causas de la rebelion de los dichos estados (1625); B. Mendoça,
Commentaires memorables des guerres de Flandres et Pays-Bas, avec
une sommaire description des Pays-Bas 1567–1577 (1591); F.
Strada, De bello Belgico decades duae (1640–1647); L. Guicciardini,
Descrittione di tutti i Paesi Bassi (1588). Later works: R. Fruin,
Het voorspel van den tachtigjariger oorlog (1866); J. M. B. C. Kervyn
de Lettenhove, Les Huguenots et les Gueux 1560–1585 (6 vols., 1883–1885);
Th. Juste, Histoire de la révolution des Pays-Bas sous
Philippe II., 1555–1577 (4 vols., 1855–1867); W. J. Nuyens, Geschiedenis
der Nederlandse berverten (2 vols., 1889); E. Marx,
Studien zur Geschichte des niederländischen Aufstandes (1902);
W. H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip II. 1555–1568 (1855);
J. L. Motley, Rise of the Dutch Republic 1555–1584 (3 vols., 1856);
Cambridge Modern History, vol. i., c. xiii. (1902), and vol. iii., cc. vi.
and vii. (1904). (Bibliographies, vol. i. pp. 761-769, vol. iii. pp. 798-809).
(G. E.)
NETHERSOLE, OLGA (1863–), English actress, of Spanish
descent, was born in London, and made her stage début at
Brighton in 1887. From 1888 she played important parts in
London, at first under John Hare at the Garrick, and in 1894
took the Court Theatre on her own account. She also toured in
Australia and America, playing leading parts in modern plays,
notably Clyde Fitch’s Sapho (produced in London in 1902),
which was strongly objected to in New York. Her powerful
emotional acting, however, made a great effect in some other
plays, such as Carmen, in which she again appeared in America
in 1906.
NETHINIM, the name given to the Temple assistants in
ancient Jerusalem. They are mentioned at the return from
the Exile and particularly enumerated in Ezra ii. and Neh. vii.
The original form of the name was Nethunim, as in the Khetib
(consonantal reading) of Ezra viii. 17 (cf. Numbers iii. 9), and
means “given” or “dedicated,” i.e. to the temple. The Talmud
has also the singular form—Nathin. In all, 612 Nethinim came
back from the Exile and were lodged near the “House of the
Nethinim” at Ophel, towards the east wall of Jerusalem so as to
be near the Temple, where they served under the Levites and were
free of all tolls, from which they must have been supported.
It is mentioned that they had been ordered by David and the
princes to serve the Levites (Ezra viii. 20).
Notwithstanding their sacred service, the Nethinim were regarded by later Jewish tradition as especially degraded, being placed in tables of precedence below bastards (Talm. Jer. Hor. iii. 5, Jeb. vii. 5) and in the Mishna (Jeb. viii. 3) it is stated that the prohibition against intermarriage with the Moabites, Ammonites, Egyptians and Edomites, though given in the Bible, only applied for a certain number of generations and did not apply at all to their daughters, but, it is added, “Bastards and Nethinim are prohibited (to marry Israelites), and this prohibition is perpetual and applies both to males and females.”
To explain this combination of sacred service and exceptional degradation, it has been suggested by Joseph Jacobs that the Nethinim were the descendants of the Kedishoth, i.e. women dedicated to the worship of Astarte and attached to the Temple before the Exile. There is evidence of these practices from the time of Solomon (1 Kings xi. 5) down to Josiah (2 Kings xiii. 4-6), and even as late as Ezekiel (Ezek. xxiii. 36-48), giving rise to the command of Deuteronomy xxiii. 17.
An examination of the name lists given in duplicate in Ezra ii. 43-58, Neh. vii. 46-59, together with the additional names in the Greek Esdras (v. 29-35), shows that the Nethinim were in charge of the rings and hooks connected with the temple service; they sheared the sheep offered for sacrifice in the temple and poured the libations. Some of them were derived from the wars with the Meunim; others from the campaign with Rezin of Damascus. One of the names given in 1 Esdras v. 34, νἱοὶ Σουβὰ, ed. Fritzsche, Σουβάς, ed. Swete, would seem to throw light on the puzzling reading סובאים (A.V. “Sabeans,” R.V. “Drunkards”) of Ezek. xxiii. 42, and if so would directly connect the list of the Nethinim with the degraded worship of Astarte in the Temple.
