the enlightened public, as well as the numerous friends whose attachment he had secured by the amiableness of his manners and the goodness of his heart; and more especially regretted by his poor relations, to whose relief and comfort he always paid the most affectionate attention. Besides the Royal Society of London, and the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, he was a member of the Institute of Bologna, the Academy of Sciences at Erfurt, and other philosophical societies and academies. In addition to a multitude of papers inserted in the different volumes of the "Memoires" of the Academy of Sciences, from the year 1740 to the year 1767, both inclusive, the abbé Nollet was the author of "Lessons on Experimental Philosophy," in six volumes, 12mo.; "A Collection of Letters on Electricity," 1753, in three volumes, 12mo.; "An Essay on the Electricity of Bodies," 12mo.; "Enquiries into the particular Causes of Electric Phænomena," 12mo.; and "The Art of making Philosophical Experiments," in three volumes, 12mo. From the articles just enumerated, as well as an anecdote already related in his life, it appears that the abbé Nollet paid particular attention to the study of electricity; and it must be acknowledged, notwithstanding the mistakes which he fell into upon the sub ject, that his indefatigable industry and curious experiments contributed materially to the improvement of that science. We cannot, therefore, better conclude this article, than by laying before our readers, from Dr. Priestley's interesting "History" of electricity, a short view of the abbé's theory, and our historian's remarks upon it. "The favourite observation of Mr. Nollet, on which he built his darling theory of affluences and effluences was, that bodies not insulated, plunged in electric atmospheres, shewed signs of electricity. He observed a sensible blast from the hand of a person not electrified, in the above mentioned circumstances, also the attraction and repulsion of light bodies by them, the appearance of flame, the diminution of their weight by increased evaporation and perspiration, and almost every other appearance and effect of electricity. Moreover, observing that his globe contracted a foulness while it was whirling, even when rubbed with a clean hand, he had the curiosity to collect a quantity of the matter which formed that foulness; and finding that, when it was put into the fire, it had the smell of burnt hair, he concluded that it was an animal substance; and that it had been carried by the affluent electricity from his own body to the globe. The only mistake of this ingenious philosopher in these experiments, and which was the source of many others, which, in the end, greatly bewildered and perplexed him was, that the electricity of the body, which was plunged in the atmosphere of an electrified body, was of the same nature with that of the electrified body. Had he but preserved the distinction, which Mr. du Fay had discovered, between the two electricities, and imagined that the body electrified, and that which was plunged in its atmosphere were possessed of two different and opposite electricities, he might have been led to the great discoveries made by Mr. Canton, Dr. Franklin, and Mr. Wilcke, which arose from that single observation; and he would have avoided a great deal of debate and contention, which has not ended to his advantage.-The far greater number of philosophers suppose, and with the greatest probability, that there is a fluid sui generis principally concerned in the business of electricity. They seem, however, though perhaps without reason, entirely to overlook sir Isaac Newton's ether; or if they do not suppose it to be wholly unconcerned, they allow it only a second and subordinate part to act in this drama. And among those who suppose a fluid sui generis, there is a great diversity of opinions about the mode of its existence, and the manner of its operation. The ingenious abbé Nollet, whose theory has been more the subject of debate than all the other theories before Dr. Franklin's, supposes that, in all electrical operations, the fluid is thrown into two opposite motions; that the affluence of this matter drives all light bodies before it by impulse, upon the electrified body, and its effluence carries them back again. But he seems very much embarrassed in accounting for facts where both these currents must be considered, at the same time that he is obliged to find expedients to prevent their impeding the effects of each other. To obviate this great difficulty, he supposes, that every excited electric, and likewise every body to which electricity is communicated, has two orders of pores, one for the emission of effluvia, and the other for the reception of them. A man of less ingenuity than the abbé could not have maintained himself in such a theory as this; but, with his fund of invention, he was never at a loss for resources upon all emergencies, and in his last publication appears to be as zealous for this strange hypothesis as at the first. He more than once requested a deputation of the members of the Academy of Sciences, to be witnesses of some experiments, in which, he thought, there was a visible effluence of the electrical effluvia from the conductor, both to the globe at one of its extremities, and to any non-electric presented to it at the other; and their testimony was signed and registered in proper form. But it does not seem to the honour of Mr. Nollet, or those gentlemen of the Academy, to be so very positive in a matter which does not admit of the evidence of sense. The abbe's confidence upon this subject is very remarkable. These