Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 41

=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).

=Norna of the Fitful Head=, "The Reimkennar." Her real name was, Ulla Troil, but after her seduction by Basil Mertoun (Vaughan), and the birth of a son named Clement Cleveland (the future pirate), she changed her name. Towards the end of the novel, Norna gradually recovered her senses. She was the aunt of Minna and Brenda Troil.--Sir W. Scott, _The Pirate_ (time, William III.).

[_One_] cannot fail to trace in Norna--the victim of remorse and insanity, and the dupe of her own imposture, her mind too flooded with all the wild literature and extravagant superst.i.tions of the north--something distinct from the Dumfriess.h.i.+re gypsy, whose pretensions to supernatural powers are not beyond those of a Norwood prophetess.--_The Pirate_ (introduction, 1821).

=Norris=, a family to whom Martin Chuzzlewit was introduced while he was in America. They were friends of Mr. Bevan, rabid abolitionists, and yet hankering after t.i.tles as the gilt of the gingerbread of life.--C.

d.i.c.kens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1844).

_Norris_ (_Black_), a dark, surly man, and a wrecker. He wanted to marry Marian, "the daughter" of Robert (also a wrecker); but Marian was betrothed to Edward, a young sailor. Robert, being taken up for murder, was condemned to death; but Norris told Marian he would save his life if she would promise to marry him. Marian consented, but was saved by the arrest of Black Norris for murder.--S. Knowles, _The Daughter_ (1836).

=North= (_Christopher_), pseudonym of John Wilson, professor of moral philosophy, Edinburgh, editor of _Blackwood's Magazine_, in which appeared the "Noctes Ambrosianae" (1805-1861).

_North_ (_Lord_), one of the judges in the State trial of Geoffrey Peveril, Julian, and the dwarf, for being concerned in the popish plot.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II).[TN-42]

=North Britain= (_The_), a radical periodical, conducted by John Wilkes.

The celebrated number of this serial was No. 45, in which the ministers are charged "with putting a lie in the king's mouth."

=Northamptons.h.i.+re Poet= (_The_), John Clare (1793-1864).

=Northern Harlot= (_The_), Elizabeth Petrowna, empress of Russia; also called "The Infamous" (1709-1761).

=Northern Wagoner=, a group of seven stars called variously Charles's Wain, or Wagon, _i.e._ churl's wain; Ursa Major, The Great Bear, and The Dipper. Four make the wagon, or the dipper, three form the shaft, or the handle. Two are called Pointers because they point to the Pole-star.

By this the northern wagoner has set His sevenfold team behind the steadfast star That was in ocean waves yet never wet, But firm is fixed, and sendeth light from far To all that on the wide deep wandering are.

Spenser, _Faery Queen_, I. ii. 1 (1590).

=Norval= (_Old_), a shepherd, who brings up Lady Randolph's son (Douglas) as his own. He was hidden at birth in a basket, because Sir Malcolm (her father) hated Douglas, whom she had privately married. The child being found by old Norval, was brought up as his own, but the old man discovered that the foundling was "Sir Malcolm's heir and Douglas's son." When 18 years old, the foster-son saved the life of Lord Randolph.

Lady Randolph took great interest in the young man, and when old Norval told her his tale, she instantly perceived that the young hero was in fact her own son.

_Young Norval_, the infant exposed and brought up by the old shepherd as his own son. He turned out to be Sir Malcolm's heir. His mother was Lady Randolph, and his father Lord Douglas, her first husband. Young Norval, having saved the life of Lord Randolph, was given by him a commission in the army. Glenalvon, the heir-presumptive of Lord Randolph, hated the new favorite, and persuaded his lords.h.i.+p that the young man was too familiar with Lady Randolph. Being waylaid, Norval was attacked, slew Glenalvon, but was in turn slain by Lord Randolph. After the death of Norval, Lord Randolph discovered that he had killed the son of his wife by a former marriage. The mother, in her distraction, threw herself headlong from a lofty precipice, and Lord Randolph went to the war then raging between Denmark and Scotland.--J[TN-43] Home, _Douglas_ (1757).

(This was a favorite character with John Kemble, 1757-1823.)

=Norway= (_The Fair Maid of_), Margaret, granddaughter of Alexander III.

of Scotland. She died (1290) of sea-sickness on her pa.s.sage from Norway to Scotland. Her father was Eric II., king of Norway, and her mother was Margaret, only daughter of Alexander III.

=Nose= (_Golden_), Tycho Brahe, the Danish astronomer. Having lost his nose in a duel with one Pa.s.sberg, he adopted a golden one, and attached it to his face by a cement which he carried about with him.