He difguifed himself in the habit of a woman, and was publicly married to one of his eunuchs. This violence to nature and decency was soon exchanged for another: Nero refumed his fex, and celebrated his nuptials with one of his meaneft catamites: and on this occafion a Roman wit obferved, that the world would have been happy if Nero's father had had fuch a wife. His cruelty was now displayed in a ftill higher degree; for he facrificed his wife Octavia Poppea, and the celebrated writers, Seneca, Lucan, Petronius, &c. He had heard of the burning of Troy: to reprefent that difmal fcene, he caufed Rome to be fet on fire in different places. The conflagration became foon univerfal, and during 9 fucceffive days the fire continued. All was defolation: nothing was heard but the lamenta tions of mothers whofe children had perished in the flames, the groans of the dying, and the continual fall of palaces and buildings. Nero was the only one who enjoyed the general confternation. He placed himself on the top of a high tower, and played on his lyre, while he fung the deftruction of Troy; a dreadful fcene which his barbarity had realifed before his eyes. He attempted to avert the public odium from his head, by a pretended commiferation of the miseries of his fubjects, and by throwing the blame of the fire on the Chriftians; which gave rise to the first dreadful perfecution, wherein St Peter and Paul fuffered. Nero began to repair the streets and the public buildings at his own expenfe. He built a celebrated palace, which he called his golden houfe. It was liberally adorned with gold, with precious ftones, and with every thing rare and exquifite. It contained fpacious fields, artificial lakes, woods, gardens, orchards, and whatever exhibited a beautiful fcene. The entrance of this edifice admitted a large coloffus of the emperor, 120 feet high, which Pliny fays was afterwards destroyed by lightning: the galleries were each a mile long, and the whole was covered with gold. The roofs of the dining halls reprefented the firmament, in motion as well as in figure; and continually turned round night and day, showering down all forts of perfumes and sweet waters. This grand edifice, according to Pliny, extended ail round the city. When he went a fishing, his nets were of gold and filk. He never appeared twice in the fame garment; and when he took a voyage, there were thousands of fervants to take care of his wardrobe. This continuation of debauchery, extravagance, and cruelty, at last roused the people. Many confpiracies were formed against him; but they were generally difcovered, and the confpirators fuffered the fevereft punithments. The moft dangerous one was that of Pifo, from which he was faved by the conteflion of a flave. The confpiracy of Galba proved more fuccefsful, who, when he learned that his plot was known to Nero, declared himself emperor. The unpopularity of Nero favoured his caufe; he was acknowledged by all the Roman empire; and the fenate condemned the tyrant to be dragged naked through the streets of Rome, whipped to death, and afterwards to be thrown down from the Tar peian rock like the meaneft malefactor. This, however, Nero prevented, by killing him!elf, A. D. A 2

68,

fure, and this mournful prefent caufed the death of HERCULES.

(2.) NESSUS, a river which feparates Thrace from Macedonia. It is alfo called NESUS, NESTos, and NESTUS; now NESTO.

(1.) * NEST.n.f.[neft, Saxon.] 1. The bed formed by the bird for incubation and feeding her young. -If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, thou shalt not take the dam with the young. Deut. xxii. 6.

Th' example of the heav'nly lark, Thy fellow poet, Cowley, mark;

Above the skies let thy proud mufick found, Thy humble neft build on the ground. Cowley, 2. Any place where the animals are produced. Redi found that all kinds of putrefaction did only afford a neft and aliment for the eggs and young of those infects he admitted. Bentley. 3. An abode; place of refidence; a receptacle. Generally in a bad fenfe: as, a neft of rogues and

Cupid found a downy bed, And neftl'd in her little head.

2. To cherish, as a bird her young.— This Ithacus fo highly is endear'd

of the world, from the Byzantine writers, conPrior. tains a geographical description of Ruffia and the adjacent regions; an account of the Sclavonian nations, their manners, their emigrations from the banks of the Danube, their difperfion, and fettlement in the feveral countries wherein their defcendants are now established. He then enters upon a chronological series of the Ruffian annals, from A. D. 858 to about 1113.

