=Nerissa=, the clever confidential waiting-woman of _Portia_, the Venetian heiress. Nerissa is the counterfeit of her mistress, with a fair share of the lady’s elegance and wit. She marries _Gratiano_, a friend of the merchant _Antonio_.--Shakespeare, _The Merchant of Venice_ (1698).[TN-30] =Nero of the North=, Christian II. of Denmark (1480, reigned 1534-1558, died 1559). =Nesle= (_Blondel de_), the favorite minstrel of Richard Cœur de Lion [Nesle = _Neel_].--Sir W. Scott, _The Talisman_ (time, Richard I.). =Nessus’s Shirt.= Nessos (in Latin _Nessus_), the centaur, carried the wife of Herculês over a river, and, attempting to run away with her, was shot by Herculês. As the centaur was dying, he told Deïani´ra (5 _syl._), that if she steeped in his blood her husband’s shirt, she would secure his love forever. This she did, but when Herculês put the shirt on, his body suffered such agony, that he rushed to Mount Œta, collected together a pile of wood, set it on fire, and rushing into the midst of the flames, was burnt to death. When Creūsa (3 _syl._), the daughter of King Creon, was about to be married to Jason, Medēa sent her a splendid wedding robe; but when Creusa put it on, she was burnt to death by it in excruciating pain. Morgan le Fay, hoping to kill King Arthur, sent him a superb royal robe. Arthur told the messenger to try it on, that he might see its effect; but no sooner had the messenger done so, than he dropped down dead, “burnt to mere coal.”--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 75 (1470). =Nestor= (_A_), a wise old man. Nestor of Pylos,[TN-31] was the oldest and most experienced of all the Greek chieftains who went to the siege of Troy.--Homer, _Iliad_. =Nestor of the Chemical Revolution.= Dr. Black is so called by Lavoisier (1728-1799). =Nestor of Europe=, Leopold, king of Belgium (1790, 1831-1865). =Neu´ha=, a native of Toobouai, one of the Society Islands. It was at Toobouai that the mutineers of the _Bounty_ landed, and Torquil married Neuha. When a vessel was sent to capture the mutineers, Neuha conducted Torquil to a secret cave, where they lay _perdu_ till all danger was over, when they returned to their island home.--Byron, _The Island_. (The character of Neuha is given in canto ii. 7.) =Nevers= (_Comte de_), to whom Valenti´na (daughter of the governor of the Louvre) was affianced, and whom she married in a fit of jealousy. The count having been shot in the Bartholomew slaughter, Valentina married Raoul [_Rawl_] her first love, but both were killed by a party of musketeers commanded by the governor of the Louvre.--Meyerbeer, _Les Huguenots_ (opera, 1836). ⁂ The duke [not _count_] de Nevers, being asked by the governor of the Louvre to join in the Bartholomew Massacre, replied that his family contained a long list of warriors, but not one assassin. =Neville= (_Major_), an assumed name of Lord Geraldin, son of the earl of Geraldin. He first appears as Mr. William Lovell.