NAG'S HEAD
(Map M4)
A tavern in Lond., at the E. corner of Cheapside and Friday St. In Ret. Pernass. i. 6, Phantasms says, "I promised to bring you to a drinking Inn, in Cheapside, at the sign of the Nagges Heade." In Feversham ii. 2, Michael says that Master Arden supped "at the Nages head at the 18 pence ordinary." Nash, in Saffron Walden, says Watson first told him of Gabriel Harvey's vanities and hexameters "one night at supper at the N. H. in Cheape." There was another N. H. at the S. corner of Lombard St. and Gracechurch St., opposite Leadenhall Market (see under LEADENHALL).

NEAT HOUSE
Properly a cow-shed, but applied specially to the site of some old cow-sheds in Chelsea on the banks of the Thames, W. of Vauxhall Bdge., which were converted into market gardens for the sale of "asparagus, artichokes, cauliflowers, muskmelons, and the like useful things" (Strype). In Massinger's Madam iii. 1, Shavem complains: "The neathouse for muskmelons and the gardens Where we traffic for asparagus, are, to me, In the other world."

NETTLETON'S ORDINARY
An eating-house in Lond. In B. & F. Wit S. W. iv. 1, Gregory says to Cunningham, "I have been seeking for you i' the bowling green; Enquired at Nettleton's and Anthony's ordinary."

NEWGATE
(Map K4)
One of the gates of Old Lond.; built in the reign of Henry I in consequence of the temporary blocking up of the thoroughfare to Ludgate by the rebuilding of St. Paul's. The Gate was used as a prison at least as early as 1200, and it continued to be the chief prison of Lond. all through its history. It was rebuilt and enlarged by Sir R. Whittington about 1425, and was further repaired in 1555 and 1628. It was destroyed in the Gt. Fire and rebuilt in 1672, and was finally taken down in 1777. The Gate spanned N. St. a little E. of Old Bailey and Giltspur St., but there was an old Roman gate somewhat S. of it, the foundations of which were discovered in 1903 when the prison was pulled down. The Gate itself became quite insufficient for the proper accommodation of the prisoners as the city grew. and in 1770 the prison at the corner of N. St. and Old Bailey was built. It was pulled down in 1903 to make room for the new City Court. N. was used at first both for felons and debtors, though after 1815 it was employed for felons only. Those who were condemned to death were carted out to Tyburn for execution: the dismal procession passed by St. Sepulchre's ch., where a nosegay was given to the condemned man, up Giltspur St., across Smithfield to Cow Lane, and so to the bottom of Holborn Hill, or Heavy Hill, as it was nicknamed, and on to Tyburn.

In Chaucer's C. T. A. 4402, we are told that Perkyn Revelour, the London prentice, was "sometyme lad with revel to Newegate." In Hycke, p. 85, Imagynacioun says of himself and Hycke: "In N. we dwelled together; For he and I were both shackeled in a fetter." Later, p. 103, Frewyll says humorously, "Once at N. I bought a pair of stirrups, A whole year I ware them so long, But they came not fully to my knee ": of course, he refers to the fetters with which he was bound. Again, p. 108, Imagynacioun swears, "I was 10 year in N." In Bale's Johan 287, Sedition says, "Get they-false witnesses, they force not of whence they be, Be they of N. or be they of the Marshalsea." In Poverty 335, Prosperity says to Peace, "Go! Out of my sight! or I shall lay thee fast in N." In Respublica v. 8, Avarice asks Insolence and Adulation: "Be there not honester men in N.?" In Youth (A. P. ii. 100), Riot says, "The Mayor of Lond. sent me forth of N. for to come for to preach at Tyburn," i.e. to be hanged. In J. Heywood's Gentleness, Pt. 1, the Ploughman sarcastically says to the Knight and the Merchant, "Fare ye well, both, I dare say, as true As some that be tied in N." In W. Rowley's Wonder v., Stephen gives order to the keeper of Ludgate, "See your prisoners conveyed From Ludgate unto N. and the Counter." This was on 1 June, 1419, but so many of them died by reason of the foul atmosphere and the over-crowding that Ludgate was reopened as a prison on 2nd November and the prisoners taken back there. In Three Lords , Dods, vii. 488, Fraud says, "If any of my friends see me committed to N., I were utterly discredited."

