Shak.

* NIGHTDEW. n. f. [night and dew.] Dew that wets the ground in the night.

All things are hufh'd, as nature's felf lay dead, And fleeping flowers beneath the night-dew fweat:

E'en luft and envy sleep.

Dryd. Ind. Emp. * NIGHTDOG. n. f. [night and dog.] A dog that hunts in the night. Ufed by deer-ftealers. When night-dogs run, all forts of deer are chafed. Shak. NIGHTDRESS. n. f. night and drefs.] The drefs worn at night.

The fair ones feel fuch maladies as thefe, When each new night drefs gives a new difeafe. Pope. NIGHTED. adj. [from night.] Darkened; clouded; black.

It was great ign'rance, Glo'fter's eyes being out, To let him live; Edmund, I think, is gone, In pity of his misery, to dispatch His nighted life. Shak. King Lear. Good Hamlet, caft thy nighted colour off, And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. Shak. NIGHTFARING. 7. f. [night and fare.] Travelling in the night.

Will-a-Wifp misleads night faring clowns, O'er hills and finking bogs. Gay. * NIGHTFIRE. n. f. [night and fire.] ignis fatuus; Will-a-Wifp.

Foolish night-fires, women's and children's wifhes,

Chafes in arras, gilded emptiness. Herbert. * NIGHTFLY, n. f. [night and fly.] Moth that flies in the night.

Why rather, fleep, lies thou in smoaky cribs, And hush't with buzzing night-flies to thy flumber,

Than in the perfum'd chambers of the great, And lull'd with founds of fweeteft melody? Shak. VOL. XVI. PART I.

NIGHTFOUNDERED. adj. [from night and founder.] Loft or diftreffed in the night.—

Either fome one like us nightfoundered here, Or elfe fome neighbour woodman, or at worst, Some roving robber calling to his fellows. Milt. *NIGHTGOWN. n. f. [night and gown.] A loofe gown used for an undrefs.

I have seen her rife from her bed, throw Her night-gown upon her. Shak. Macbeth. -They have put me in a filk night-gown and a gaudy fool's cap. Addifon's Guardian.

To meagre mufe-rid mope, aduft and thin, In a dun night-gown of his own loose skin. Pope. *NIGHTHAG. 2. f. \night and hag.] Witch fuppofed to wander in the night.

Nor uglier follows the nighthag, when called In fecret, riding thro' the air fhe comes. Milt. (1.) * NIGHTINGALE. n. f. [from night and galan, Saxon, to fing; galm, Teutonick, is a found or echo.] 1. A fmall bird that fings in the night with remarkable melody; Philomel.

The nightingale, if the fhould fing by day, When every goofe is cackling, would be thought No better a mufician than the wren. Shak I perceive the nightingale hath some disadvan tage in the tongue. Brown.

Thus the wife nightingale that leaves her home,

To foreign groves does her old mufic bring.

2. A word of endearment.

My nightingale!

Waller

We'll beat them to their beds. Ant. and Cleop. (2.) NIGHTINGALE, in ornithology; a fpecies of motacilla. See MOTACILLA, N° 7. Its eyes are remarkably large and piercing; and though it is about equal in fize to the redstart, it is longer in body, and more elegantly made. Mr Hunter found by dissection, that the muscles of the larynx are ftronger in the nightingale than in any other bird of the fame fize. Sibbald places them in his lift of Scotch birds; but they certainly are unknown in that part of Great Britain, probably from the scarcity and the recent introduction of hedges there. Yet they vifit Sweden, a much more fevere climate. In England they frequent thick hedges, and low coppices; and generally keep in the middle of the bufh, fo that they are very rarely feen. When the young ones firft come abroad, the old birds make a plaintive and jarring noife with a fort of snapping as if in menace, purfuing the paffengers along the hedge. They begin their fong in the evening, and continue it the whole night. Thefe vigils did not pafs unnoticed by the ancients: the flumbers of these birds were proverbial; and not to reft as much as the nightingale expreffed a very bad fleeper. If the nightingale is kept in a cage, it often begins to fing about the end of November, and continues its fong more or lefs till June.-A young canary bird, linnet, fky-lark, or robin, (who have never heard any other bird) are faid beft to learn the note of a nightingale.

