NIZZA

From Agepedia

NIZZA. (See Nice.) NOAH ; the patriarch of whom we are told, in the book of Genesis, that God chose him, for his piety, to be the father of the new race of men which peopled the earth after the deluge. Having been admonished by God of the coming flood, he built a vessel by the direction of Jehovah, into which he entered with his family, and all kinds of animals. (See Deluge;) After the waters had subsided from the earth, the vessel which contained the progenitors of all living creatures, rested on mount Ararat, in Armenia, where Noah offered a thankoffering to God, and was assured that the earth should never again be destroyed by a flood. As a sign of this covenant with Noah, God set the rainbow in the clouds. Permission was now granted to the human race to eat flesh, provided they did not eat it raw with the blood ; and murder was declared punishable by death. Noah then began to cultivate the earth, and planted a vineyard, and, having made wine, became intoxicated. While under the influence of the wine, his son Ham ridiculed the exposure of his father, while his other sons, Shem and Japheth, reverently covered him with a garment. When the patriarch awoke, and was aware of what had taken place, he gave his blessings to the filial piety of the latter, and pronounced a curse of servitude upon the posterity of the former. Noah died at the age of 950 years, 350 years after the flood. NOAILLES ; one of the oldest noble families in France. Among the members of this family, which has ever been invested with the first offices in the kingdom, are, 1. Antoine de Noailles, celebrated on account of his embassies under Henry II. The abbe Vertot has published an account of them. His brother, the bishop of Acqs, was also employed on several important and difficult diplomatic missions to England, Italy, and even Constantinople.2. Anne Jules, duke of Noailles, born 1650, inherited from his father the first company of the gardesducorps, and, in the war of 168997, commanded a corpsd'armee in Catalonia; in 1693 was made marshal, and, in 1694, gained the battle of the Ter against the Spaniards. He died in 1708.3. Louis Antoine de Noailles; brother of the preceding, archbishop of Paris and cardinal. On account of the aid which he afforded to Quesnel, he was persecuted by the Jesuits, and especially by Le Tellier, the confessor of Louis XIV. They prevailed on the pope to issue the bull Unigeniius (q. v.), which was resisted by Noailles, as archbishop of Paris, till he was finally compelled to yield, in his 78th year. He died soon afterwards, in 1729.4. Adrian Maurice, duke of Noailles, son of the abovementioned Anne Jules, served with distinction in Spain, in the Spanish war of succession, was created grandee of Spain, of the first class, and, in 1698, married Francoise d'Aubigne, a niece of maclame de Main tenon. During the minority of Louis XV, he was president of the council of finance, and member of the council of regency, which he left, however, in 1721, rather tnan concede the presidency to cardinal Dubois. He was exiled by the influence of this intriguing priest, after whose death he was recalled, in 1723, when he was reinstated in his former offices. In 1734, he served under Ber wick in the campaign on the Rhine, and at the siege of Philipsburg, and, after the death of Berwick, received the marshal's staff. In the following year, he commanded the French army in Italy. When the Austrian war of succession broke out, after the death of the emperor Charles VI, Noailles received a command on the Rhine. In 1743, by the unseasonable impetuosity of his nephew, the count of Grammont, he lost the battle of Dettingen, and, by this means, the fruits of the wise measures by which he had brought the English army to the verge of ruin. His age no longer permitting him to fight at the head of armies, he entered the ministry. With splendid talents, he united all the faults of the courtiers of the times. His friendship for marshal Saxe induced him, although an elder marshal, to serve him as first aid in the battle of Fontenoi. His two sons were, in 1775, made marshals of France. After his death, the abbe Millet published: Memoires politiques et militaires pour servir a VHistoire de Louis XI'V et de Louis XV, composes sur les Pieces originates recueillies par Adnen Mauru \ Due de Noailles, &c, which contains interesting information, not only respecting the history of the wars of Louis XIV and XV, but also respecting the history of Spain, under Charles II, and Philip V. In later times, the following members of this family have rendered themselves distinguished. Louis, viscount of Noailles, a genera' and member of the first national convention, in 1789. Chosen by the nobility a deputy to the statesgeneral, he proposed to his chamber, June 13, to form a union with the third estate. Montmorency, Rochefoucauld, Lafayette, &c, voted in the affirmative, and, after long debates, forty members of the chamber of nobler united with the national assembly, Juno 25. August 4, Noailles was the first who exhorted the clergy and nobility in the assembly to renounce their privileges, as injurious to the common weal. After the dissolution of the constituent assembly, he went into the army, and, in 1792, commanded the chain of outposts at Valenciennes. His birth subjected him to sus{)icion: he demanded his dismissal, and ived in retirement in the country. Under the consular government, he returned to the service, and gained distinction in St. Domingo, as general of brigade, under Leclerc and Roehambeau. After the evacuation of the island, he embarked on board a vessel of war for Cuba, but was killed in a battle with the English, who took the vessel.His son Alexis, count of Noailles, born at Paris, June 1, 1783, minister of state of Louis XVIII, was obliged to leave France, in 1811, because he had incurred the suspicions of the imperial government, and for a time lived in Switzerland, The princes of the house of Bourbon sent him on important missions to the German courts,to Russia and to Sweden, after which he repaired to the residence of Louis, at Hartwell, in England. In 1813, he served," as aid of the crownprince of Sweden, in Germany. After the battle of Leipsic, he left the Swedish service, accompanied the allied army to France, and fought at Brienne and La Fere Charnpenoise, after which he joined the count of Artois at Vesoul, became his aid, and was afterwards the plenipotentiary of Louis XVIII at the congress of Vienna. He returned with the king from Ghent to Paris, was chosen deputy of the chamber of 1815, and, in October of the same year, was appointed by Louis minister of state, but without any particular department. In 1828, count Alexis of Noailles was a member of the chamber of deputies, and, at the suggestion of the minister Portalis, was appointed by the king member of the commission to examine whether the schools of the clergy (the Jesuits, &c.) accorded with the fundamental principles of the French constitution.Ant. Claude Dominique Juste, count of Noailles, cousin of the former, second son of the prince de Poix, born at Paris, August 25, 1777, was one of the first chamberlains of Napoleon, and remained in this post till 1814. After the restoration, he was the ambassador of Louis XVIII at Petersburg, till superseded, in 1820, by the count de Ferronays.