Nogent preserves three Gothic churches and the remains of the old priory of St Denis, and there are statues of General St Pol, killed at Sevastopol, and of the poet Rémy Belleau (16th century), a native of the town. The town has a sub-prefecture, a tribunal of first instance, a communal college and institution for deaf mutes.
NOGENT-SUR-MARNE, a town of northern France, in the department of Seine, on a hill on the right bank of the Marne, 6 m. E. of Paris by rail. Pop. (1906) 11,463. The Eastern railway here crosses the Marne valley by a viaduct 875 yds. in
length. Nogent has a Gothic church, with a tower of the Romanesque
period, in front of which there is a monument to Watteau,
who died here in 1721. Chemical products are manufactured.
The fine situation of the town gained it the name of Beauté, and
Charles V. built a château here (demolished in the 18th century)
which was presented by Charles VII. to Agnes Sorel with the
title of Dame de Beauté. An island in the Marne to the south of
the town is still known as the Île de Beauté.
NOGENT-SUR-SEINE, a town of north-central France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Aube, on the left
bank of the Seine, 35 m. N.W. of Troyes on the Paris-Belfort line.
Pop. (1906) 3791. The river at this point forms an island,
which supports a stone bridge of the 17th century. The chief
building is the church of St Laurent (1421–1554). A lateral
portal in the flamboyant style and the Renaissance tower at the
west end are of great beauty. The town is the seat of a sub-prefect
and has a tribunal of first instance. There is trade in
grain, flour, fodder, wood and cattle. Nogen-sur-Seine was in
1814 the scene of fighting between the French and Austrians.
NOGI, KITEN, Count (1849–), Japanese general, was
born in Choshu. He commanded a brigade at the battle of
Kinchow (1894) and the subsequent capture of Port Arthur
from the Chinese; but the most memorable events of his career were the siege of Port Arthur by the third army corps of Japan under his command in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–5), and the great flanking march made by the same army in the battle of Mukden.
NOIRMOUTIER, an island of western France, belonging to
the department of Vendée, and protecting the Bay of Bourgneuf
on the south-west. Pop. (1906) 8388. The area amounts to
22 sq. m., one-sixth dunes. Between the island and the mainland
is a sandbank laid bare at low water, and crossed by an embankment
and carriage road some 212 m. long. It was not till about
1766 that it was found possible to walk across to the island,
which lies from N.N.W. to S.S.E., and is 12 m. long, its breadth
varying from 1 m. in the south part to 3 or 4 m. in the north.
It appears to be formed of alluvial deposits gradually accumulated
round a rock of no great size situated at the meeting-place
of the Gascony and Brittany currents. Fishing, agriculture,
oyster-breeding and work in the salt marshes also occupy the
inhabitants. There are two communes, Noirmoutier and
Barbatre. Noirmoutier, which has a small port, has about
2165 of its 6644 inhabitants gathered together in a little town
with narrow and winding streets. Its castle was once the residence
of the abbot of Her. In the church (12th, 14th and 19th
centuries) there is a crypt of the 11th century. A mile to the
north of the town lies a pleasant watering-place, rendered
picturesque by the La Chaise woods (evergreen oaks and pines),
and a grand confusion of rocks, among which lie charming
beaches. A dolmen, several menhirs, and the ruins of a Gallo-Roman
villa with its hot baths show that the island must have
been occupied at an early date; but the first fact in its recorded
history is the foundation of the Benedictine monastery of Her
by St Philibert about 680. From this monastery the name
Noirmoutier (Heri monasterium, Hermoutier) is derived. It had
already attained to great prosperity when it was pillaged by the
Normans in 825 and 843. In 1205 the abbey of Notre Dame la
Blanche was built at the north extremity of the island to take
the place of a Cistercian convent established in the Île du Pilier,
at that time attached to Noirmoutier by a dike. This abbey was
ruined by the Protestants in 1562. In the 15th, 16th and 17th
centuries the island belonged to the family of La Tremoille, and
in 1650 the territory was made a duchy. In 1676 the island was
captured by the Dutch. Having been seized by Charette during
the war of Vendée, it was recovered by the Republican general,
Haxo, who caused the Vendean leader, d’Elbée, to be shot.
