Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 41.djvu/111

 of ‘Drawings of some Ruins and Colossal Statues at Thebes in Egypt, with an Account of the same in a Letter to the Royal Society.’ Norden's Egyptian journals and papers were translated from the Danish manuscripts into French by Des Roches de Parthenay, and published (after Norden's death) by the command of Christian VI, with the title ‘Voyage d'Égypte et de Nubie,’ 2 vols. Copenhagen, 1755, with 159 plates. This work was translated into English by Peter Templeman as ‘Travels in Egypt and Nubia,’ 2 vols. London, 1757, fol., with the original plates. There was a German translation by Steffens, Breslau, 1779, 8vo, and the French text was reprinted at Paris 1795–8, 3 vols. 4to. A ‘Compendium’ of Norden's travels through Egypt was published at Dublin, 1757, 8vo. Richard Pococke's ‘Travels in Egypt’ (‘A Description of the East,’ vol. i.) was published in 1743, but Norden's was the first attempt at an elaborate description of Egypt. The drawings are interesting, but the maps of the course of the Nile are said to be less accurate than other portions of the book. Another posthumous publication was ‘The Antiquities, Natural History, Ruins … of Egypt, Nubia, and Thebes, exemplified in near two hundred Drawings, taken on the spot by F. L. Norden … engraved by M. Teuscher,’ London, 1792, fol. (164 plates without letterpress).

Norden left Egypt in May 1738, and returned to Denmark, where he was ultimately advanced to the position of captain in the royal navy, and made a member of the shipbuilding commission. In 1740 he came to London, where he was well received by the Prince of Wales and by Martin Folkes (, Lit. Anecdotes, ii. 590) and other learned men. He was one of the founders of the Egyptian club composed of gentlemen who had visited Egypt (ib. v. 334). He volunteered to serve under the English flag in an expedition under Sir John Norris, and when this was not despatched sailed in October 1740 under Sir Challoner Ogle. He was present at the siege of Carthagena on 1 April 1741. He began, but did not complete, an account of this enterprise, illustrated by his own sketches. Returning to England in the autumn of 1741, he spent the winter and part of the following year in London, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He started for a tour in France in 1742, but died at Paris on 22 Sept. of that year from consumption. An engraved portrait of Norden is prefixed to vol. ii. of the ‘Travels in Egypt and Nubia.’ Beneath it is engraved a medal of Norden, having his portrait on the obverse, and on the reverse a pyramid.

 NORDEN, JOHN (1548–1625?), topographer, born in 1548, was, according to Wood, ‘of a genteel family’ (Athenæ Oxon. ii. 279). But neither the ‘Visitation of Wiltshire’ of 1623 (Harl. MSS. 1165 f. b, 1444 f. 192 b) nor that printed by Sir Thomas Phillipps in 1628 supports Wood's theory that he belonged to Wiltshire. The father was probably a native of Middlesex. The earliest public notice of Norden is found in a privy council order dated Hampton Court, 27 Jan. 1593, declaring ‘To all Lieuts, etc., of Counties’ that ‘the bearer, John Norden, gent.,’ was ‘authorised and appointed by her Majesty to travel through England and Wales to make more perfect descriptions, charts, and maps’ (Hist. MSS. Comm. 7th Rep. p. 540 b). The outcome of this order was Norden's first work, entitled ‘Speculum Britanniæ, firste parte, … Middlesex,’ published in 1593, 4to. A manuscript draft in the British Museum (Harl. MS. 570), with a few corrections in the handwriting of Burghley, supplies some passages that were omitted in the printed book. In July 1594 Burghley issued from Greenwich another order, which recommended to favourable public notice ‘The bearer, John Norden, who has already imprinted certain shires to his great commendation, and who intends to proceed with the rest as time and ability permit’ (Hist. MSS. Comm. 7th Rep. p. 540 b; cf. also letter of 20 May 1594, Egerton MS. 2644, f. 49, &c.)

Norden was the first Englishman who designed a complete series of county histories, and he essayed his task with boundless energy. The outcome of an expedition undertaken by him in 1595 is extant in the British Museum Additional MS. 31853, which is dedicated to Queen Elizabeth, and is entitled ‘A Chorographical Discription of the severall Shires and Islands, of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Sussex, Hamshire, Weighte, Garnesey, and Jarsay, performed by the traveyle and uiew of John Norden, 1595’ (cf. House of Lords' MS., Hist. MSS. Comm. 1st Rep. App. 31 b). But the task was beset by difficulties, mainly pecuniary. In 1596 he published a ‘Preparative to his Speculum Britanniæ,’ which he described as ‘a reconciliation of sundrie propositions by divers person (critics, wise or otherwise) tendered’ concerning his large undertaking. The book was dedicated to his patron, Burgh-