effects, says he, well considered, and reviewed a thousand times, in the course of thirty years, in which I have applied to electricity, make me say with confidence, that those pencils of rays are currents of electric matter, which fly from the conductor towards the excited globe. This is so evident, that I would freely appeal to the ocular testimony of any unprejudiced person, who should see the experiment which I have recited. But, says he, the fact in question is contrary to a system of electricity, which some persons persist in maintaining. They have the assurance to tell me, that the matter of the luminous pencil, in my experiment, moves in a direction quite opposite to that which I suppose, that it proceeds from the excited globe, and is from thence thrown upon any non-electric within its reach. In another place, he says, that the prnciple of simultaneous effluences and affluences is by no means a system, but a fact well proved. The abbé Nollet proposes an hypothesis to explain the difference between common electricity and the electric shock. All the effects of common electricity, he says, All plainly shew, that the electric matter is animated with a progressive motion, which really carries it forwards; whereas the remarkable case of the electric shock appears to be an ins'antaneous percussion, which the contiguous parts of the same matter communicate to one another, without being displaced. Sound and wind, he says, are motions of the air; but would a philosopher be permitted to take the one for the other, in measuring their velocity or extent? But this comparison is by no means just. It must be acknowledged, that far the greater part of the abbé Nollet's arguments in favour of his doctrine of effluences and affluences are very unsatisfactory, and that his method of accounting for electrical attraction and repulsion, with other phænomena in electricity, by means of it, is more ingenious than solid. It is a great pity that this truely excellent phi- who flourished in the early part of the nemine published "Reflections," inserted in peripatetic, was a native of Tibur, now Tivo- 1 which the best is that by Josias Mercier, Paris, 1614, octavo. This author has little claim to the praise of accurate learning or judgment, and is chiefly valuable for the passages which he cites from authors no where else to be met with. Baillet. Moreri.-A. NONNIUS. See NUNNEz. NONNUS, a Greek poet who flourished in the fifth century, was a native of Panopolis in Egypt. He was the author of two works, so different in their subject that they have by some been adjudged to different authors, but critics generally agree that they belong to the same. His "Dionysiacs," a poem of forty-eight books, contains a history of the birth, adventures, victories, and apotheosis of Bacchus, and comprehends a vast miscellany of heathen mythology and erudition. It is wild and rhapsodical in its plan, and inflated in its diction; and although it has been extravagantly commended by some critics, a sounder judgment has pronounced it characterised by the false taste which accompanied the declining age of literature. The other work of Nonnus is a metrical "Paraphrase of the Gospel of St. John." In the matter of his explanations he chiefly follows Chrysostom, and it is thought that he has rather obscured than elucidated his author. Of his style very different judgments have been formed; for while Du Pin charges it with being turgid and dithyrambic, like that of his Dionysiacs, others have praised its clearness and attic elegance. This work is valuable as affording some important various readings, which have been collected by editors of the New Testament. It is remarkable that he omits the incident of the woman taken in adultery. The "Dionysiacs" of Nonnus were first printed at Antwerp in 1569. They were re-printed with a Latin version by Eilhard Lubin at Hanau in 1605, and afterwards by Cunæus in 1610. Of his "Paraphrase" there have been a number of editions, of which the best is that of Dan. Heinsius, L. Bat. 1627. Vossii Poet. Gr. Baillet. Baillet. Moreri. Bibliogr. Dict.-A. NOODT, GERARD, a learned jurist, was born in 1647 at Nimeguen. He was educated at his native city, in the university of which he studied in the various branches of literature and science. He particularly attached himself to jurisprudence under the professor of law, Peter de Greve, and in the third year of his course sustained two public disputations. He afterwards visited the universities of Leyden, Utrecht, and Franeker, at the last of which he took the degree of doctor of law in 1669. After his return to Nimeguen he was chosen ordinary professor of law, at the age of twentyfour. In 1679 he was placed in the chair of law at Franeker; and after twice declining an invitation from Utrecht, he at length accepted the professorship of law in that university in 1684. In Utrecht he married; and soon after, in 1686, removed to the same station at Leyden, which was his final residence. He was twice rector of that university, and died there in 1725, at the age of seventy-eight. Gerard Noodt was a man of a pacific and tranquil disposition, extremely laborious, and animated with a truly philosophical spirit. He suffered patiently all objections to his opinions from his students; and in cases where no satisfactory solution of difficulties could be found, he chose rather frankly to confess his ignorance, than to rest in dubious explanations. His writings, upon some of the most important topics of jurisprudence, were published collectively by himself in a quarto volume at Leyden in 1713, and afterwards with additions, in 1724, folio. A more correct and complete edition was given at Leyden in two volumes, folio, in 1735, with the author's life by M. Barbeyrac. Their style is pure, but somewhat obscure on account of its conciseness. His two treatises, "De Jure Summi Imperii & Lege Regia," and "De Religione ab Imperio, Jure Gentium, libera," were translated into French by Barbeyrac, and published separately, the latter, under the title of "Discours sur la Liberté de Conscience." In the first of these treatises the author supports republican principles of government; in the second he carries toleration in matters of religion to the fullest extent. Moreri. Nouv. Dict. Hist.