Necker, Madame, nee Susannah Cukciiod, a noted French philanthropist, was born in 1739, in the mountain village of (Irassy, situated between the Pays de Yaud and Franche-Comte. Her father, a pastor of the Swiss Church, was a man of considerable talents; her mother was descended from an ancient family of I'rovence, who had tied to Switzerland on the revo- cation of the Edict of Nantes. She was the wife of minister Necker, and she greatly distinguished herself during his terms of office in every possible form of i)e- nevoleuce. She erected a hospital in Paris with her own money, was a great reformer of prison abuses, and
surrounded herself with the most distinguished men of the time, among them Huffon, Diderot, D'.Alembert, who offered her the homage due to lier great learning and her rare goodness of heart. She died in 1795, the year after publishing her Heferions sur le iJirorce (Lausanne, 1794, 8vo), an elaborate plea for the indissolubility of marriage. Her complete writings were published by her husband in 5 vols. 8vo (1798-1801). Sec Gibbon, Memoirs ; Jlarmontcl, Memoires ; Barrere de Yieuzae, Esprit de Madame Necker (Paris, 1808, 8vo). — Hoefer, Nouv. Bioi/. Generate, xxxvi, 591, 592.
Neckere, Lko pk, D.D., an .\merican Roman Cath- olic prelate who flourished in the first half of this cen- tury, was born about the close of the last century, and after taking holy orders rose rapidly to the most dis- tinguished offices in the gift of the Church. He was consecrated bishop of New Orleans in 1829, and died September 4, l.Sj.'3.
Necklace is a word that does not occur in the A.V. of the Bible, but represents a piece of personal ornament anciently, as well as still very commonly, worn by both sexes in Oriental countries. It seems to be specially denoted in Ileb. by '''^S'^i rabid' (so called from binding the neck), a collar or ornamental "chain" for the neck (Gen. xli, 42; Ezek. xvi, 11). See Chain. Necklaces, we learn from the Scriptures, were made sometimes of silver and gold, sometimes of a series of jewels, sometimes of coral (Exod. xxxv, 22 ; Numb, xxxi, .'JO). Three neck- laces were commonly worn, one reaching lower than the other; from the one that was suspended to the waist there was hung a bottle of perfume, filled with amber and musk, called UJ53 "^PS, bottey' nephesh, '-houses of the soul" (Isa. iii, 20, margin). See Attike. Among the ancient Egyptians handsome and richly ornamented necklaces were a principal part of the dress, both of men and women ; and some idea may be formed of the number of jewels they wore, from those borrowed by the Israelites at the time of the Exodus, and by the paint- ings of Thebes. They consisted of gold, or of beads of various qualities and shapes, disposed according to fan- cy, generally with a large drop or figure in the centre. Scarabsei, gold, and carnelian bottles, or the emblems of Goodness and Stability, lotus flowers in enamel, ame- thysts, pearls, false stones, imitations of fishes, frogs, lions, and various quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, flies, and other insects, shells and leaves, with numerous figures and devices, were strimg in all the variety which their taste could suggest ; and the museum of Leyden possess- es an infinite assortment of those objects, which were once the pride of the ladies of Thebes. Some wore
Modern Egyptian Necklaces (each one half the real size)
NECKLACE
911
NECRODEIPNON
simple gold chains in imitation of string, to which a stone scarabje- iis, set in the same pre- cious metal,\vas append- ed; but these probably- belonged to men, like the torques of the Ko- mans. A set of small cups, or covered saucers, of bronze gilt, hanging from a chain of the same | materials, were some- =■ times worn by women, ^ a necklace of which has % been found belonging to | a Theban lady — oifer- ^ ing a striking contrast " in their simplicity to the | gold leaves inlaid with % lapis lazuli, red and g green stones, of another | she wore, which served, ^ with many more in her c possession, to excite the admiration of herfriends (Wilkinson, Anc. Egyp- tians, i, 339 sq.). The modern Egyptian la-. dies are cinially fond of wearing necklaces, of- ten of the richest de- scription; the Arabic term for them is ekd, and the Egyptians have a great variety ; but al- most all of them are similar in the follow- ing particulars: 1. The beads, etc., of which they are composed are, altogether, not more than ten inches in length; so that they Avould not entirely en- circle the neck if tied quite tight, which is never done : the string extends about six or seven inches beyond each extremity of the series of beads; and when the necklace is tied in the usual man- ner there is generally a space of three inches or
more between these ex- ^ _
tremities; but the plaits |- of hair conceal these parts of the string. 2. There is generally, in the centre, one bead or other ornament (and sometimes there are three, or five, or seven) differing in size, form, material, or color from the others. The necklaces mostly worn by ladies arc of diamonds or pearls. In the annexed engraving (p. 910), the first necklace is of diamonds set in gold. The second consists of several strings of pearls, with a pierced flatfish emerald in the centre. Most of the pearl necklaces are of this description. The third is called Hbbeh. It is composed of hollow gold beads, with a bead of a different kind (sometimes of a precious stone, and sometimes of coral) in the centre. This and the following are seldom worn by any but fe- males of the middle and lower orders. The fourth is called, from its peculiar form, sha'ir (which signifies "barley"). It is composed of hollow gold. We give a side view (A) and a back view (B) of one of the ap- pendages of this necklace. There is also a long kind of