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 York, through whose influence he was appointed in 1664 on a commission with Sir Robert Carr (d. 1667), George Cartwright and Samuel Maverick, to conquer New Netherland from the Dutch and to regulate the affairs of the New England colonies and settle disputes among them. The expedition set sail from Portsmouth on the 25th of May 1664, and New Amsterdam was surrendered to Nicolls on the 8th of September. Under authority of a commission from the duke of York, Nicolls assumed the position of deputy-governor of New Netherland (New York). His policy was vigorous but tactful, and the transition to the new regime was made smoothly and with due regard to the interests of the conquered people. They were guaranteed in the possession of their property rights, their laws of inheritance, and the enjoyment of religious freedom. The English system of law and administration was at once introduced into Long Island, Staten Island and Westchester, where the English element already predominated, but the change was made much more slowly in the Dutch sections. A code of laws, known as the “Duke’s Laws,” drafted by the governor with the help of his secretary, Matthias Nicolls (c. 1650–1687), and dated the 12th of March, was proclaimed at Hempstead, Long Island, on the 1st of March 1665 and continued in force until 1683; the code was compiled from the codes of the New England colonies, and it provided for trial by jury, for proportional taxation on property, for the issuance of new patents for land and for land tenure only by licence from the duke. Nicolls returned to England in the summer of 1668 and continued in the service of the duke of York. He was killed in the naval battle of Southwold Bay on the 28th of May 1672.

NICOLSON, WILLIAM (1655–1727), English divine and antiquary, was educated at Queen’s College, Oxford (M.A., 1679; fellow, 1679–1682). After visiting Leipzig to learn German he was made prebendary of Carlisle in 1681, archdeacon in 1682. Twenty years later he was appointed bishop of the same diocese, where he remained until his translation to Derry in 1718. In 1727 he was nominated archbishop of Cashel and Emly, but died before he could assume charge. Nicolson is remembered by the impulsiveness of his temperament, which led him into a good deal of strife as a bishop, and more happily by his zeal in collecting and guarding manuscripts and other official documents. For this purpose he had special rooms built at Derry. His chief works were the Historical Library (English, 1696–97–99; Scottish, 1702; Irish, 1724; complete later editions, 1732 and 1776), and Leges Marchiarum or Border Laws (1705, new ed., 1747).

NICOMACHUS, a Neo-Pythagorean philosopher and mathematician, born at Gerasa in Arabia Petraea, flourished about 100. In his musical treatise he mentions Thrasyllus (d. 36), the astrologer and confidant of Tiberius, and his Arithmetic was translated by Apuleius, who wrote under Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is the author of two extant treatises: (1)  (Introduction to Arithmetic), a metaphysical account of the theory and properties of numbers, and the first work in which arithmetic was treated quite independently of geometry. It was extremely popular, was the subject of commentaries by Iamblichus (ed. H. Pistelli, 1894) and others, was translated into Latin by Apuleius (according to Cassiodorus, the translation itself being lost) and Boëtius, and used as a schoolbook down to the Renaissance. (2)  (Manual of Harmony), complete in one book, to which are erroneously appended as a second book some fragments probably belonging to a larger treatise On Music now lost. It is the oldest authority on the Pythagorean theory of music. Photius (cod. 187) also mentions a work by Nicomachus called  (The Theology of Arithmetic), written in a spirit of Pythagorean mysticism and Oriental superstition, and setting forth the application of arithmetic, or rather of the first ten numbers, to the origin and attributes of the gods. But the extracts in Photius are now generally attributed to Iamblichus. Other works of Nicomachus were: a Life of Pythagoras and a Collection of Pythagorean Doctrines, the chief source of the life of Pythagoras and the account of his philosophy by Iamblichus.

NICOMACHUS, of Thebes, Greek painter, of the early part of the 4th century, was a contemporary of the greatest painters of Greece; Vitruvius observes that if his fame was less than theirs, it was the fault of fortune rather than of demerit. Pliny (xxxv. 108) gives a list of his works; among them a “Rape of Persephone,” “Victory in a Quadriga,” a group of Apollo and Artemis, and the “Mother of the Gods seated on a Lion.” Pliny tells us that he was a very rapid worker and used but four colours (the last seems impossible). Plutarch mentions his paintings as possessing the Homeric merit of ease and absence of effort.

NICOMEDES I., son of Zipoetes, king of Bithynia (c. 278–248 ). He made himself master of the whole country and put to death his brother, who had set himself up as an independent ruler. He enlarged and consolidated the kingdom, founded the great city of Nicomedia as the capital, and fought successfully for some time with Antiochus of Syria. His reign seems to have been prosperous and uneventful; the year of his death is uncertain.

NICOMEDES II., Epiphanes, king of Bithynia, 149–91 , fourth in descent from Nicomedes I., was the son of Prusias II. He was so popular with the people that his father sent him to Rome. Here he was so much favoured by the senate that Prusias sent an emissary to Rome with secret orders to assassinate him. But the emissary revealed the plot, and persuaded the prince to rebel against his father. Supported by Attalus II., king of Pergamum, he was completely successful, and ordered his father to be put to death at Nicomedia. During his long reign Nicomedes adhered steadily to the Roman alliance, and assisted them against Aristonicus of Pergamum. He made himself for a time master of Paphlagonia, and in order to have a claim on Cappadocia married Laodice (the widow of Ariarathes VI.), who had fled to him when Mithradates the Great endeavoured to annex the country. When her two sons died, Nicomedes brought forward an impostor as a claimant to the throne; but the plot was detected. The Romans refused to recognize the claim, and required Nicomedes to give up all pretensions to Cappadocia and to abandon Paphlagonia.

NICOMEDES III., Philopator, king of Bithynia, 91–74 , was the son and successor of Nicomedes II. His brother Socrates, assisted by Mithradates, drove him out, but he was reinstated by the Romans (90). He was again expelled by Mithradates, who defeated him on the river Amneus (or Amnias) in Paphlagonia. This led to the first Mithradatic War, as the result of which Nicomedes was again restored (84). At his death he bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans, a legacy which subsequently brought about the third Mithradatic War.

NICOMEDIA [mod. Ismid], an ancient town at the head of the Gulf of Astacus, which opens on the Propontis, was built in 264 by Nicomedes I. of Bithynia, and has ever since been one of the chief towns in this part of Asia Minor. It was the metropolis of Bithynia under the Roman empire (see ), and