Nicolaus OF Constantinople, an Eastern prelate of note, nourished near the opening of the 12th century. He was patriarch from A.D. 1084 to 1111, and wrote several decrees and letters, of wliich an account is given by Cave (/list. Lit. ii, 156, ed. Kasil.). See also Fabri- cius, Bihl. Grcec. xi, 285.
Nicolaus HAGiOTMEonoRETUs, an Eastern prelate, flourished as archbishop of Athens in the Tith century, in the reign of Manuel Comnenus. He is known as the autlior of a commentarj' on the Basilica. See Fabricius, Bibl. Gr(vc. xi, 633 ; Smith, Bict. of Greek and Roman Biog. and Mijthol. s. v.
Nicole, Nicolas, a French architect, noted in ecclesiastical architecture, was born of poor parents at Besan9,on in 1701. He was Hrst apprenticed to a black- smith : but on visiting Paris he determined to relinquish his occupation, entered the free school of Blondel, and after studying some time under that master lie returned to Besani^'on, and was commissioned to erect the church of Refuge, of which the beautiful facade has often been engraved. He afterwards executed the plan for the collegiate church of St. Anne of Soleure, and was in- vited by the authorities of that city to superintend the execution of the work. The church of the Magdalen, at Besan(;on, is also the work of Nicole, but it was not completed. These two latter works have been justly criticised as to the details. Nicole had a verv lively imagination, and drew his designs with great facility; but his cdiliies have none of that ever-attractive sim- plicity which pre-eminently distinguishes the antique. Nicole was honored with the confitlence of several suc- cessive intendants of the province of Franche-Comte, and was considted concerning all architectural projects. He died at Besanc^-ou in 1784. See Spooner, Biog. Hist, of the Fine Arts, p. 617.
Nicole, Pierre, a celebrated .Tansenist, and dis- tinguished inmate of Port-Royal (q. v.), was born at Chartrcs, France, Oct. 10. 1625. At the age of fourteen, when he is said to have had a complete command of Greek and Latin, his father sent him to Paris to study philosophy and theology. Here he became acquainted with the recluses of Port-Royal, who, desirous of attach- ing to themselves a man of euch promise, induced him to join their order. Nicole ;)cgan then to devote part of his time i.i the instruction of the youth brought up in that institution. After studying theology for three yeai^s he a|iplicd for a license; hut the principles he had imbibed were not approved, either by the theological
faculty or Paris, or that of any other Roman Catholic university, and he had to remain content with the de- gree of B.A., which he took in 1640. The leisure now forced upon him by want of employment by the state he devoted to the interests of the comminiity of Port- Royal, where he resided a while, and helped Dr. Arnaud [see AiiNAUu] in writing several works in defence of Jansenius, and of his doctrine. In 1664 Nicole went with Arnaud to Chatillon, near Paris, where he wrote against the Calvinists and the relaxed Casuists, for the avowed purpose, according to Jervis, of giving public proof of his zeal for the true faith. In 1676 Nicole was induced to seek again for holy orders. He was refused the necessary consent by the bishop of Chartres, who disapproved of Nicole's Jansenistic opinions. Nicole was, however, evidently rather rejoiced than annoyed at thus being afforded an excuse for remaining in a po- sition where he was not too near the van in the bat- tle of controversy. Yet in his own province, as a cler- ical and polemical logician, he was bold and uncom- promising ; and it was not from the defence of his prin- ciples, but from their too conspicuous championship, that he shrunk. In consequence of a letter he had addressed to pope Innocent XI for the bishops of St. Pons and Arras, and of the death of the duchess of Longueville, the most zealous protector of the Jansenists, he was obliged to leave France in 1679, and retired to Belgium, He came back, however, in 1683, and took a great part in two celebrated quarrels of the time — that of the studies suited to monastic institutions, where he joined Mabillon in defending devotion to science and learning in place of pure asceticism ; and that concerning quietism, in which he opposed the devotees of that mental epidemic. He was a man of simple habits and candid mind, and some ludicrous incidents have been told arising out of his absence of mind. He died Nov. 11, 1695. His works are many and voluminous. He was the princijjal au- thor of La Logique, ou I' A rt de Penser (1668), known as the Port-Royal Logic. Of the first three volumes of /-,«. Perpetuite de la Foi de VEglise Ca'hollque touchunt VEucharistie, which is generally ass )ciated witli the name of Arnaud, Nicole is known to have been the prin- cipal writer (see Jervis, ii, 14, 15). Hume admired the logical clearness with which Nicole in tiiiswork showed the impossibility of one mind sufficiently examining all subjects connected with religion to form a creed for itself on the principle of private judgment; and stated that the difficulty so ingeniously set forth suggested to him the sceptical argument in his 'Dialogues on Nat- ural Religion." Nicole's principal works are, Les iinagi- naires et les visionnaires, ou lettres sur Vhiresie imagi- naire [Anon.] (a IMons, 1693, 2 vols. r2mo) : — Pensees (Paris, 1806, 18mo) : — Traite de la grace generale (1715, 2 vols. 12mo) : — Epigrammafum delectus (1659, 12mo) : — Essais de Morale, contenus en divers traites sur plu- sieurs devoirs importants (Paris, 1733, etc. 25 vols, in 26, 12mo), which is an able exposition of the subject from the Cartesian stand-point. See (ioujet, tlist. de la vie et des ouvrages de Nicole (1733, 12mo); Besoigne, Vie de Nicole {IHst. du Port-Royal, vol. iv) ; Saverien, Vies des Philosophes Modernes (vol. i); Niceron, Afemoires, xxix, 285-333; N^ouv. Diet. Hist, etc. s. v. ; Etigli-th Cyclop, s. v.; Jervis, Hut. Ch. of France (Lond. 1872, 2 vols. 8vo), ii, 14 sq. ; Hagcnbach, Hist, of Doctrines, vol. ii, § 228, p. 324; and the literature appended to the article Pour- Royal. (J.N. P.)