Nasini, Giuseppe Niccolo, an Italian painter who devoted himself largely to religious art, was born at Siena, according to Delia Valle, in 1664. He first stud- ied under his father Francesco, an artist of little note, but afterwards entered the school of Ciro Ferri, and be- came one of his ablest disciples. He was deficient in correctness of design and dignity of character, but pos- sessed a fertile imagination, and a resolute and com- manding execution, which peculiarly qualified him for grand fresco works. At the recommendation of Ciro Ferri, he was employed by the grand-duke of Tuscany ■ to paint in the Palazzo Pitti, from the designs of P. da Cortona, the Four Ages of Man, in emblematical sub- jects, which he finished to the satisfaction of his em-
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plover. There arc many of his subjects at Siena, Fo- iigiio, and Florence, among which his masterpiece is supposed to be the <S7. Leonardo, in Madonna del Pianto, at Foligno. At Rome he was commissioned to paint the ceiling of the CapcUa Bracciana, the church de 8S. Apostolis, and the large Prophets of the Lateran Cathe- dral, competing with Luti and the tirst artists then at Rome. Bartsch mentions a print by Nasini, represent- ing the Viifjiii and the Infants Jesus and John in a land- scape, with cherubs tlying in the air; designed in the style of Ciro Ferri, and engraved with great delicacy, in the manner of P. S. Bartoli. Nasini died in 173(5. See Spooner, Biog. Hist, of the Fine Arts, p. G08,
Nasir, Isaac, a famous Jewish philosopher devoted to Cabalism, who flourished about 1100, is the author of a cabalistic work entitled T^lb^^IX rrS"C, the Trea- tise on the Emanations, in which he introduces the prophet Elijah as speaking and teaching under the four names of liliah ben-Joseph, Jaresiah ben-Joseph, Zecha- riah ben-Joseph, and Jeroham ben-Joseph, and pro- pounding the system of the Cabala (q. v.). This re- markable treatise was tirst published by \\. Abraham, (Vilna, 1802) ; it was then reprinted, with all its faults, in Lcmberg, 1850; and in 1853 l)y Dr. Jellinek, in his Auswahl Kubbalistischer Mystik (part i, r^zn "^TSJ f^Vtl?"^)- ^^^ Ginsburg, The Kabbalah, p. 109^ where an analvsis of this treatise is given ; Flirst, Bibl. Jud. iii, p. 19. (B. P.)
Na'sith (NaiTiS' v. r. Noffi ; Vulg. Nasit), one of the Temple servants whose posterity returned from Babylon (1 Esdr. v, 32); evidently the Nkziah (q. v.) of the ileb. text (Ezra, ii, 54).
Nasmith, David, a Scottish philanthropist, born of respectable parentage at (llasgow IVIarch 21. 1799, was distinguished for bis zeal in jiromotiug religious and benevolent associations. He founded in l.s2tj the Glasgow City Mission, and having su1)se(iupntly visited England, Ireland, France, anil the I'nited States of America, he established missions in their principal cit- ies. The London City Mission, which began its opera- tions in 1835 with four missionaries, numbered in 1856 upwards of three hundred. Nasmith also founded the London Female Jlission, the Adult School Society, and other similar institutions. He died in 1839. See Eng- lish Cyclopadia, s. v. ; Thomas, Diet, of Biog. and Mythol. p. lt!57.
Nasmith, James, an English divine, was born at Norwich in 1740, and was educated at Benet College, Cambridge. He took the degree of D.D. in 1797; and his last preferment was the rectory of Leverington, in the Isle of Ely, where he died in 1808. Dr. Nasmith published A Catalogue of Benet College I.ibraiy: — an edition of the Itineraries of Simon and William of Wor- cester (8vo) ; — a new edition of Tanner's Xotitia Monas- tico, etc. See Allibone, iJicf. of Brit, and Amer. Au- thors, s. v.
Na'sor, the Plain of (jo tticIov Naffwp ; Vulg. campus Asor), the scene of an action between Jonathan the Maccabee and the forces of Demetrius (1 Mace, xi, 67; comp. 63). It was near Cades (Kadcsh-Nnphtali) on the one side, and the water of (iennesar (Lake of Gennesareth) on the other, and therefore may be safely identified with the Hazok which became so renowned in the history of the conquest fur the victories of Joshua and Barak. In fact the name is the same, except that through the error of a transcriber the N from the pre- ceding Creek word has become attached to it. Jose- phus (Ant. xiii, .5,7) gives it correctly, 'Aawp.— Smith.
Nassarians, or Nosairi, a Mohammedan sect of the Shiite party, formed in the two hundred and seven- tieth year of the I legira. received its name from Nasar, in the environs of Kufa. the birthplace of its founiicr. These religionists occujiy a strip of Mount Lebanon, and are tributary to the Turks. They have about eight
hundred villages, and the chief town is Sasita, eight leagues from Tripoli. Here their sheik resides. Their manners are rude, and corrupted by remnants of hea- thenish customs, which remind us of the Lingam wor- ship. Although polygamy is not allowed, yet on cer- tain festival days they permit the promiscuous inter- course of the sexes. They are divided, after the manner of the Hindus, into numerous castes, which oppress one another. They profess to be worshippers of AH, believe in the transmigration of souls, but not in a heaven or hell. They are friendly to Christians, and obsene some of their festivals and ceremonies, but without under- standing their meaning. A spiritual head, sheik khalil, directs their religious concerns, and travels among them as a prophet. The opinion, formerly current, that this sect were Syrian Sabians, or disciples of St. John, has been completely exploded by Niebuhr, and by the ac- counts of Rousseau, the French consul at Aleppo. — Buck, Theol. Diet. s. v. ; D'Herbelot, BMiotlieque Orientate, s. V. See CiiuisTiAxs of St. John".