NOISE (a word of doubtful origin; O. Fr. nogse or nose; Prov. nausa, which points to Lat. nausea, sickness, as the origin; others take Lat. noxia, harm, as the source), an excessive, offensive, persistent or startling sound. By the common law of England freedom from noise is essential to the full enjoyment of a dwelling house, and acts which affect that enjoyment may be actionable as nuisances. But it has been laid down that a nuisance by noise, supposing malice to be out of the question,
is emphatically a question of degree (Gaunt v. Finney, 1872, 8 Ch. Ap. 8). The noise must be exceptional and unreasonable. The ringing of bells, building operations, vibration of machinery,
fireworks, bands, a circus, merry-go-rounds, collecting disorderly
crowds, dancing, singing, &c., have been held under certain
circumstances to constitute nuisances so as to interfere with
quiet and comfort, and have been restrained by injunction.
Noise occasioned by the frequent repetition of street cries is
frequently the subject of local by-laws, which impose penalties
for infringement.
NOISOME, harmful, offensive, especially of that which causes physical disgust. The word is formed from the obsolete “noy,”
trouble, a shortened form of “annoy,” now only used as a verb,
to cause trouble, the usual substantive being “annoyance.”
The O. Fr. anoi, anui (modern ennui) is an adaptation of Lat.
in odio esse, venire or habere, to be sick, tired of anything (odium,
disgust, hatred). The word has no connexion with Lat. nocere,
to hurt.
NOKES (Noke, Noak, Noakes), JAMES (d. 1692), an English actor, whose laughter-arousing genius is attested by Cibber and other contemporaries. Sir Martin Mar-all, Sir Davy Dunce and Sir Credulous Easy were among his favourite parts. His success as the Nurse in Nevil Payne’s Fatal Jealousy was so great that he was thereafter nicknamed “Nurse Nokes.”
NOLA, a city and episcopal see of Campania, Italy, in the province of Caserta, pleasantly situated in the plain between
Mount Vesuvius and the Apennines, 1634 m. E.N.E. of Naples,
121 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1901) 11,927 (town); 14,511
(commune). It is served by the local railway from Naples to
Baiano, and is 22 m. from Naples by the main line via Cancello.
The more conspicuous buildings are the ancient Gothic cathedral
(restored in 1866, and again in 1870 after the interior was
destroyed by fire), with its lofty tower, the cavalry barracks,
the ex-convent of the Capuchins at a little distance from the
city, and the seminary in which are preserved the famous
Oscan inscription known as the Cippus Abellanus (from Abella,
the modern Avella, q.v.) and some Latin inscriptions relating
to a treaty with Nola regarding a joint temple of Hercules.
Two fairs are held in Nola, on the 14th of June and the 12th
of November; and the 26th of July is devoted to a great festival
in honour of St Paulinus, one of the early bishops of the city,
who invented the church bell (campana, taking its name from
Campania). The church erected by him in honour of St Felix
in the 4th century is extant in part. There is a monument
(restored in 1887) to Giordano Bruno, the free-thinker, who
was born at Nola in 1548.
Nola (Νῶλα) was one of the oldest cities of Campania, variously said to have been founded by the Ausones, the Chalcidians and the Etruscans. The last-named were certainly in Nola about 500 B.C. At the time when it sent assistance to Neapolis against the Roman invasion (328 B.C.) it was probably occupied by Oscans in alliance with the Samnites. The Romans made themselves masters of Nola in 313 B.C., and it was thenceforth faithful to Rome. In the Second Punic War it thrice bade defiance to Hannibal; but in the Social War it was betrayed into the hands of the Samnites, who kept possession till, Marius, with whom they had sided, was defeated by Sulla, who in 80 B.C. subjected it with the rest of Samnium. Seven years later it was stormed by Spartacus. Whatever punishment Sulla may have inflicted, Nola, though it lost much of its importance, remained a