-A. NORBERT, a saint in the Roman calendar, and founder of the Premontré order of Augustinian monks, was descended, on his father's and mother's side, from some of the most illustrious families of Germany, and born at Santen, a village belonging to the duchy of Cleves, in the year 1082. He was educated in the palace of Frederic, archbishop of Cologne, and was afterwards called to the court of the emperor Henry V. to whom he was related. Having made choice of the ecclesiastical life, he received deacon's and priest's orders in the same day, and was made a canon of his native place, as well as promoted to several other beneficos. Afterwards the cmperor created him his almoner, and offered him the investiture of the bishopric of Cambray, which he refused. He was distinguished by a pleasing person, agreeable manners, wit, and vivacity, which rendered his company much sought after; and, from frequently mixing with the gay and dissipated courtiers, he was insensibly corrupted by their bad examples, and disgraced his profession by partaking in their irregularities and vices. Being seized, however, with compunction, he had the fortitude to divorce himself from his seducing connections; resigned his different preferments; sold his patrimony, and distributed the proceeds among the poor. He now zealously devoted himself to the office of preaching, wandering about from city to city, and from country to country, for the purpose of combating heretics, and reforming the vicious and profligate. Having in the course of his rambles arrived at Laon in Picardy, Bartholomew, bishop of that see, to whom he had been formerly known, bestowed on him a sequestered dale, named Premontré, to which he retired in the year 1120, and there founded an institution of canons-regular, which took its title from the name of the secluded spot. Hither he attracted vast crowds by the popularity of his sermons, and gained many disciples, who submitted to his code of discipline, formed on the regulations of St. Augustine, with the severe injunction of perpetual silence, and permission to have only one frugal meal each day. This order was confirmed in 1126, by pope Honorius II. Soon afterwards Norbert succeeded in founding eight other monasteries, which adopted his discipline. In the mean time he was sent for to Antwerp, to combat a fanatic of the name of Tanchelin, who, if we are to believe his enemies, under the pretence of introducing reformation into the church, gave full scope to the indulgence of his ambition and sensuality. In the year 1127, having taken a journey into Germany, the people and clergy of Magdeburg, by their importunity, prevailed upon him to accept of the archbishopric of their city. His introduction of a reform, however, into the chapter of this see, met with an obstinate opposition, which was at length obliged to yield to his steady perseverance. In the year 1131, he was present at the council of Rheims, which confirmed the election of pope Innocent II.; and he accompanied the emperor Lotharius to Rome, when he advanced with an army to expel from the seat of papal government Anacletus II. the rival of that pontiff. He died at Magdeburg in He died at Magdeburg in 1134, when only fifty-two years of age. Pope Gregory XIII. placed him in the catalogue of saints, in the year 1584. None of his writ ings are extant, excepting a short moral discourse, in the form of an exhortation to the monks of his order, which may be seen in the twenty-first volume of the "Bibl. Patr." Cave's Hist. Eit. vol. II. sub. sac. Wald. Valerii And. Bibl. Belg. Dupin. Moreri. Nouv. Dict. Hist.-M. teenth century, famous for his adventures and NORBERT, a capuchin friar in the eighhis hostility to the Jesuits, was the son of a weaver at Bar-le-Duc, of the name of Parisot, where he was born in the year 1697. He embraced the monastic life at the abbey of St. Michael, in the year 1716; and in 1734, when the provincial went to Rome, to assist at the election of a general of the order, he was secretary. In this employment he acquitted himlected to accompany him, in the capacity of seself with such ability, that he attracted the notice and secured the favour of some of the cardinals, who obtained for him the post of attorney-general of the foreign missions. In the year 1736, we find him at Pondicherry in the East Indies, where he was well received by M. Dupleix the governor, who made him parishpriest of that city. Here he quarrelled with the Jesuits, by whose intrigues he was deprived of that living; upon which he removed from the East Indies to America. In this country he exercised the ministerial functions for two or three years, and in 1744 returned to Rome. Father Norbert now employed himself in drawing up an account of the religious rites of the Malabar Christians; and that he might not be interrupted by the intrigues of the Jesuits, he withdrew to Lucca, where he completed and published his work, in two volumes, quarto, under the title of "Historical Memoirs relative to the Missions into the Indies." This