(3.) NIGHTINGALE, MOCK. See MOTACILLA, N° 2.

(4.) NIGHTINGALE, VIRGINIAN, in ornithology, the common, but improper name of a bird of the grofs

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DICINE, 960; NOCTAMBULI, and SLEEP

WALKER.

* NIGHTWARBLING. adj. [night and warble.] Singing in the night.

Now is the pleasant time,

The cool, the filent, fave where filence yields To the night-warbling bird. Milt. Par. Loft. * NIGHTWARD. adj. [night and ward.] Approaching towards night. Their nightward ftudies, wherewith they close the day's work. Milt. on Education.

* NIGHTWATCH. n. f. [night and watch.] A period of the night as diftinguished by change of the watch. I meditate on thee in the night watches. Pfalm lxiii. 6.

NIGIDIUS FIGULUS, Publius, one of the most learned men of ancient Rome, flourished at the fame time with Cicero. He wrote on various fubjects; but his pieces appeared so refined and dif.. ficult, that they were not regarded. He affifted Cicero, with great prudence, in defeating Catiline's confpiracy, and did him many services in the time of his adverfity. He adhered to Pompey in oppofition to Cæfar; which occafioned his exile, and be died in banishment. Cicero, who had always entertained the higheft efteem for him, wrote a beautiful confolatory letter to him (the 13th of lib. 4. ad Familiares).

NIGONO, a town of Italy, in the dep. of Panaro, and diftri&t, late duchy, of Modena; 22 miles SW. of Modena.

* NIGRESCENT. adj. [nigrefcens, Latin.] Growing black; approaching to blacknefs. *NIGRIFICATION. n. f. [niger and facio, Lat.] The act of making black.

NIGRINA, in botany, a genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the pentandria class of plante. The corolla is funnel-shaped; the calyx inflated; the ftigma obtufe; the capfule bilocular. NIGRITIA. See NEGROLAND, NIG-TSING, a town of China, of the 3d rank, in the prov. of Pe-tche-li; 25 miles E. of King. (1.) NIGUA, or CHEGOE, in zoology, the Indian name of an infect common in Mexico and Peru, and alfo found in other hot countries, where it is called PIQUE, is an exceeding fmall animal, not very unlike a flea, and is bred in the duft. It fixes upon the feet, and breaking infenfibly the cuticle, it neftles betwixt that and the true skin, which also, unless it is immediately taken out, it breaks, and pierces at laft to the flesh, multiplying with a rapidity almoft incredible. It is feldom difcovered until it pierces the true fkin, when it causes an intolerable itching. These insects, with their aftonishing multiplication, would foon difpeople those countries, were it lefs easy to avoid them, or were the inhabitants lefs dexterous in getting them out before they begin to spread. The poor, however, who are doomed by the rich to live in the duft, and to a habitual neglect of their perfons, fuffer these insects sometimes to multiply fo far as to make large holes in their flesh, and even to occafion dangerous wounds. If it is perceived in the beginning, it is extracted with little pain; but having once lodged its head, and pierced the fkin, the patient muft undergo the pain of an incifion, without which a nodus would be formed, and a multitude of infects engendered,

which would foon overspread the foot and leg. One species of the nigua is venomous; and when it enters the toe, an inflammatory swelling, greatly resembling a venereal bubo, takes place in the groin.

(2.) NIGUA, a river of Hispaniola, on the S. fide of the island, which falls into the sea 21 miles E. of the Niffao.

(3, 4-) NIGUA, a town and parish of Hispaniola, on the above river, containing 2500 inhabitants before the late convulfions.

NIHIL ALBUM, (Lat. i. e. A White Nothing,] a name given to the white flocks that iffue from burning zinc; called alfo POMPHOLIX, Philofophical Wool, and FLOWERS OF ZINC; and in the new nomenclature the Sublimed Oxide of Zine. See CHEMISTRY, 852; and METALLURGY, Part III. Sect. III.