The only Shakespearian reference is in H4 A. iii. 3, 104, where Falstaff asks: "Must we all march?" and Bardolph replies: "Yea, 2 and 2, N.-fashion." So, in Dekker's Satiro. iii. 1, 325, Tucca says, "Come, we'll walk arm in arm As though we were leading one another to N." In Fair Women ii. 1230, Browne says he has a brother who is kept "close prisoner now in N.": we learn from 1270 that he had committed "notorious felonies in Yorkshire." In Feversham ii. 1, Will says that his friend Fitten is "now in N. for stealing a horse." In Oldcastle ii. 2, Murley says, "N., up Holborne, St. Giles in the field, and to Tiborne; an old saw." In More i. 1, Williamson complains: "My Lord Mayor sent me to N. one day, because (against my will) I took the wall of a stranger "; and in ii. 3, the Messenger brings word: "The rebels have broke open N., From whence they have delivered many prisoners Both felons and notorious murderers." This was on May Day 1517, in the riots which were raised to expel foreigners from Lond. In Dekker's Edmonton iv. 1, Banks says, "Get a warrant first to examine her, then ship her to N.; here's enough to burn her for a witch." In Westward iii. 2, Monopoly threatens to so deal with the sergeants "that they should think it a shorter way between this [Shoreditch] and Ludgate than a condemned cut-purse thinks it between N. and Tyburn." Rosalind was thinking of this journey when, in As You Like It iii. 2, 345, she tells how Time gallops with a thief to the gallows. In Middleton's Chaste Maid ii. 2. the Promoter says of the butcher who has been killing in Lent: "This butcher shall kiss N." In Ford's Warbeck iii. 1, the K. says, "Let false Audley Be drawn upon an hurdle from the N. To Tower-hill; there let him lose his head." In B. & F. Wit S. W. iv. 1, Wittypate says of Gregory: "He was even brought to Justice Aurum's threshold; there had flown forth a mittimus straight for N." In Ret. Pernass. iii; 3, Studioso says, "Yonder are pursuivants out for the French doctor, and a lodging bespoken for him and his man in N." In a song appended to T. Heywood's Lucrece, entitled The Cries of Rome, the 2nd verse runs: "Bread-and-meat-bread-and-meat, For the tender mercy of God To the poor prisoners of N., Four-score and ten-poor-prisoners." The debtors in prison were allowed to appeal is this way to the passers-by. In Field's Weathercock v. 2, Sir John Worldly, when Pouts is apparently convicted of murder, cries: "To N. with him!" In Middletons R. G. v. 1, Moll speaks of a justice "that nothing but 'Make a mittimus, away with him to N.!'" In KiIligrew's Parson iii. 5, Jolly says, "They were taken and condemnd, and suffered under a catholic sheriff, that afflicted them with a litany all the way from N. to the gallows." In iv. 2, Wild says, "Make his mittimus to the hole at N." Taylor, in Woks i. 91, says, "The ocean that suretyship sails in is the spacious Marshalsea; sometimes she anchors at the King's Bench, sometimes at N. rd." Nash., in Pierce, says, "N. a common name for all prisons, as Homo is a common name for a man or a woman.''

In Robin Goodfellow (1628), Grim says, "Sometimes I do affright many simple people, for which some have termed me the Black Dog of N." In Dekker's Edmonton iv. 1, Cuddy says of the Witch's dog: "Neither is this the Black Dog of N." The reference is to a tract by Luke Hatton called The Black Dog of N. Henslowe mentions a play by Hathway and others with the same title. Middleton, in Black Book, calls sergeants "black dogs of N." In Brome's Antipodes iii. 2, amongst other topsyturvy-doms there, the poet tells how "12 hymns are sung by the quire of New-gate in the praise of City Clemency." Dekker, is Seven Sins, says that Shaving (i.e. swindling) came into the City through N., "because he knew N. held a number that, though they were false to all the world, would be true to him." In Fam. Vict., p. 330 when Prince Henry has been taken to the Counter for making a disturbance in East Cheap, the thief, who has been arrested for a highway robbery on Gadshill, says, "Let me go to the prison where my master is"; and John Cobler replies: "Nay, thou must go to the country prison, to N." The Counter was used for Lond. offenders, N. for those brought in from the country. In Shirley's Bird i. 1, the ladies are "committed to Newprison": the scene is Mantua, but I suppose the name was suggested by the Lond. N.

Vulgar and obscene language was called N.-terms. Nicholson, in Acolastus (1600) 15, says, "Naught but N. terms can store the tongue." In Puritan 1, 3, Frailtie says of the drunken Corporal: "If the wind stood right, a man might smell him from the top of N. to the leads of Ludgate": abt. 220 yards.

The prisoners were called N.-birds. In Dekker's Edmonton iv. 2, Carter says, "Your trull shall to the gaol go with you; there be as fine N. birds as she that can draw him in." Dekker, in Jests ii. 343, says, "Our N.-bird, spreading his dragon-like wings, beheld a thousand sins." In Brome's Northern v. 8, Justice Squelch threatens the doctor, "I will translate you out of an AEsculapian cock into a N. bird."

Lady Alimony was "Printed by Tho. Vere and William Gilbertson and are to be sold at the Angel without New-gate." In Dekker's Satiromastix i. 2, 362, Tucca says to Horace, "Dost stare, my Sarsens-head at N.? dost gloat?" See SARACEN'S HEAD.

NEWGATE-LANE
(Map K4)
Lond. Probably N. St. is meant, which runs from the corner of Old Bailey, where N. Prison stood, to St. Martin's-le-Grand. In Lawyer i., Valentine laments that when he got back from his travels to Lond. he found his old friends in Bridewell and Bedlam and the Counters; "others walk N. L.," meaning that they are on their way to prison.

