Naldini, Battista, an Italian painter who devoted himself to religious subjects, was born at Florence in 1537. He first studied under Jacopo Carrucci, called II Pontomio, and afterwards under Angiolo Bronzino. Ac- cording to Baglioni, he visited Kome during the pon- tificate of Gregory XHI, and painted several altar-pieces for the churches, among which is a picture of the Bap- tism of Christ in La Trinita de' Monti, and the Martyr- dom of St. John the Baptist in the church of that saint. On returning to Florence he was chosen by Vasari co- adjutor in his works in the Palazzo Vecchio, and re- tained by him about fourteen years. Yasari makes honorable mention of Naldini even when a young man, commending him as skilful, vigorous, expeditious, and indefatigable. Naldini painted many pictures at Flor- ence, especially the Deposition from the Cross and the Purification at S. Jlaria Novella, praised by Borgbini for their ju<iieious composition, correct design, ckgant attitudes, beautiful coloring, and excellent i)erspcctive. His pictures are criticised by Lanzi as having the knee- joints too large, the eyes too widely opened, and gener- ally marked with a certain fierceness; the coloring of- ten characterized by changeable hues. In teaching his scholars, he followed the ))revailing method of enijiloy- ing them to design after the chalk drawings of Jlichael Angelo, and giving them his own finished paintings to copy. He was living in 1590. See Spooner, Biog. hist, of the Fine Arts, ii, 606.
NALSON
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NAME
Nalson, John, a clergyman of the English Church, was born about the year 1638. He became rector of Doddington, and afterwards prebend of P^Iy. He died ill 1686. His chief writings were several historico-po- litical works defending the action of Royalists in their treatment of king Charles I; the principal publication is An Impartial Collection of the Great Affairs of State from the Beginning of the Scotch Rebellion in 1639 to the Murder of King Charles I. This work is valuable be- cause of its fairness and truthfulness, and is much used as a reference.
Nalson, Valentine, an Anglican divine, was born in 1641. But little is known of his personal history. He was prebend of York near the opening of the 18th century, and died iu 1724. He published shortly before his death Twenty Serynons (Lond. 1724, 8vo).
Nalton, James, an English divine, flourished about the middle of the 17th century. He was expelled from the English Church and compelled to flee to Holland in 1622, on pretence of being implicated in what was called Love's Plot, but really because of his non-conformity. He published occasional sermons — 1646, 1661, 1664 — and is recommended by Baxter for his piety as well as learning. He died in the year 1662. Twenty of his sermons were published after his death (in 1677) by Matthew Poole (q. v.), who commended them highly. See Gen. Biog. Diet. s. v. ; Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and Anier. Authors, s. v.
Namaqualand, an African country lying south of the Orange River, and now absorbed in Cape Colony, is divided into the greater and the lesser. The former comprises all the region north of Cape Colony, extend- ing from the Orange River, lat. 29^ 30', to Waltish Bay, lat. 23^, and stretching inland from the west coast to the Kalihari Desert, comprehending an area of about 100,000 square miles. The Little Namaqualand is the territory south of the Orange River, and, though verj^ rich in mineral resources, is a barren-looking country, and with onl\' a few bays, notwithstanding it has a coast- line of over one hundred miles. The native tribes per- haps number about 50,000 souls. They are mainly con- fined to the region called Great Namaqualand, north of the Gariep or Orange River, and the country a few miles south of it, as far as the Kamiesbergen. They are a pastoral people of rather predatory habits, and live under the rule of their chiefs, whose powers, how- ever, are of a very limited nature. Differing from the Bosjesraen Hottentots, the Namaquas are a tall, well- made, active people, although presenting the usual pe- culiarities of the race, such as the light olive complex- ion, the oblique eye, and short tufted hair. Both men
and women have remarkably small and neat hands and feet. The lower limbs of the women, howevtr, are very thick and ungainly, especially as they advance in years, when they assume a dropsical appearance. The Namaquas are less influenced by the surrounding civil- ization of Europeans and missionaries than the more energetic and civilized Bastard races, who, in point of civilization and appearance, are very little inferior to the ordinary Dutch Boer of Cape Colony. " The Nama- quas," says Chapman, " are in many respects a strange people, and one hardly knows what to make of their character and feelings. The missionaries told me as a fact that when once a party were going out on a cattle- lifting expedition, they verj' innocently asked them to pray for their success" (i, 428). The Namaquas speak a dialect of the Hottentot language, which, however, dif- fers considerably from that used bj^ other tribes of that people. Mission stations of the Rhenish and Wesleyan societies have been for manj- years established among them, and in a few localities, near Cape Colony, ■with considerable success; and the New Testament and some elementary works have been translated into the Nama- qua dialect. Many of the southern Namaquas possess wagons and oxen, and are employed in the transport of copper ore from the mines of Little Namaqualand to the shipping port at Hondeklip Bay. A few of the peculiar customs of the Hottentot tribes, described by Kolben nearly 200 years ago, may still be traced among the more remote tribes of the Namaquas ; but the constant contact with the Cape Colonists, and the efforts of the mission- aries, have partially civilized this race, so that an ordi- narj' Hottentot is quite as respectable a savage, or per- haps more so than his Betjouana or Amakosa brethren. Inlbrmation on Namaqualand may be found in the trav- els of Moffat, Campbell, Chapman, and Le Yaillant. See Africa; Hottentots; Natal.