* NIHILITY. n. f. [nibilité, Fr. nibilum, Lat.] Nothingness; the flate of being nothing.-Not being is confidered as excluding all substance, and then all modes are alfo neceffarily excluded; and this we call pure nihility, or mere nothing. Watts.

NIJAR, a town of Spain, in Grenada, 12 miles NE. of Almeria.

NIKALINZIN, a town of Poland, in Red Ruffia, 44 miles S. of Halicz.

NIKDE, or NIGDEH. See NIGDEH.

NIKIA, a town of Turkey, in Macedonia. NIKIOPING, or NYKOPING, [i.e. New Mart,] an ancient city of Sweden, capital of Sudermanland, feated at the mouth of a river, which runs through it, and has a stone bridge near the Baltic. It was anciently the refidence of the kings of Sudermania. The climate is very falubrious. It was almost burnt in 1661; its caftle was demolished in 1665; and it was ravaged by the Ruffians in 1719. It has 2 churches, a good harbour, and manufactories of cloth and leather; and carries on great trade by fea. The population is above 1200. It lies 50 miles, Cruttwell fays 60, SW. of Stockholm. Lon. 16. 40. E. Lat. 58. 40. N.

NIKITSK, a town of Ruffia, in Moscow. NIKOLAEUSKOI, 3 towns of Ruffia; two in Tobolfk, and one in Vologda.

NIKOLSK, a town of Ruffia, in Uftiug. NIKOLSKOI, 5 towns of Ruffia, of which 3 are in the prov. of Archangel: 1ft, 52 miles SW. of Archangel; 2d, 72 miles SE. of Onega; 3d, 52 miles S. of Mezen: 4. in Vologda, 24 miles SE. of Vologda: 5. in Upland, on the Ural, 80 miles ESE. of Orenburg.

(1.) NIKOPING, a town of Denmark, capital of the island of Faifter, 55 miles SW. of Copenhagen. Lón. 12. 7. E. Lat. 54. 40. N.

(2.) NIKOPING. See NIKLOPING. NIKOTSKOI, a town of Ruflia, in Tobolfk, 40 miles N. of Tomik.

NILAB, a name given to the INDUS.

(1.) NILE, a large and celebrated river of Africa, to which the country of Egypt owes its ferti lity; and the exploring of the fources of which has, from the remoteft ages, been accounted im practicable. Of late, however, this has been done by James Bruce, Efq. of Kinnaird, in Scotland; who spent feveral years at the court of Abyffinia, and, by the favour of the emperor and great

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people of the country, was enabled to accomplish the arduous task. See BRUCE, N° 1.

(2.) NILE, ATTEMPTS MADE TO DISCOVER THE SOURCES OF THE. Mr Bruce, in his Travels, fays, the inquiry concerning its fprings began before either history or tradition. The philofophers of Meroe, in his opinion, were the firft who undertook to make obfervations to determine the point; their country being fo fituated, that they could perceive every thing relative to the increase or decrease of the river, without any danger from its overflowing. Being much addicted to aftronomy, it could not long escape them, that the heliacal rifing of the dog-ftar was a fignal for Egypt to prepare for the inundation; without which it was vain to expect any crop. In these early ages, when travelling into foreign countries was impracticable by private perfons, the inquiry into the fources of the Nile became an object to the greateft monarchs. Sefoftris preferred the honour of difcovering them to all the victories he had obtained. Alexander the Great had a great curiofity to discover these fountains. He employed natives of Ethiopia to make search, but they miffed their aim. Ptolemy Philadelphus followed Alexander's attempts to discover the fource of the Nile; but he likewife proving unsuccessful, the task was next in vain undertaken by Ptolemy Euergetes. Cæfar had the fame curiofity with other conquerors to vifit the fprings of the Nile, though his fituation did not allow him to make any attempt for that purpose. Nero, however, was more active. He sent two centurions into Ethiopia, with orders to explore the unknown fountains of this river; but they returned without accomplishing their errand. No other attempt was made by the ancients to discover the sources of this celebrated river; and the matter was looked upon to be an impoffibility, infomuch that caput Nili quærere became a proverb, denoting the impoffibility of any undertaking. The only account of the fountains of the Nile published before that of Mr Bruce, was Kircher's; who says that he took it from the writings of Peter Paez. Mr Bruce, however, adduces many proofs to fupport his affertion, that Paez never faw thefe fountains; and be confiders himself as the first European who reached the fources of this river.

