NEW COLLEGE 



S7O2 



NEW ENGLAND 



New College. College of Ox- 

 ford University. It was founded in 

 1379 by William of Wykeham, 

 as the college of 

 S. Mary of Win- 

 chester, but soon 

 became known 

 as New College. 

 It was intended 

 for boys from 

 Winchester Col- 

 lege, and this 

 connexion has 

 been m a i n- 

 tained, scholarships being still 

 reserved for scholars from Win- 

 chester. Five of its fellowships are 

 held by professors known as Wyke- 

 ham professors. Its head is the 

 warden. The college, one of the 

 largest and richest in the university, 

 has a beautiful garden, bounded 

 by the city wall. There are a large 

 hall, cloisters, and a tower. The 

 fine chapel contains the pastoral 

 staff of the founder, and stained 



New College, Oxford. Front quadrangle, showing, left, 

 the ball and muniment tower 



glass by Sir Joshua Reynolds. New 

 buildings face Holywell Street. The 

 college maintains a choir school. 



New College, Hampstead, a theo- 

 logical training centre for Congre- 

 gational ministers, is affiliated to 

 London University. 



Newcomb, SIMON (1835-1909). 

 American astronomer. Born March 

 12, 1835j in Nova Scotia, he went 



, to the U.S.A., 



1853, and in 

 1857 took part 

 in calculating 

 the tables of 

 the American 

 nautical al- 

 manac. Made 

 in 1861 profes- 

 sor of mathe- 

 matics in the 

 navy, he was 

 secretary of the 



transit of Venua commission 1871- 

 74, director of the nautical almanac, 

 1877-97, and professor of mathe- 

 matics at Johns Hopkins University, 

 1884-9-4. His revision of the lunar 

 and planetary tables resulted in the 



Simon Newcomb. 

 American 

 astronomer 



revision and simplification of the 

 nautical almanacs of the world. He 

 made many observations of Uranus 

 and Neptune through the 26-in. 

 equatorial telescope of the U.S. 

 naval observatory. He published a 

 number of memoirs on the motions 

 of the moon, the planets, asteroids, 

 etc., and received the gold medal 

 of the Royal Astronomical Society, 

 the Copley Medal of the Royal 

 Society, etc. He died July 11, 1909. 

 See his autobiography, Reminis- 

 cences of an Astronomer, 1903. 



Newcomen, THOMAS (1663- 

 1729). English engineer. He was 

 born and lived at Dartmouth, and 

 with the financial help of John 

 Colley or Cawley, about 1710, he 

 built a steam engine (the first 

 beam engine) to pump water at 

 Dudley, Warwickshire. 



Newcomes, THE. Novel by W. 

 M. Thackeray, published in 1855, 

 with the full title The Newcomes : 

 Memoirs of a Most Respectable 



Family, edited by 



Arthur Penden- 

 nis, Esq. It was 

 , issued first in 

 i monthly parts, 

 I illustrated by 

 ! Richard Doyle. A 

 study of middle- 

 class social life in 

 the first half of 

 the 19th century, 

 it includes a num- 

 ber of autobio- 

 graphical touches, 

 and contains, in 

 Colonel Newcome, 

 one of the best re- 

 membered of Thac- 

 keray's characters. 

 New Corinth. Town of Greece. 

 It was founded in 1858, 3 m. from 

 the site of ancient Corinth, de- 

 stroyed that year by earthquake, 

 and has progressed since the 

 Corinth Ship Canal was cut through 

 the isthmus in 1893. It has a good 

 harbour, and exports currants, etc. 

 Pop. 5 000. See Corinth. 



New Cross. Dist. ot S.E. 

 London. In the bor. of Deptford, 

 it has stations on the L.B. & S.C. 

 and S.E. & C. Rlys., and is a 

 populous area between Peckham on 

 the W. and Greenwich on the E. 

 New Cross Road connects the 

 Old Kent Road with Queen's 

 Road, Peckham, and Deptford 

 Broadway. Near to the junction 

 of New Cross Road and Lewisham 

 High Road is New Cross College, 

 known, 1891 to 1905, as the Gold- 

 smiths' Institute. 



New Cut. London thorough- 

 fare. It connects Lambeth Lower 

 Marsh and Waterloo Road with 

 Great Charlotte Street and Black- 

 friars Road, S.E. Notable for its 

 brokers' shops, street stalls, and 



Sunday trading, it shared with 

 Lambeth Marsh a somewhat un- 

 enviable reputation, dating from 

 the days of Philip Massinger. At 

 the Waterloo Road corner is the 

 Royal Victoria Hall, formerly the 

 Royal Coburg Theatre. See Vic- 

 toria Hall. 



Newdigate, SIR ROGER (1719- 

 1806). English antiquary. Born at 

 Arbury. Warwickshire, May 30, 

 1719, and edu- 

 cated at West- 

 minster School 

 and University 

 College. Ox- 

 ford, he suc- 

 ceeded his 

 brother as 5th 

 baronet, 1734. 

 He was M. P. for 

 Sir R. Newdigate, Middlesex, 

 English antiquary 1741-47, and 



After Romney f Qr Qxfo'rd Uni- 



vcrsity, 1750-80. Sketching in early 

 youth old French and Italian ar- 

 chitecture, he afterwards travelled 

 in quest of marbles and other anti- 

 quities. He presented some to his 

 college and the Radcliffe library, 

 besides contributing 2,000 for 

 transferring to Oxford the Arundel 

 marbles, now in the University gal- 

 leries there. He died Nov. 23/1806. 



Newdigate Prize. Award for 

 the best poem on a given subject 

 awarded each year to an under- 

 graduate of the university of Ox- 

 ford. It was founded in 1806 by Sir 

 Roger Newdigate, and is worth 21 

 a year. Dean Stanley, John Ruskin, 

 Matthew Arnold, Sir Edwin Arnold, 

 and Oscar Wilde are among those 

 who won it in their day. 



Newel (old P"r. novel, kernel). 

 In architecture, term originally de- 

 noting the central post or pillar of a 

 spiral staircase. It is now extended 

 to the angle posts in a straight 

 staircase. The newel is a feature 

 of the massive Jacobean staircase, 

 in which it is crowned by a hand- 

 somely carved finial or by a statue. 



New England. Name given to 

 certain N.E. states in the U.S.A., 

 formerly belonging to Britain. They 

 are Maine, New Hampshire, Ver- 

 mont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 

 and Connecticut, and their inhabi- 

 tants, descended from Scottish 

 Presbyterians and English Puri- 

 tans, are familiarly styled Yankees. 

 The coast was explored in 1583 by 

 Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and in 

 1614 by Capt. John Smith, to 

 whom the name New England is 

 due. The Plymouth Colony was 

 established in 1620 in Massa- 

 chusetts, and in 1643 a confederacy 

 known as the United Colonies of 

 New England was formed by the 

 federation of New Haven, Con- 

 necticut, Massachusetts Bay, and 

 Plymouth colonies, annual and 



