Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 41.djvu/16

Nichols 1628, 4to; and a much altered edition, London, 1652, 4to.

[State Papers, Henry VIII, No. 6247, p. 153; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib.; Bibl. Cornub. pp. 1117, 1451; Hazlitt's Bibliogr. Coll. and Notes, ii. 428; Ames's Typogr. Antiq. (Herbert), iv. 49, 322; Works in Brit. Mus.]  NICHOLS, THOMAS (fl. 1550), translator of Thucydides, was a citizen and goldsmith of London. In 1550 there was published ‘The Hystory writtone by Thucidides the Athenyan of the warre which was betweene the Peloponesians and the Athenyans translated oute of Frenche into the Englysh language by Thomas Nicolls citizeine and Goldsmith of London. Imprinted the xxv day of July in the yeare of our Lorde God a thousande fyue hundredd and fyftye.’ Prefixed is ‘the tenoure of the kynges maiesties most gracyous priuilege for seuen yeares;’ this is dated 24 Feb. 1549–50, and grants Nichols full copyright for the term specified. The work is dedicated to Sir John Cheke. Nichols knew no Greek, and depended entirely on the French version of Claude de Seyssel, bishop of Marseilles in 1510, and archbishop of Turin in 1517, whose translation was published at Paris in 1527. No other English translation appeared till Hobbes's version of 1682.

The printer of Nichols's volume is unknown. It has been assigned to the press of John Wayland; but this ascription is due to John Bagford, who pasted into his copy Wayland's colophon, cut from another book (cf. Harl. MS. 5929). Bagford's copy came into the possession of Herbert, who was deceived by Bagford's device, and gave currency to the statement that Wayland printed the volume (cf., Sixteenth-Century Books in Trinity College, Cambridge; , Typogr. Antiq. ed. Herbert).

Another (fl. 1554), a London merchant, went about 1554 to the Canary Islands as factor for Thomas Lok [see under Lok, William (DNB00)], Anthony Hickman, and Edward Castelin, ‘who in those days were worthie merchants and of great credit in London’ [cf. art. Nicholas, Thomas (fl.1560-1596) (DNB00)]. Nichols spent seven years in the islands, and after returning home found so many errors in Andrew Thevet's ‘New founde Worlde,’ which appeared in an English translation from the French in 1568, that he placed his own observations briefly on record. His work was entitled ‘A Description of the Canary Islands and Madera, with their remarkable Fruits and Commodities.’ It was included in Hakluyt's ‘Principall Navigations,’ 1599 (vol. ii. bk. iv. pp. 3–7).

[Authorities cited.]  NICHOLS, WILLIAM (1655–1716), Latin poet, born in 1655, was son of the Rev. Henry Nichols or Nicols of Hilton, near Cowbridge, Glamorganshire. He matriculated at Oxford, from Christ Church as a ‘poor scholar’ on 14 April 1671, and graduated B.A. on 24 March 1674–5, M.A. in 1677 (, Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714, iii. 1070). On 4 June 1690 he was presented to the rectory of Cheadle, Cheshire, but resigned it on his appointment to the rectory of Stockport in the same county on 24 March 1693–4. He died towards the end of 1716. On 9 June 1692 he married, at Flixton, near Manchester, Elizabeth, daughter of Peter Egerton of Shawe, Lancashire, and by her, who died on 1 Oct. 1708, aged 43, he had several children. She was buried in Chester Cathedral, where her husband placed a monument, with an elegant Latin inscription, to her memory.

Nichols, who was a good classical scholar, wrote: 1. ‘De Literis Inventis libri sex,’ London, 1711, a little thick 8vo of 387 pages, dedicated to Thomas, earl of Pembroke, and composed entirely in Latin elegiacs. In the sixth book he refers to Stockport and its beautiful situation, and also notices Manchester and the neighbouring country in Derbyshire. 2. ‘Orationes duæ: una Gulielmi Nicols, A. M., altera Barthol. Ziegenbalgii, missionarii Danici ad Indos Orientales: utraque coram venerabili Societate pro promovenda Religione Christiana habita Londini, Dec. 29, 1715. Accedit utriusque orationis versio Anglicana,’ 8vo, London, 1716. 3. ‘Περὶ Ἄρχων libri septem: accedunt Liturgica,’ 2 pts. 12mo, London, 1717. The first part, which is inscribed to William Wake, archbishop of Canterbury, is a paraphrase on the church catechism in Latin hexameters, in the form of a dialogue between master and pupil. The ‘Liturgica,’ dedicated to Sir William Dawes [q. v.], archbishop of York, consists of translations of some portions of the book of common prayer into Latin verse.

[Earwaker's East Cheshire, i. 394, li. 655; Hearne's Notes and Collections (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), ii. 299.]   NICHOLS, WILLIAM LUKE (1802–1889), antiquary, born at Gosport, Hampshire, 10 Aug. 1802, was the eldest son of Luke Nichols, of that place, merchant. He matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford, on 28 Feb. 1821, and graduated B.A. 1825, M.A. 1829. In 1827 he was ordained in the English church, being licensed to the curacy of Keynsham, Somerset. While the cholera was raging in England, he had the undivided