work, though the style of it is faulty and inelegant, abounds in curious facts, and excited a great sensation at its first appearance, by discovering the means made use of by the mis-. sionaries of the society of Jesus in order to encrease their number of converts, by permitting them to retain with their new principles the superstitions and prejudices which they had imbibed in their childhood. This discovery highly exasperated the Jesuits against him, and own community, that, to avoid the effects of was so much disapproved of by many of his their resentment, he found it necessary to retire to Venice, whence he went to Holland, and from that country to England, where he established within three miles of London, two manufactories of tapestry, one in imitation of the tapestry of the Gobelins, and the other of that of Chaillot. Afterwards he removed into Prussia, and from thence into the duchy of Brunswick. Here he received, in 1759, a brief from the pope which permitted him to assume the habit of a secular priest. Taking the name of the abbé Platel, he now went to France, which he soon quitted, and repaired to Portugal. In this country his quarrel with the Jesuits, and their hatred to him, recommended him to the court, which bestowed on him a considerable pension. Having completed in this asylum his great work against the Jesuits, he revisited France, where he committed it to the press, in six volumes, quarto. Afterwards he re-entered the order of Capuchins at Commercy; but it was not long before he again quitted their community, and took up his abode at a village in Lorrain, where he finished his wandering life in 1770, when he was about eighty-three years of age. Those who knew him in his latter days give him the character of a good man, notwithstanding that his portrait is drawn in very different colours by the fathers of the society of Jesus. Nouv. Dict. Hist.-M. - NORDBERG, JORAN, doctor of theology, and chaplain to Charles XII. king of Sweden, was born at Stockholm, in the year 1677. After completing his education at the university of Upsal he entered into holy orders, in 1703; and being appointed chaplain extraordinary to the artillery, joined the Swedish army, then encamped before Thorn, and remained with it during the campaigns in Poland and Saxony till the year 1709. In the course of that period, he formed an acquaintance with the most celebrated of the German literati at Dantzic, Breslau, Leipsic, Wittenberg, and Halle; and was promoted to be first chaplain to the royal lifeguards and chaplain to the court. After the unfortunate battle of Pultowa he was taken prisoner by the Russians; but was indulged with permission to remain in the same place with count Piper, the Swedish minister, also a captive, whom he accompanied in all the removals he experienced during his long confinement. Being exchanged in 1715, he returned, through Finland, to Stockholm, and next year repaired to his sovereign at Stralsund, and afterwards attended him to Scandinavia, and in his expedition to Norway. About the end of the above year he was appointed to the living of St. Clara and St. Olaus at Stockholm, and in 1731 was selected to compose a history of Charles XII. a task which he executed in a very ample manner, partly from his own knowledge, and partly from information communicated to him by various persons who had accompanied the northern hero in his campaigns. The manuscript, during the progress of the work, was submitted to the revision of queen. Ulrica Eleonora, the king's sister; who corrected it in several places, and made additions to it with her own hand. It then underwent a further examination by a commission nominated for that purpose; and having received its sanction, was published at Stockholm in 1740, in two volumes, folio, and afterwards translated into German and French. In the latter years of his life Nordberg suffered very much from bad health, and died at Stockholm in 1744. He was always held in great esteem by his sovereign, and after his death he enjoyed the favour of the queen his successor. As he possessed, in an eminent degree, the art of living in the great world, he was enabled, by his behaviour, to gain the love and respect of those with whom he had any intercourse. His conversation, however, was more agreeable than his style, which is dry and tedious; and his literary labours, in general, dis-play more industry than talents. His other works, besides his history, consist chiefly of funeral sermons, of which he seems to have written a great many. Gezelii Biographiska Lexicon.—}. NORES, JASON DE, a man of letters of the sixteenth century, was born at Nicosia in the isle of Cyprus of a distinguished family, said to have come originally from Normandy. In his youth he studied at Padua, where he graduated. After his return to Cyprus, hearing of the death of his friend Trifon Gabrielli, a learned man whose house he had frequented at Padua, he put into Latin the commentaries on Horace's Art of Poetry which he had taken from the mouth of Trifon, and published them at Venice in 1553, with the addition of a brief compendium of Cicero's three books De Oratore. When Cyprus fell into the hands of the Turks in 1570, De Nores retired to Venice with the loss of all his property, and lived there for some years, probably supported by the liberality of some of the nobles. In 1577 he was appointed by those of his nation to plead for them before the doge, and not only obtained for them a settlement in the city of Pola with many privileges, but procured for himself an appointment to the chair of moral philosophy at Padua. He there wrote the greatest part of his works, and con- › |