Chapter Nestor to Newgate Fashion of N by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Newcastle (The duchess of), in the court of Charles II.—Sir W. Scott: Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles I.).

Newcastle (The marquis of), a royalist in the service of Charles I.—Sir W. Scott: Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).

Newcastle Apothecary (The), Mr. Bolus of Newcastle used to write his prescriptions in rhyme. A bottle bearing the couplet, “When taken to be well shaken,” was sent to a patient, and when Bolus called next day to inquire about its effect, John told the apothecary his master was dead. The fact is, John had shaken the sick man instead of the bottle, and had shaken the life out of him.—Colman.

Newcome (Clemency), about 30 years old, with a plump and cheerful face, but twisted into a tightness that made it comical. Her gait was very homely, her limbs seemed all odd ones; her shoes were so self- willed that they never wanted to go where her feet went. She wore blue stockings, a printed gown of hideous pattern and many colours, and a white apron. Her sleeves were short, her elbows always grazed, her cap anywhere but in the right place; but she was scrupulously clean, and “maintained a kind of dislocated tidiness.” She carried in her pocket “a handkerchief, a piece of wax-candle, an apple, an orange, a lucky penny, a cramp-bone, a padlock, a pair of scissors, a handful of loose beads, several balls of worsted and cotton, a needle-case, a collection of curl-papers, a biscuit, a thimble, a nutmeg-grater, and a few miscellaneous articles.” Clemency Newcome married Benjamin Britain, her fellow-servant at Dr. Jeddler’s, and opened a country inn called the Nutmeg-Grater, a cozy, well-to-do place as any one could wish to see, and there were few married people so well assorted as Clemency and Ben Britain.—Dickens: The Battle of Life (1846).

Newcome (Sir Barnes), the beau-ideal of nineteenth-century worldliness.

Clive Newcome, the hero of Thackeray’s novel, The Newcomes. An artist, in love with Ethel Newcome, his cousin, whom he marries as his second wife.

Colonel Newcome, a widower, distinguished for the moral beauty of his life. He loses his money and enters the Charter House.

Ethel Newcome, both clever and good. She is the niece of colonel Newcome, and loves her cousin Clive, who returns her affection.—Thackeray: The Newcomes (1855).

(The Newcomes is one of the best of Thackeray’s novels.)

Newcome (Johnny), any raw youth when he first enters the army or navy.

Newgate Fashion (To March), two and two, as the prisoners were at one time conveyed to Newgate two and two together.

Falstaff. Must we all march!
Bardolph. Yea, two and two, Newgate fashion.
   —Shakespeare: Henry IV. act iii. sc. 3 (1597).

Newgate Fringe, a beard worn only under the chin, as the hangman’s rope is fastened round the neck of those about to be hanged. Sometimes called the Newgate Frill, and sometimes the Tyburn Collar.

The Newgate Knocker, a lock of hair worn especially by costermongers, twisted towards the ear. It is supposed to remind one of the knocker on the prison door of Newgate. The cow-lick is a curl worn on the temples.