Coventry to Leicester. But it is as an antiquary and the founder of a prize at the Oxford university that he is chiefly remembered. His interest in old architecture dated from a tour in France and Italy which was undertaken while he was a young man. He filled two folio volumes with sketches of ancient buildings. His collection of antiquities included marbles, casts of statues and vases. Two marble candelabra found in Hadrian’s villa at Rome he purchased for £1800 and presented them to the Radcliffe Library at Oxford. Among his other generosities to the university were a chimney piece, for the hall of University College, and the sum of £2000 for the removal by Flaxman of the Arundel collection of marbles to the Radcliffe Library. The “Newdigate” prize of twenty-one guineas for English verse, which is open for competition each year to the undergraduates of Oxford University, was founded by him and was first awarded in the year of his death. He died at Arbury on the 23rd of November 1806. His portrait was painted by Kirkby for University College, Oxford, and at the age of sixty-three he also sat to Romney.
NEWEL (O. Fr. nouel or noel, modern noyau, properly a
kernel, from Lat. nux, nut; other foreign equivalents are Ital.
albero, Ger. Spindel), the term given in architecture to the central
shaft of a semicircular or winding staircase, which is built up or
consists of the narrow ends of the steps standing one over the
other. When in stone, both newel and steps are cut out of the
same block; when in wood, the newel becomes a vertical post
into which the steps are housed. The term is also given to the
vertical post at the foot or the angles of a square staircase, into
which the carriage or beam carrying the steps is tenoned.
NEW ENGLAND, a general name for the north-east section of
the United States of America, embracing the states of Maine,
New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and
Connecticut. It has an area of 66,424 sq. m. (4448 sq. m. being
water); and in 1910 its population was 6,552,681, more than one-half
of which was in Massachusetts, although that state contains
less than one-eighth of the total area. The region is traversed
by the broken mountain ranges which form the N.E. continuation
of the Appalachian system; the soil is rather sterile, except in
the river valleys; and the climate of the long winters is often
severe. But the picturesque scenery and delightful summer
climate have made New England a favourite resort. When the
commerce of New England was interrupted as a consequence
of the Napoleonic wars, the abundance of water power afforded
by the rivers encouraged manufacturing, and the region rapidly
acquired prominence in this industry, especially in the manufacture
of textiles, of boots and shoes, and of paper and wood
pulp; in 1905 the value of the textile products of New England
(excluding flax, hemp and jute) alone was $522,821,440 (more
than 45% of that of the entire country), the value of boots and
shoes was $181,023,946 (more than 55% of the total for the
entire country), the value of paper and wood pulp was $49,813,133
(more than one-quarter of that of the entire country), and the
value of all factory products amounted to $2,025,998,437 (nearly
one-seventh of the total for the entire country).
Northmen very probably visited this region at the beginning of the 11th century. (See Vinland). To Europeans who visited it in the 16th century it was included in “Norumbega,” and some of the early explorers searched here for the mythical city of that name. Title to the territory was claimed by the English on the basis of its alleged exploration by the Cabots in 1498, and by the French on the basis of its exploration by Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524. It was made favourably known to the English by the explorations of Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602, of Martin Pring in 1603 and of George Weymouth in 1605, and was at this time called North Virginia. In 1606 King James I. granted it to the Plymouth Company with a view to encouraging settlement, and in the next year a colony was planted at the mouth of the Sagadahoc (now Kennebec) river, but this was abandoned in 1608; the efforts of the French to establish settlements along the Maine coast were likewise unsuccessful. In 1614–1616 Captain John Smith traversed the coast as far east as the mouth of the Penobscot river and as far south as Cape Cod, gathered much information from the Indians, wrote an attractive description of the country, prepared a map of it, suggested its present name, New England, and made another unsuccessful attempt to found a settlement. A new charter of 1620 conveyed to the New England Council, the successor of the Plymouth Company, all the territory in North America between latitudes 40° and 48° N under the name of New England, and in the same year a permanent settlement was established at Plymouth by a band of Separatists, who, although they had expected to settle in Virginia, were prevailed upon by the captain of their vessel to land in New England. During its existence of fifteen years the New England Council made numerous grants of territory, and from three of these grew three of the present states: Massachusetts, from a grant to the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1628; Maine, from the grant to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and John Mason (the two most influential members of the council) in 1622; and New Hampshire, from the grant to John Mason in 1629. The Council attempted to establish a general government over its entire domain, but the scheme of some of its members for supporting such a government with contributions from each member in return for an allotment of land was a failure, and although Robert Gorges, the second son of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, was sent over as governor-general in 1623, he accomplished nothing and returned in the next year in disgust. In 1635, when the Dutch were hemming in its domain on the west and the French on the north, the Council made a final allotment of its remaining territory among its members and surrendered its charter. Connecticut was founded in the same year by emigrants from Massachusetts without any other authority than that given by the mother colony. A separate colony was founded at New Haven in 1638 by emigrants from England who had stayed for a time in Boston and other Massachusetts towns, but this was annexed to Connecticut in 1664 under the Connecticut charter of 1662. Rhode Island was founded in 1636 by exiles from Massachusetts who had no authority whatever from a superior government. Plymouth was a separate colony until its union with Massachusetts under the charter of 1691. New Hampshire was a part of Massachusetts from 1641–1643 to 1679. Maine, having passed under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts in 1652, did not regain its independence until 1820. Vermont was settled largely by emigrants from New Hampshire, but New York claimed the territory and the dispute was not settled until the new state was erected in 1791.
Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven constituted in their early years a group of neighbouring colonies, substantially independent of the mother country, and possessing a unity of purpose and similar institutions but in need of mutual protection from the Indians, the Dutch and the French, and also needing an arbiter to whom they might refer their own disputes, especially those relating to boundaries and trade. To meet these needs they organized, under Articles of Confederation signed in 1643, the first form of colonial union in America; they called it The United Colonies of New England, but it is more commonly known as the New England Confederacy. The confederate authority was vested in a board of eight commissioners, two from each colony chosen annually by its General Court.
This board was to meet annually in September, two years of every five at Boston, one year of every five at Hartford, one at New Haven, and one at Plymouth; special meetings also might be called by three magistrates of any of the four colonies. The commissioners chose their president at each meeting, but this officer had only the powers of a moderator. An agreement of six commissioners was necessary to pass any measure, but if there was an agreement of less than six the measure might be referred to the. General Courts and become a law of the Confederacy if all of those courts approved. The most important powers of the Confederacy were those relating to defence, and in case of an invasion its entire force, consisting of 100 men from Massachusetts and 45 men from each of the other colonies (or some other proportion which the commissioners might name), was to march out if so requested by three magistrates of any of the contracting colonies. The expenses of every defensive war which the commissioners declared to be just were to be defrayed by the several colonies in proportion to their number of men and boys between the ages of sixteen and sixty. Other matters within the jurisdiction of the commissioners were such as related to disputes
