Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 3: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's HandbookBrewer, Ebenezer Cobham
General
Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 3: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook
Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham
Allusions; Fiction -- Dictionaries; Literature -- Dictionaries
=Nekayah=, sister of Rasselas, prince of Abyssinia. She escapes with her
brother from the “happy valley,” and wanders about with him to find what
condition or rank of life is the most happy. After roaming for a time,
and finding no condition of life free from its drawbacks, the brother
and sister resolved to return to the “happy valley.”--Dr. Johnson,
_Rasselas_ (1759).
=Nell=, the meek and obedient wife of Jobson; taught by the strap to know
who was lord and master. Lady Loverule was the imperious, headstrong
bride of Sir John Loverule. The two women by a magical hocus-pocus, were
changed for a time, without any of the four knowing it. Lady Loverule
was placed with Jobson, who soon brought down her turbulent temper with
the strap, and when she was reduced to submission, the two women were
restored again to their respective husbands.--C. Coffey, _The Devil to
Pay_ (1731).
_Nell_ (_Little_), or NELLY TRENT, a sweet, innocent, loving child of 14
summers, brought up by her old miserly grandfather, who gambled away all
his money. Her days were monotonous and without youthful companionship,
her evenings gloomy and solitary; there were no child-sympathies in her
dreary home, but dejection, despondence akin to madness, watchfulness,
suspicion, and imbecility. The grandfather being wholly ruined by
gaming, the two went forth as beggars, and ultimately settled down in a
cottage adjoining a country churchyard. Here Nell died, and the old
grandfather soon afterwards was found dead upon her grave.--C. Dickens,
_The Old Curiosity Shop_ (1840).
=Nelly=, the servant-girl of Mrs. Dinmont.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_
(time, George II.).
=Nelson’s Ship=, the _Victory_.
Now from the fleet of the foemen past
Ahead of the _Victory_,
A four-decked ship, with a flagless mast,
An Anak of the sea.
His gaze on the ship Lord Nelson cast:
“Oh, oh! my old friend!” quoth he.
“Since again we have met, we must all be glad
To pay our respects to the _Trinidad_.”
So, full on the bow of the giant foe,
Our gallant _Victory_ runs;
Thro’ the dark’ning smoke the thunder broke
O’er her deck from a hundred guns.
Lord Lytton, _Ode_, iii. 9 (1839).
=Nem´ean Lion=, a lion of Argŏlis, slain by Herculês.
In this word Shakespeare has preserved the correct accent: “As hardy as
the Nem´ean lion’s nerve” (_Hamlet_, act i. sc. 5); but Spenser
incorrectly throws the accent on the second syllable, which is _e_
short: “Into the great Neme´an’s lion’s grove” (_Faëry Queen_, v. 1).
Ere Nemĕa’s beast resigned his shaggy spoils.
Statius, _The Thebaid_, i.
=Nem´esis=, the Greek personification of retribution, or that punishment
for sin which sooner or later overtakes the offender.
... and some great Nemesis
Break from a darkened future.
Tennyson, _The Princess_, (1847).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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