To this Minerva, that her hand is ever in his deeds:

She, like his mother neftles him. Chapman. (2.) To NESTLE. v. n. To fettle; to harbour; to lie clofe and fnug, as a bird in her neft. Their purpose was, to fortify some strong place of the wild country, and there nele 'till fuccours came. Bacon.-A cock got into a ftable and was neftling in the ftraw among the horses. L'Eftrange. The king's fifher wonts commonly by the waterfide, and neftles in hollow banks. L'Efr. Fluttering there they nestle near the throne, And lodge in habitations not their own. Dryd. -The floor is ftrewed with feveral plants, amonft which the fnails neftle all the winter. Addif. The monsters nestle in the deep, To feize you in your paffing by. Savift. *NESTLING. n. f. [from neftle.] A bird juft taken out of the neft,

NESTO. See NESSUS, N° 2. and NESTUS. (1.) NESTOR, in fabulous hiftory, a son of Neieus and Chloris, nephew to Pelias, and grandfon to Neptune. He had eleven brothers, who were all killed with his father by Hercules. His tender age detained him at home, and was the caufe of his prefervation. The conqueror fpared his life, and placed him upon the throne of Pylos. He married Eurydice the daughter of Clymenus; or, according to others, Anaxibia the daughter of Atreus. He soon distinguished himself in battle; and was present at the nuptials of Pirithous, when a bloody engagement took place between the Lapitha and Centaurs. As king of Pylos and Meffenia he led his fubjects to the Trojan war, where he diftinguished himself by eloquence, addrefs, wisdom, juftice, and uncommon prudence. Homer displays his character as the moft perfect of all his heroes; and Agamemnon exclaims, that if he had 20 generals like Neftor, he thould foon fee Troy reduced to alhes. After the Trojan war Neftor retired to Greece, where he enjoyed in his family peace and tranquillity. The ancients all agree that he lived three generations of men; which is fuppofed to be 300 years, but more probably only 90 years, allowing 30 years for each generation. He had many children; two daughters, Pifidice and Polycafte; and feven fons, Perfeus, Straticus, Aretus, Echephron, Pififtratus, Antilochus, and Thrafimedes. Neftor was one of the Argonauts, according to Valerius Flaccus, v. 380, &c.

(2.) NESTOR, a poet of Lycaonia in the age of the emperor Severus. He was father to Pifander, who under the emperor Alexander wrote fome fabulous ftories.

(3.) NESTOR, one of Alexander's guards.

(4.) NESTOR, a native of Ruffia, and the earlieft Hiftorian of the north, was born in 1056 at Bielozero; and, in his 19th year, affumed the monaftic habit in the convent of Petcherski at Kiof. He is faid to have lived to an advanced age, and to have died about A. D. 1115. His great work is his Chronicle, to which he has prefixed an introduction, which, after a short sketch of the early state

NESTORIANS, a fect of ancient Chriftians, ftill fubfifting in fome parts of the Levant; whofe diftinguifhing tenet is, that Mary is not the mother of God. They take their name from NESTORIUS, Bp. of Conftantinople, whose doctrines were spread with much zeal through Syria, Egypt, and Perfia. One of the chief promoters of the Neftorian caufe was Barfumas, Bp of Nifibis, A. D. 435. Such was his zeal and fuccefs, that the Neftorians who ftill remain in Chaldea, Perfia, Affyria, and the adjacent countries, confider him alone as their parent and founder. By him Pherozes, the Perfian monarch, was perfuaded to expel thofe Chriftians who adopted the opinions of the Greeks, and to admit the Neftorians in their place, putting them in poffeffion of the principal feat of ecclefiaftical authority in Perfia, the fee of Seleucia, which the patriarch of the Neftorians has always filled even down to our time.-Barfumas alfo erected a school at Nifibis, from which proceeded those Neftorian doctors who in the 5th and 6th centuries spread their tenets through Egypt, Syria, Arabia, India, Tartary, and China. He differed confiderably from Neftorius, holding that there are two persons in Jesus Christ, as well as that the Virgin was not his mother as God, but only as man. The abettors of this doctrine refuse the title Neftorians; alleging that it had been handed down from the earliest times of the Chriftian church. In the 10th century, the Neftorians in Chaldea, whence they are sometimes called Chaldeans, extended their spiritual conquefts beyond mount Imaus, and introduced the Christian religion into Tartary, properly fo called, and especially into that country called Karit, bordering on the N. part of China. The prince of that country, whom the Neftorians converted to the Chriftian faith, affumed, according to the vulgar tradition, the name of John after his baptifm, to which he added the furname of Prefbyter, from a principal of modefty; whence it is faid his fucceffors were called Prefer John until the time of Jenghiz Khan. But Mofheim obferves that the famous Prefter John did not begin to reign in that part of Afia before the conclufion of the 21st century. The Neftorians formed fo confiderable a body of Chriftians, that the miffionaries of Rome were induftrious in their endeavours to reduce them under the papal yoke. Innocent IV. in 1246, and Nicolas IV. in 1278, ufed their utmost efforts for this purpose, but without fuccefs. Till the time of Pope Julius III. the Neftorians acknowledged but one patriarch, who refided firft at Bagdad, and afterwards at Mouful; but a divifion arifing among them, in 1551 the patriarchate became divided at leaft for a time, and a new patriarch was confecrated by that pope, whofe fucceffors fixed their refidence in the city of Ormus, in the mountainous part of

Perfia,