Nares, Robert, archdeacon of Stafford, a distin- guished English divine, son of the preceding, was born in 1753, and was educated at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he was made M.A. in 1778. He entered into holy orders at once, and became successively rector of Sharnford, Leicestershire, preacher of Lincoln's Inn, and assistant librarian at the British Museum. Appointed archdeacon of Stafford in 1799, he became also prebendary of Lincoln, rector of St. jMary's, Keading, canon of Lichfield, and rector of All-Hallows, London Wall. Dr. Nares was editor of the first se- ries of the British Critic, a High-Church literary review. He died in 1829. Among his works we notice. Dis- courses preached before the Hon. Society of Lincohi's Inn (Lond. 1794, 8vo) : — ^4 connected and chronological View of the Prophecies relating to the Christian Church (in twelve sermons, preached 1800 to 1804 at the Lecture founded by the Right Rev. W. Warburton, bishop of Gloucester [Lond. 1805, 8vo]): — Essays and other occa- sional Compositions (Lond. 1810, 2 vols. 8vo) : — On the Influence of Sectaries, and the Stability of the Church (Lond. 1813, 8vo): — The Veracity of the Evangelists demonstrated (1815) : — Sermons on Faith and other Sub- jects (Lond. 1825, 8vo). See Darling, Cyclop. Bibliogr. ii, 2156; AUibone, Diet, of Brit, and Amer, Authors, s. V.
Narni, Girolamo de, a celebrated Capuchin preach- er, one of the most noted of Italian pulpit orators, flour- ished at Rome in the early part of the 17th century. Very little is accessible to us of his personal history; but we know that he was one of the principal promoters of the scheme to support and enlarge the Propaganda (q. v.), and that as a man and preacher he was highly esteemed among Romanists. "He commanded," saj-s Ranke, "general reverence by a life which procured for him the reputation of a saint, and in the pulpit he displayed a fulness of thought, solidity of expression, and majesty of deliverj^ which captivated everybody. Bellarmine, on one occasion, as he came from hearing Narni preach, said he thought that one of St, Augus- tine's three wishes had been granted to him, that, namely, of hearing St. Paul preach" {Hist, of the Pa- pacy in the IGth and ilth Centuries, ii, G9, 244).
NARNSZEWICZ
850
NASBAS
Namsze'W^icz, Adam Stan-islais, an eminent Polish prelate, noted especially as a historical writer, and surnamed the Tacitus of his countrj-, was bom in Lithuania in 1733. He entered the Order of Jesuits in 1748; travelled through Germany, France, and luly; was appointed professor at Nassau, and became bishop of Smolensk in 1773, and of Luck in 1790, He died at Janowiccz, in Galicia, in 1790. His most important work is a llidory of Poland (Warsaw, 1780 sq., 8 vols.).
Narthex (Or. vapir}^, signifying a plant with a long stalk, but applied by the (ireeks to any oblong fig- ure) is the technical term used in ecclesiastical archi- tecture to designate that part of the early Christian churclies which formed an outer division, and may be properly termed an "ante-temple," it being within the church, yet separate from the rest by a railing or screen, and being the part to which catechumens and penitents were admitted. See Ciiiucn. The term narthex is supposed to have been given to it on account of its ob- long shape, in this respect resembling a rod or staff (fe- rula). It was the long and narrow part extending along the front of the church. Here were usually three en- trances: one on the west side, another on the south, and another on the north. The chief entrance or great door was at the west, opposite the altar: it was called, after the corresponding gate in the Jewish Temple, the leautiful or rojjal fjaU. The gates and doors consisted of two folding leaves. The doors leading from this part into the nave were appropriated to the various classes of the members, and named accordingly, " the priests' door," " the men's door," etc. In the vestibule, or tt/oo- I'ttof, in the stricter sense, the catechumens and audi- entes had their station. Here also heretics and unbe- lievers stood. In the TrponvXa, or portico, funerals were performed ; in large churches meetings for ecclesi- astical purposes were held there, and in later times the water-font was also placed there, instead of being, as formerly, outside the walls of the ch\irch — in the exe- dra>, or buildings adjoining the church. In this foun- tain persons entering were accustomed to wash their hands and face. See Foxt. See Farrar, Eccles. Diet. s. v.; IMartigny, Diet, des Antiquites, s. v.; Coleman, Christian Antiquities, p. 723-25; Bingham, Christian Antiquities, ii, 286-290; Siegel, Christl. Alterthiimer, ii, 876; Riddle, Christian Antiquities; Walcott, Sacred A rchceol. s. v. ; Neale, Ilistoi-y of the Eastern Church (Introd.).
Nary, Corxelu-s, an Irish Roman Catholic divine noted for his scholarly attainments, was born in the county of Kildare in IGOO, and was educated at Kilken- ny, where he graduated in 1081 and took holy orders; he then went to Paris to continue his studies at the Irish College in the French capital, and rcmaiueil there six or seven years, attaining the principalsliip of the insti- tution. In 1G95 he was honored with the doctorate in philosophy by the University of Cambrai, and was made preceptor of count Antrim. A little later he was ap- pointed to one of the large churches in Dublin, and he died in that city JIarch 3, 1738. Nary wielded an able pen, and wrote much in defence of his faith (1705, 1728, 1730,3 vols.). His other and more important works are. The A'ew Testament travshited, irith Marf/imd Notes (Lond. 1705; Dublin, 1718, 8v.)) -.— The llohj Jiible, wi/h Notes (Dublin, 1719):— .4 New History of the World (Dublin, 1720, fol.). For an estimate of Nary's Script- ure versions, sec Lewis, Hist, of Ewjl. Transl. p. 356- 363 (8vo ed.).