NEWCOMEN, THOMAS, blacksmith, born at Dartmouth; invented a steam-engine in which the piston was raised by steam and driven down by the atmosphere after the injection into the cylinder of a squirt of cold water, which cooled it, so that the steam when injected did not raise the piston at once up.  By James Watt’s invention of a separate condenser it was superseded, and employed afterwards principally for pumping water.  The interruption in the movement between the descent and ascent of the piston made it worthless for such purposes as Watt’s invention is applied to; d. 1729.

NEWDIGATE, SIR ROGER, born in Warwickshire; represented Oxford in Parliament, and founded the Newdigate Prize for the best English poem by an undergraduate; the winners of it have since distinguished themselves, chiefly in letters (1719-1806).

NEWFOUNDLAND (198), the oldest island colony of Britain, situated at the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, North America; is about one-eighth larger than Ireland, and triangular in shape, the northern apex running close in to the coast of Labrador; inland the country is bleak, sparsely populated, and ill cultivated; lakes and rivers abound; the deeply indented coast provides excellent harbourage for the large fishing fleets that frequent it; minerals are found, including coal, iron, lead, and copper; agriculture and timber-felling are on the increase, but the fisheries—­cod, salmon, herring, and seal—­form the staple industry; the climate is more temperate than in Canada, although, subject to fogs; ST. JOHNS (q. v.) is the capital; discovered in 1497 by John Cabot, seized by the English in 1583, and finally ceded to Britain by the French (who retained certain fishing rights) in 1713; Newfoundland possesses a responsible government, consisting of a popularly elected Assembly and a Crown-appointed Governor, and exercises political rights over the adjoining coast territory of Labrador.

NEWGATE, a dark, gloomy prison in London, the original of which dates as far back as 1218; was two centuries afterwards rebuilt, and destroyed in the great fire of 1666; rebuilt in 1780; is now used only for prisoners awaiting trial during Sessions, and as a place of execution.

NEWMAN, JOHN HENRY, cardinal, born in London, son of a banker; educated at Ealing, studied at Trinity College, Oxford, and obtained a Fellowship in Oriel College in 1823; trained in evangelical beliefs, he gradually drifted into High-Church notions, and becoming vicar of St. Mary’s, the university church of Oxford, in 1826, started the Tractarian Movement in 1833, and, busy with his pen, wrote no fewer than 24 of the celebrated “Tracts for the Times” in advocacy of High-Church teaching, till Tract XC., which he composed, overshot the mark, and he resigned his connection with the Church of England, and was received into the Catholic Church on the 28th October 1845; shortly after this he visited Rome, was ordained a priest, and after some stay there on his return became