Nupkins, mayor of Ipswich, a man who has a most excellent opinion of himself, but who, in all magisterial matters, really depends almost entirely on Jinks, his half-starved clerk.—C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836).
Nurse (Rebecca). Accused of witchcraft and acquitted by the court. “And suddenly, after all the afflicted out of court made a hideous outcry ... one of the judges expressed himself not satisfied, another, as he was going off the bench, said they would have her indicted anew.”
At the second trial she was condemned, and she was executed with the rest.
“The testimonials of her Christian behavior, both in the course of her life and at her death, and her extraordinary care in educating her children, and setting them a good example, etc., under the hands of so many, are so numerous that for brevity they are here omitted.”—Robert Calef, More Wonders of the Invisible World (1700).
Nut-Brown Maid (The), the maid wooed by the “banished man.” The “banished man” describes to her the hardships she would have to undergo if she married him; but finding that she accounted these hardships as nothing compared with his love, he revealed himself to be an earl’s son, with large hereditary estates in Westmoreland, and married her.—Percy, Reliques, II.
This ballad is based on the legendary history of Lord Henry Clifford, called “The Shepherd Lord.” It was modernized by Prior, who called his version of the story Henry and Emma. The oldest form of the ballad extant is contained in Arnolde’s Chronicle (1502).
Nydia. Greek flower-girl, blind and friendless. Glaucus is kind to, and protects her, finally purchases her of her brutal master. She loves him passionately and hopelessly, saves his life and that of his betrothed at the destruction of Pompeii; embarks with them in a skiff bound for a safer harbor, and while all are asleep, springs overboard and drowns herself.—E. L. Bulwer, Last Days of Pompeii (1834).
Nym, corporal in the army under Captain Sir John Falstaff, introduced in The Merry Wives of Windsor and in Henry V., but not in Henry IV. It seems that Lieutenant Peto had died, and given a step to the officers under him. Thus, Ensign Pistol becomes lieutenant, Corporal Bardolph becomes ensign, and Nym takes the place of Bardolph. He is an arrant rogue, and both he and Bardolph are hanged (Henry V.). The word means to “pilfer.”
It would be difficult to give any other reply save that of Corporal Nym—it was the author’s humor or caprice.—Sir W. Scott.
Nymphid´ia, a mock-heroic by Drayton. The fairy Pigwiggen is so gallant to Queen Mab as to arouse the jealousy of King Oberon. One day, coming home and finding his queen absent, Oberon vows vengeance on the gallant, and sends Puck to ascertain the whereabouts of Mab and Pigwiggen. In the mean time, Nymphidia gives the queen warning, and the queen, with all her maids of honor, creep into a hollow nut for concealment. Puck, coming up, sets foot in the enchanted circle which Nymphidia had charmed, and, after stumbling about for a time, tumbles into a ditch. Pigwiggen, seconded by Tomalin, encounters Oberon, seconded by Tom Thum, and the fight is “both fast and furious.” Queen Mab, in alarm, craves the interference of Proserpine, who first envelopes the combatants in a thick smoke, which compels them to desist, and then gives them a draught “to assuage their thirst.” The draught was from the river Lethê; and immediately the combatants had tasted it, they forgot not only the cause of the quarrel, but even that they had quarrelled at all.—M. Drayton, Nymphidia (1593).