NARCISSA 
 
 
Brussels lace when she was "laid out." 
(See NANcy.) 
"Odious! In woolen? 'Twould a saint provoke !" 
Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke. 
"No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace 
Wrap my cold limbs and shade my lifeless face; 
One would not, sure, be frightful when one's 
    dead! 
 And, Betty, give this cheek a little red." 
              Pope, Moral Essays, i. (1731). 
 
   Narcisse, an airy young Creole. He 
 has boundless faith in himself, and a Mi- 
 cawberish confidence in the future. He 
 would like to be called "Papillon," the but- 
 terfly; "'Cause thass my natu'e! I gatheth 
 honey eve'y day fum eve'y opening floweb, 
 as the bahd of Avon wemawked."--George 
 W. Cable, Dr. Sevier (1883). 
 
 Narcissus, a flower. According to 
 Grecian fable, Narcissus fell in love with 
 his own reflection in a fountain, and, 
 having pined away because he could not 
 kiss it, was changed into the flower which 
 bears his name.-Ovid, Metamorphioses, iii. 
 346, etc. 
 Echo. was in love with Narcissus, and 
 died of grief because he would not return 
 her love. 
              Narcissus fair, 
   As o'er the fabled fountain hanging still. 
        Thomson, Seasons (" Spring," 1728). 
   * Gliuck, in 1779, produced an opera 
called Echo et Narcisse. 
 
  Narren-Schiff (" The ship of foohs"), a 
satirical poem, in German, by Brandt 
(1491), lashing the follies and vices of the 
period. Brandt makes knowledge of one's 
self the beginning of wisdom; maintains 
the equality of man; and speaks of life as 
a brief passage only. The book at one 
time enjoyed unbounded popularity. 
 
  Narses (2 syl.), a Roman general against 
the Goths; the terror of children. 
 
 
   The name of Narses was the formidable sound 
 with which the Assyrian mothers were accus- 
 tomed to terrify their infants.-Gibbon, Decline 
 and Fall of the Roman Empire, viii. 219 (1776-. 
 88). 
 
   Narses, a domestic slave of Alexius 
 Comne-nus, emperor of Greece.-Sir W. 
 Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus). 
 
   Naso, Ovid, the Roman poet, whose full 
 name was Publius Ovidius Naso. (Naso 
 means "nose.") Hence the pun of Holo- 
 fernes: 
 A*d why Naso, but for smelling out the odo- 
 riferous flowers of fancy ?-Shakespeare, Love's 
 Labor's Lost, act iv. se. 2 (1594). 
 
 Nathan the Wise, a prudent and 
 wealthy old Jew who lives near Jerusalem 
 in the time of Saladin. The play is a 
 species of argument for religious toler- 
 ation.-G. E. Lessing, Nathan der Weise 
 (1778). 
 Nathaniel (Sir), the grotesque curate of 
 Holofern~s.-Shakespeare, Love's Labor's 
 Lost (1594). 
 
 Nathos, one of the three sons of Usnoth, 
 lord of Etha (in Argyllshire), made com- 
 mander of the Irish army at the death of 
 Cuthullin. For a time he propped up the 
 fortune of the youthful Cormac, but the 
 rebel Cairbar increased in strength and 
 found means to murder the young king. 
 The army under Nathos then deserted to 
 the usurper, and Nathos, with his two 
 brothers, was obliged to quit Ireland. 
 Dar'-Thula, the daughter of Colla, went 
 with them to avoid Cairbar, who persisted 
 in offering her his love. The wind drove 
 the vessel back to Ulster, where Cairbar 
lay encamped, and the three young men, 
being overpowered, were slain. As for 
Dar-Thula, she was pierced with an arrow, 
and died also.-Ossian, Dar-Thula. 
 
 
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NATHOS