Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/567

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NOAILLES
NOBLE

M. Noah in the Month of Tishri, 5586 [September, 1825] and in the Fiftieth Year of American Inde- pendence." This has since disappeared. Tlis most Important published work is " Travels in England, France, S]iain, and the Barbary States " (London, 1819). He wrote, in addition, a large mass of miscellaneous addresses and essays, political and religious, a collection of which appeared under the title *' Gleanings from a Gathered Harvest " (New York, 1845). His addresses include one on the "Restoration of the Jews" (1845). He also pub- lished a " Translation of the Book of Jasher " (1840), and was the author of several successful dramas, including " The Fortress of Sorrente," " Paul and Alexander," " She would be a Soldier." " Marion, or the Hero of Lake George," " The Grecian Captive," and " The Siege of Tripoli." NOAILLES, Louis Marie, Viscount de (no-ay), French soldier, b. in Paris, 17 April, 1756; d. in Havana. Cuba, 9 Jan., 1804. He was a brother-in- law of the Marquis de Lafayette, and entered the army in 1771 as major of the Noailles regiment. He was a brevet brigadier-general when he went in 1779 to the United States as a volunteer. He took part in the campaigns of 1779-'81, fought under D'Estaing at Savannah, and at Yorktown was com- missioned to arrange with Cornwallis the details of the capitulation. He was elected in 1789 to the states-general by the nobility of Nemours, but, being imbued with democratic principles, he proposed in the night of 14 July the abolition of the privileges of the nobility, and the motion was carried with enthusiasm through his eloquence. He presided over the constituent assembly in 1791, but when the reign of terror began he emigrated to England in May, 1792, and in the following January to the United States, where he lived for ten years. He settled in Philadelphia, where he engaged in bank- ing, and soon made a fortune. He was also ad- mitted to the bar. Early in 1803 business interests made his presence necessary in Santo Domingo, and he sailed for Port au Prince, to find the colony in a state of anarchy. Gen. Rochambeau, his former companion in the United States, was at the head of the French forces ,and immediately gave the viscount an important command. Noailles de- feated the insurgents in several encounters, stormed Fort Dauphin, and being besieged there afterward by overwhelming forces defended himself for five months. Running short of ammunition, and pro- visions being almost exhausted, he tried vainly to break through the British fleet, and then tried a difficult enterprise, which succeeded through his boldness. Embarking his troojjs he awaited the arrival of the English supply fleet, and during a dark night sailed in company with it for some time, reaching Santiago de Cuba in safety. There he made preparation to send his troops to France, and, sailing with 300 men on a brigantine for Havana, encountered at sea an English man-of- war, which he captured after a desperate combat on 31 Dec, but was mortally wounded during the action. He reached Havana, 1 Jan., 1804, and soon died. His last battle has been represented on can- vas by the marine painter, Jean Gudin.


NOBILI, John, clergyman, b. in Rome, Italy, 8 April, 1812 ; d. in Santa Clara. Cal., 1 March. 1856. He belonged to a well-known family, and his early education was directed by some of the best masters in Rome. In 1828 he entered the Society of Jesus, and, after filling professorships in the colleges of the order in Italy, he was ordained priest in 1843. A short time afterward he accompanied Father De Smet {q. v.) to Oregon, where he took charge of the men of the Hudson bay company and the Indians along the shores of Columbia river. He gained the alleetion of the latter by his fearlessness and devotion during a virulent epidemic, and availed himself of his popularity among them to acquire a knowledge of their languages. In June, 1845, he began to visit the^tribes of New Caledonia. His journal, dated Fort Colville, June, 1846, and published in the " Oregon Missions " (New York, 1847), gives a vivid description of his labors and privations. He spent eleven days among the In- dians of Nesqually river, and during that time abolished among them the custom of burning the dead and inflicting torments on the bodies of the surviving wives and husbands. Among the Chil- cotins he succeeded first in abolishing polygamy, and then in converting the several tribes. He was equally successful among other tribes, and built a large number of frame churches. During one year he lived on herbs and roots, and for the six years when he resided with the Indians his chief food was the flesh of horses, dogs, and sometimes of wolves. In 1849 he was ordered by his superi- ors to California. After staying a few months in San Francisco to recruit his enfeebled constitution, he was sent to San Jose. His labors during the cholera in 1850 made his name well known over a large part of the country. Pie was appointed pas- tor of the mission of Santa Clara in 1851, and shortly afterward founded the College of Santa Clara, which grew into prosperity under his direc- tion, and was for a long time the principal seat of learning in California.


NOBLE, Annette Lucile, author, b. in Albion, Orleans co., N. Y., 12 July, 1844. She was gradu- ated at Phipps Union seminaiy, Albion, in 1863, and has contributed largely to magazines and jour- nals. Her stories have been translated into several languages, and her books for the young have had a large circulation in Holland. She is the author of "Eleanor Willoughby" (Boston, 1870); "St. Au- gustine's Ladder " (1872) ; " Judge Branard's Infan- try" (Philadelphia, 1873); " Under Shelter " (New York, 1876) ; " Out of the Way " (1877) ; " The Queer House in Rugby Court " (1878) : " Silas Gower's Daughters" (1878); "Uncle Jack's Executors" (1880); "Eunice Lathrop, Spinster "(1881); "How Billv went up in the World " (1883) ; " Miss Janet's Old'House " (1884) : " The Professor's Girls " (1885), with a sequel (1888); "Dave Marquand" (1886); and "After the Failure" (Philadelphia, 1887).


NOBLE, Auguste Emile, French explorer, b. in Essequibo, Guiana, in 1771 ; d. in Fontainebleau in 1827. Inheriting a large fortune, he followed his taste for travel and adventure, and undertook, in 1796, an expedition to the provinces that are watered by the Napo, which were then credited with fabulous riches. He explored this country for three years and lived for several months among the Yumbo Indians, but, being unable to find any riches, crossed the Andes to Peru, and arrived in Lima in 1800. He afterward visited Chili, and re- sided several years in Buenos Ayres, but left that city in 1810 at the beginning of "the movement for independence, and sailed for Martinique. He was captured by an English man-of-war and detained in Jamaica till 1814, and his papers were confis- cated. He afterward fixed his residence in Fon- tainebleau. Noble published " Voyage au cours du Napo "(Paris, 1819); "ifitudes sur les Indiens de I'Amerique du Sud " (1821) ; " Grammaire compa- ree des langues Charrua et Quechua " (1823) ; " An- nates des voyages entrepris au XVP, XVII«, et XVIII" siecle a la recherche de I'El Dorado " (1824) ; and " Considerations generales sur la formation des langues Indiennes " (1826).