(3.) NILE, MR BRUCE'S DESCRIPTION OF THE SOURCES OF THE. Our author informs us that the fources of the Nile are in the country of the Agows, as Kircher had faid; fo that the latter muft either have vifited them himself, or have had very good information concerning them. The name of the place through which is the paffage to the territory of the Agows, is Abala; a plain, or rather valley, generally about half a mile, and nowhere exceeding a whole mile, in breadth. The mountains which furround it are at first of an inconfiderable height, covered to the very top with herbage and acacia trees; but in proceeding to the S. they become more rugged and woody. On the top of thefe mountains are delightful plains, producing excellent pasture. Those of the W. join a mountain called Aformaska, where, from a direction nearly SE. they turn S. and inclofe the villages and territory of Sacaia, woich lie at the foot of them; and still lower, that is, more to the

W. is the fmall village of Geesh, where the fountains of the Nile are fituated. Here the mountains are in the form of a crescent; and along these the river takes its courfe. Those which inclose the E. fide of the plain run parallel to the former in their whole course, making part of the mountains of Lechtambara, or at leaft joining with them; and thefe two, when behind Aformaska, turn to the S. and then to the SW. taking the fame form as they do; only making a greater curve, and inclofing them likewife into the form of a crefcent, the extremity of which terminates immediately above a fmall lake named Gooderoo, in the plain of Affoa, below Geefh, and directly at the fountains of the Nile. Having paffed fe veral confiderable ftreams, all of which fall into the Nile, our traveller found himfelf at laft obliged to afcend a very steep and rugged mountain, where no other path was to be found but a very narrow one made by the fheep or goats, and which in fome places was broken, and full of holes; in others, he was obstructed with large ftones, which feemed to have remained there fince the creation. The whole was covered with thick wood; and he was everywhere ftopped by the KANTUFFA (fee ETHIOPIA, § 68.), as well as by feveral other thorny plants, as troublesome as that. Having at last, however, reached the top, he had a fight of the Nile immediately below him; but fo diminished in fize, that it now appeared only a brook scarce fufficient to turn a mill. The village of Geefh is not within fight of the fountains of the river, though not more than 600 yards diftant from them. The country about that place terminates in a cliff about 300 yards high, which reaches down to the plain of Affoa, continuing in the fame degree of elevation till it meets the Nile again about 17 miles to the S. after having made the circuit of the provinces of Gojam and Da. mot. From the edge of the cliff of Geesh, above where the village is fituated, the ground flopes with an afcent due N. to a triangular marfh upwards of 86 yards broad, and 286 from the edge of the cliff, and from a prieft's houfe where Mr Bruce refided. On the E. the ground defcends with a very gentle flope from the large village of SACALA, which gives name to the territory, and is about fix miles from the fource, though to appearance not above two. About the middle of this marfh, and not quite 40 yards from the foot of the mountain of Geefh, rifes a circular hillock, about three feet from the furface of the marsh itself, though founded apparently much deeper in it. The diameter of this hillock is not quite 12 feet, and it is furrounded by a fhallow trench, which collects the water, and fends it off to the E. This is firmly built of fod brought from the fides, and kept conftantly in repair by the Agows, who worship the river, and perform their religious ceremonies upon this as an altar. In the midst of it is a circular hole, a work of art. It is always kept clear of grafs and aquatic plants, and the water in it is perfectly pure and limpid, but without any motion on its furface. The mouth is some parts of an inch lefs than three feet diameter; and at the time our author first vifited it (Nov. 5, 1770), the water ftood about two inches from the brim, nor did it either increase or diminish during all the