e had the gift of distorting and cracking his finger-joints. This
kind-hearted, dilapidated fellow "kept his hunter and hounds once," but
ran through his fortune. He discovered a plot of old Ralph, which he
confided to the Cheeryble brothers, who frustrated it, and then provided
for Newman.--C. Dickens, _Nicholas Nickleby_ (1838).

=Noko'mis=, mother of Weno'nah, and grandmother of Hiawatha. Nokomis was
the daughter of the Moon. While she was swinging one day, some of her
companions, out of jealousy, cut the ropes, and she fell to earth in a
meadow. The same night her first child, a daughter, was born, and was
named Wenonah.

There among the ferns and mosses ...
Fair Nokomis bore a daughter,
And she called her name Wenonah.

Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, iii. (1855).

=Non Mi Ricordo=, the usual answer of the Italian courier and other
Italian witnesses when on examination at the trial of Queen Caroline
(the wife of George IV.), in 1820.

"Lord Flint," in _Such Things Are_, by Mrs. Inchbald (1786), when asked
a question he wished to evade, used to reply, "My people know, no doubt,
but I cannot recollect."

"Pierre Choppard," in _The Courier of Lyons_, by Edward Stirling (1852),
when asked an ugly question, always answered "I'll ask my wife, my
memory's so slippery."

The North American society called the "Know Nothings," founded in 1853,
used to reply to every question about their order, "I know nothing about
it."

=Nona'cris' Stream=, the river Styx, in Arcadia. Cassander says he has in
a phial some of this "horrid spring," one drop of which, mixed with
wine, would act as a deadly poison. To this Polyperchon replies:

I know its power, for I have seen it tried.
Pains of all sorts thro' every nerve and artery
At once it scatters,--burns at once and freezes--
Till, by extremity of torture forced,
The soul consents to leave her joyless home.

N. Lee, _Alexander the Great_, iv. i (1678).

=Nonentity= (_Dr._), a metaphysician, and thought by most people to be a
profound scholar. He generally spreads himself before the fire, sucks
his pipe, talks little, drinks much, and is reckoned very good company.
You may know him by his long grey wig, and the blue handkerchief round
his neck.

Dr. Nonentity, I am told, writes indexes to perfection, makes
essays, and reviews any work with a single day's
warning.--Goldsmith, _A Citizen of the World_, xxix. (1759).