Nun's Tale_ (_The Second_). This is the tale about Maxime and the
martyrs, Valerian and Tiburc[^e]. The prefect ordered Maxime (2 _syl._)
to put Valerian and Tiburc[^e] to death, because they refused to worship
the image of Jupiter; but Maxime showed kindness to the two Christians,
took them home, became converted, and was baptized. When Valerian and
Tiburc[^e] were put to death, Maxime declared that he saw angels come
and carry them up to heaven, whereupon the prefect caused him to be
beaten to death with whips of lead.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (1388).

[Asterism] This tale is very similar to that of St. Cecilia, in the
_Legenda Aurea_. See also _Acts_ xvi. 25-34.

=Nupkins=, mayor of Ipswich, a man who has a most excellent opinion of
himself, but who, in all magisterial matters, really depends almost
entirely on Jinks, his half-starved clerk.--C. Dickens, _The Pickwick
Papers_ (1836).

=Nurse= (_Rebecca_). Accused of witchcraft and acquitted by the court.
"And suddenly, after all the afflicted out of court made a hideous
outcry ... one of the judges expressed himself not satisfied, another,
as he was going off the bench, said they would have her indicted anew."

At the second trial she was condemned, and she was executed with the
rest.

"The testimonials of her Christian behavior, both in the course of
her life and at her death, and her extraordinary care in educating
her children, and setting them a good example, etc., under the
hands of so many, are so numerous that for brevity they are here
omitted."--Robert Calef, _More Wonders of the Invisible World_
(1700).

=Nut-Brown Maid= (_The_), the maid wooed by the "banished man." The
"banished man" describes to her the hardships she would have to undergo
if she married him; but finding that she accounted these hardships as
nothing compared with his love, he revealed himself to be an earl's son,
with large hereditary estates in Westmoreland, and married her.--Percy,
_Reliques_, II.

This ballad is based on the legendary history of Lord Henry Clifford,
called "The Shepherd Lord." It was modernized by Prior, who called his
version of the story _Henry and Emma_. The oldest form of the ballad
extant is contained in Arnolde's _Chronicle_ (1502).

=Nydia.= Greek flower-girl, blind and friendless. Glaucus is kind to, and
protects her, finally purchases her of her brutal master. She loves him
passionately and hopelessly, saves hi