A large majority of the names of the parents mentioned seem to be feminine in form or meaning, and suggest that the Nethinim could not trace back to any definite paternity; and this is confirmed by the fact that the lists are followed by the enumeration of those who could not “show their father’s house” (Ezra ii. 60; Neh. vii. 62). The Greek versions, as well as Josephus, refer to them as ἱερόδυλοι, which can mean one thing only.
The Talmudic authorities have an abstract term, Nethinuth, indicating the status of a Nathin (Tos. Kidd. v. 1) ed. Zuckermandel, p. 341), and corresponding to the abstract Mamziruth, “bastardy.” The existence of this degraded class up to the Exile throws considerable light upon the phraseology of the prophets in referring to idolatry as adultery and the scenes connected with it as prostitution. Their continued existence as a pariah class after the Exile would be a perpetual reminder of the dangers and degradation of the most popular Syrian creed.
These unfortunate creatures had no alternative but to accept the provisions made for them out of the Temple treasury, but after the fall of the Temple they would naturally disappear by intermarriage with similar degraded classes (Mishna Kidd. viii. 3). In the Code of Khammurabi §§ 191, 192, they could be adopted by outsiders.
The above explanation of the special degradation of the Nethinim, though they were connected with the Temple service, seems to be the only way of explaining the Talmudic reference to their tabooed position, and is an interesting example of the light that can be reflected on Biblical research by the Talmud.
See Joseph Jacobs, Studies in Biblical Archaeology (1894); 104-122; W. Baudissin, Geschichte des Alttestamentlichen Priesterthums, 142 seq. This view, however, is not accepted by Cheyne, Encyclopaedia Biblica, s.v. (J. Ja)
NETLEY, a village in the Fareham parliamentary division of
Hampshire, England, 3 m. S.E. of Southampton on the east
shore of Southampton Water, and on a branch of the London
& South Western railway. Here a Cistercian abbey was founded
in 1237 by Henry III., and its ruins are extensive, including a
great part of the cruciform church, abbot’s house, chapter house
and domestic buildings; The style is Early English and
Decorated, and many beautiful details are preserved. The
gatehouse was transformed into a fort in the time of Henry VIII.
Netley Hospital for Wounded soldiers (1 m. S.E. of the abbey),
was built in 1856 after the Crimean War. It is a vast pile giving
accommodation for upwards of a thousand patients, and is the
principal military hospital in Great Britain.
NETSCHER, GASPAR (1639–1684), German portrait and
genre painter, was born at Heidelberg in 1639. His father died
when he was two years of age, and his mother, fleeing from
the dangers of a civil war, carried him to Arnheim, where he was
adopted by a physician named Tullekens. At first he was
destined for the profession of his patron, but owing to his great
aptitude for painting he was placed under an artist named de
Koster, and, having also studied. under Ter Borch, he set out for
Italy to complete his education there. Marrying, however, at
Liége, he settled at Bordeaux, and toiled hard to earn a livelihood
by painting those small cabinet pictures which are now so highly
valued on account of their exquisite finish. After removing to
The Hague, he turned his attention to portrait-painting, and in
this branch of his art was more successful. He was patronized by
William III, and his earnings soon enabled him to gratify his
own taste by depicting musical and conversational pieces. It
was in these that Netscher’s genius was fully displayed. The
choice of these subjects, and the habit of introducing female
figures, dressed in glossy satins, were imitated from Ter Borch,
they possess easy yet delicate pencilling, brilliant and correct
colouring, and pleasing light and shade; but frequently their
refinement passes into weakness. The painter was gaining both
fame and wealth when he died prematurely in 1684. His sons
Constantyn (1668–1722), and Theodorus (1661–1732), Were also
painters after their father’s style, but inferior in merit.
NETTLE (O. Eng. netele, cf. Ger. Nessel), the English equivalent
of Lat. Urtica, a genus of plants which gives its name to the
natural order Urticaceae. It contains about thirty species in
the temperate parts of both east and west hemispheres. They
are herbs covered with stinging hairs, and with unisexual flowers
on the same or on different plants. The male flowers consist of a
