Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 40.djvu/100

 Wright, London, 1859, 8vo; also London, 1888, 8vo. ‘A Thanksgiving for Plenty and Warning against Avarice,’ published in 1801, was reviewed by Sydney Smith in the ‘Edinburgh Review’ for 1802, and ridiculed as illogical.

In 1790 Nares assisted in completing Bridges' ‘History of Northamptonshire.’ In 1798, in conjunction with W. Tooke and W. Beloe, he revised the ‘General Biographical Dictionary,’ himself undertaking vols. vi. viii. x. xii. and xiv. He also edited Dr. W. Vincent's ‘Sermons’ (1817), and Purdy's ‘Lectures on the Church Catechism’ (1815), writing memoirs. He was a contributor to the ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ the ‘Classical Journal,’ and the ‘Archæologia.’



NARFORD, NERFORD, or NEREFORD, ROBERT (d. 1225), constable of Dover Castle, was the son of Sir Richard de Nerford, by his wife, Christian, and inherited from his parents Nerford Manor in Norfolk (, Hist. of Norfolk, v. 119; he does not name his authority). He married Alice, daughter and coheiress of John Pouchard, and so came into possession of lands between Creyk and Burnham Thorp. On a meadow there called Lingerescroft he founded a little chapel (1206) called Sancta Maria de Pratis (Mon. Angl. vi. 487). His wife's sister Joan married Reyner de Burgh, and her two sons were Hubert de Burgh [q. v.] and Geoffrey de Burgh, bishop of Ely (Dodsworth MS. cxxx. f. 3, and the Harl. MS. 294, f. 148 b; see, too,, x. 265, quoting Philipps MS.) To his relationship with Hubert, Narford no doubt owed the favour of King John; in October 1215 John ordered Hubert de Burgh to give Narford seisin of lands in Kent (Rot. Claus. i. 230). On 18 March 1216 John addressed a patent to Narford as bailiff at one of the seaports (Rot. Pat. p. 170 b); probably he was a custodian of Dover Castle, of which Hubert de Burgh was chief constable (, ed. Stevenson, p. 185; cf. Rot. Claus. p. 259). When Hubert de Burgh defeated Eustace le Moine in the naval battle of the Straits of Dover, fought on St. Bartholomew's day (24 Aug. 1217), Narford was present; and, to commemorate the victory, he founded, at his wife's desire, a hospital for thirteen poor men, one master, and four chaplains, by the side of his earlier foundation at Lingerescroft. His cousin Geoffrey, bishop of Ely, dedicated the house to St. Bartholomew in 1221 (Mon. Angl. vi. 487). After Narford's death the master, at his widow's wish, took the Austin habit, and was called Prior of the Canons of St. Mary de Pratis; in 1230 Henry III accepted the patronage of the house and made it an abbey (ib. vi. 488).

When Hubert de Burgh became chief justiciar, Narford was made chief constable of Dover (ib. vi. 487), and received a salary of twenty marks a year (Rot. Claus i. 514). In 1220 he received a precept to summon the barons of the Cinque Ports to his court at Shepway (Pat. 5, Hen. 3, quoted by J. Lyon, ii. 203).

In March 1224 he received payments as an ambassador to foreign parts (Rot. Claus. i. 582 seq.). Narford died in 1225, and his son Nicholas succeeded to his estates (ib. ii. 40).



NARRIEN, JOHN (1782–1860), astronomical writer, was the son of a stonemason, and was born at Chertsey, in Surrey, in 1782. He kept for some years an optician's shop in Pall Mall, and his talents having procured him friends and patronage, he was nominated in 1814 one of the teaching staff of the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. Promoted in 1820 to be mathematical professor in the senior department, he was long the virtual head of the establishment. His useful and honourable career terminated with his resignation, on the failure of his eyesight, in 1858. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1840, and retired from the Royal Astronomical Society in 1858. He died at Kensington on 30 March 1860, aged 77. He had lost his wife eight years previously.

He published in 1833 ‘An Historical Account of the Origin and Progress of Astronomy,’ a work of considerable merit and research; and compiled a series of mathematical text-books for use in Sandhurst College, of which the principal were entitled ‘Elements of Geometry,’ London, 1842; ‘Practical Astronomy and Geodesy,’ 1845; and ‘Analytical Geometry,’ 1846. He observed the partial solar eclipse of 6 May 1845, at the observatory of Sandhurst College (Monthly Notices, vi. 240).

