Of the history of Nepaul little is known until the in- vasion of the Ghurkas (17G8); it seems never to have been subject to the Mogul or any other great Asiatic conquerors. A war in which it became involved with Thibet in 1790 led to hostiUties with the emperor of China, who, regarding himself as the protector of the lamas, in 1792 sent an army of 70,000 men against the Nepaulese, and checked the extension of their territory to the northward. A treaty of commerce was concluded with the British in 1792, and from 1802 to 1804 Kat- mandu was the residence of a representative of the Brit- ish government. Kepeated encroachments of the rajah upon the East India Company's territories led the Brit- ish to declare war in 1814, and they consequently in- vaded the country on the western frontier, where their troops met repeated losses, and their commander, Gen. Gillespie, was slain. In the following year, liowever, the campaign under Sir David Ochterlony was attended with very different results. The victory of Malome, the capitulation of the famous Nepaulese commander Amir Singh, and finally the rapid advance of the victor towards Katmandu, obliged the Nepaulese monarch to make peace, and a treaty in March, 1810. Throughout
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the mutiny of 1857 the Ncpaulese cultivated the friend- ship of the British, and the prime minister, Jung Baha- dur, defeated. the last remnant of the rebels in Decem- ber, 1859. The policy of the government towards for- eigners, however, is exceedingly exclusive. Much val- uable information concerning the country is contained in the work on Nepnul and Thibet, by B. H. Hodgson, formerly British minister at Katmandu (1874). See also Oliphant, A Journey to Katmandu (1852); Col. Kirkpatrick, Account of the Kinfjdom of Nepaul (Lond. 1811); Edinburgh Review, July, 1840, art. i; Black- wood's Magazine, 1852, pt. ii, p. 86 ; 1860, pt. i, p. 509 ; and the article Gorkhas in the American Cyclope- dia.
Nepenthe (from Gr. vn, not, and -Kiv^oq, grief), is the name of a magic potion mentioned both by Greek and Koman poets, which was supposed to make persons forget their sorrows and misfortunes. It was the juice or infusion of a plant now unknown. Homer says it grew in Egypt, and that Helen learned its use from the Egyp- tians. According to Theodorus Siculus the Theban women also knew the secret of making it.
Nephalia (Gr. vT](f>a\ioc, sobe}-) were festivals and sacrifices of the ancient Greeks, but more especially of the Athenians, and received their name from the cir- cumstance that no wine was offered, but only milk, mead, and other mild liquors. The vine, the tig-tree, and the mulberry were prohibited from being used in the Nephalia because they were looked upon as symbols of drimkenness. See Broughton, Bibliotheca Ilistorica Sacra, ii, 162,
Ne'pheg (Heb. id. SS.3, sprout ; Sept. Na^Eic, Exod. vi, 21; Na^/jy, 2 Sam. v, 15; 'Satpsy, 1 Chron. iii, 7; 'Na<pdy v. r. iia^aS', 1 Chron. xiv, 6), the name of two Hebrews.
1. The second-named son of Izhar, a Kohathite of the tribe of Levi (Exod. vi, 21). B.C. cir. 1760.
2. The ninth-named son of David, born at Jerusalem (2 Sam. v, 15; 1 Chron. iii, 7; xiv, 6). B.C. cir. 1020.
Nephes Ogli (i. e. So7i of the Holy Spirit) is a title given in the East to certain persons who are supposed to be born after an extraordinary manner, e. g. of a moth- er that is a virgin. We are told that there are Turkish young women who live in certain retired places where they never see a man, Thej' go but seldom to the mosques, and when they come thither they stay there from nine till twelve at night, and accompany their prayers with so many distortions of the body and cries that their strength is quite exhausted, and they often fall to the ground in a swoon. If from tliat time they find themselves with child they pretend it is by the favor of the Holy Spirit ; and for this reason the chil- dren they bring forth are called Nephes Ogli. The Ne- phes Ogli thus pretended to be miraculously born are looked upon as persons who liave the gift of working miracles, and it is claimed that their hair or pieces of their garments cure all sorts of diseases. See Broughton, Bibliotheca Ilistorica Sacra, ii, 162; Hottinger, Hist. Orient, p. 296.
N^pheth, a word occurring only in the phrase rSiil ri\rpp, Uwee of the height, i. e. the triple height (Josh, xvii, 11). The name seems to refer to the three places just mentioned — Endor, Taanach, and Megiddo — which were elevated above the plain ; comp. Tricollis ; Tremont (Gesenius, s. v.). But the Targum renders t7-es 1-egiones, "three countries," which is followed by the Auth, Version, The Latin (after the Sept. to rpirov Noi^sS) has tertia pars urbis Nopheth, " the third part of the city Nopheth," and is followed by Luther. Schwarz (Palest, p. 149), with less probability, gives " the three Nepheth, meaning three places of the same name in the neighborhood of Dor," and finds a village Naphatha two miles and a half south-east of Dor (comp. Josh, xii, 23). See Keil, ad loc. . Nephew is used in the old English sense oi grand-
son as a rendering of 131; {neked. Job xviii, 19; Isa, xiv, 22; progeny, especially a "son's son," as rendered in Gen. xxi, 23), and tKjovov, a descendant (1 Tim. v, 4), See KiNDKED.