NEWGATE MARKET
(Map K4)
Lond., on the site of the present Paternoster Sq., between N. St., Warwick St., Paternoster Row, and Ivy Lane. It was at first a meal market, but came to be a meat market. It was dismarketed in 1869 and the site sold for £20,000. In Jonson's Barthol. i. 1, Quarlous tells how Zeal-of-the-land Busy "has Undone a grocer here in N.-m., That trusted him with currants." One of the taverns in the list in News Barthol. Fair is "Three Tuns, N. M." Armin, in Ninnies, tells a story of "a cobler, next to Christ's Ch. gate in N. m." Barnes' Charter was "Printed by G. E. for John Wright and are to be sold at his shop in N.-m. near Christ ch. gate. 1607."

NEWINGTON
A suburb of Lond., formerly a separate vill. lying S. of Southwark, from St. George's to Camberwell. It was sometimes called N. Butts, from the butts for the practice of Archery which were erected there[ed. note: this etymology of Newington Butts is now discredited.]: the name is still retained by the st. running S. from the Elephant and Castle. The old parish ch. of St. Mary stood on the W. side of N. Butts, but was pulled down in 1876 to widen the road. Here Thomas Middleton was buried in 1627. His body was removed with hundreds of others when the church was pulled down, and interred with them in a vault specially constructed for the purpose.

There was a Theatre here established about 1585 and pulled down about 1600, the site of which was probably on the S. side of the New Kent Road near the railway station, not far from where Spurgeon's Tabernacle was built. The vill. was a favourite place for afternoon jaunts by the citizens of Lond. In Oldcastle iii. 2, N. is mentioned by Acton as one of the places of rendezvous for the followers of Oldcastle. Harman, in his Caveat, tells of the pursuit of a crank who crossed the river and "crossed over the fields towards Newyngton." In B. & F. Pestle iv. 5, Ralph says, "March on and show your willing minds, by 20 and by 20, To Hogsdon or to N., where cakes and ale are plenty." In Brome's Couple ii. 1, Careless professes his readiness to escort his aunt "any whither, to Islington, N., Paddington, Kensington, or any of the city out-leaps for a spirt and back again." Gosson, in School of Abuse, p. 37 (Arber), says of loose women: "They live a mile from the city like Venus, nuns in a cloister at N., Ratcliffe, Islington, Hogsdon, or some such place." In Field's Weathercock iii, 3, when Abraham perpetrates some fustian verses, Pendant cries: "O N. conceit!" i.e.. idea worthy of the N. Theatre.

NEW RIVER
An artificial river, originally nearly 40 m. long, projected by Sir Hugh Myddelton to supply Lond. with water, and completed by him after much delay and difficulty in 1613. It rose at Chadwell Springs in Herts., between Hertford and Ware, and drew further supplies from Amwell-Springs and the river Lea. It terminated at New River Head in Islington. Myddelton who had spent all his fortune on the scheme, parted with his interest in it to the New River Compnay, which still holds it. Middleton's Triumphs of Truth was written for performance at the inauguration of the N. R. in 1613. In the title it is described as "the running stream from Amwell-Head unto the cistern at Islington, being the sole cost of Mr. Hugh Middleton of Lond." In B. & F. Wit S. W. iv. 1, Pompey says, "Direct him and his horses towards the N. R. by Islington: there shall they have me, looking upon the pipes and whistling." In v. 1, Pompey says, "I have been 7 miles in length along the N.-R.; I have seen a hundred sticklebags; 'twill ne'er be a true water." Later he says, "I will go walk by the N: R.; if she sends, I shall be found angling." The play was produced in 1608-9; the work of constructing the N. R. was begun in 1608. In their Wit Money iv. 5, Valentine says, "You shall stay till I talk with you . . . Till waterworks and rumours of N. R. Ride you again, and run you into questions Who built the Thames." This play was produced in 1614. In Glapthorne's Hollander iv. 1, Sconce, after drinking, says, "I ha' made a N. R. in my belly and my guts are the pipes." In Scot. Presb. i. 2, Dipwell says, "Like to that river through which once Levites did bear the holy ark, N. R. flows."

NEW TROY
A name for Lond., derived from the legend which told how the Britons originally came from Troy after its capture by the Greeks (see TROYNOVANT). In Braithwaite's Barnabies journal, we read: "7 hills there were in Rome, and so there be 7 sights in N. T." Peele, in Polyhymnia 161, speaks of Gresham, "That beautified N. T. with Royal Change."

NEW WELLS
There were many springs of mineralized water all round Lond., which were visited for the sake of drinking the waters and became fashionable resorts with the additional attractions of eating-houses, dancing rooms, etc. These were called generically Wells: such were Bagnigge W., Sadler's W., Dulwich W., Sydenham W., Hampstead W., Islington W., White Conduit, and, a little further afield, Tunbridge W. and Epsom. Most of these were discovered and popularized in the 17th cent., and I have not been able to discover which is intended in the following passage: possibly Islington or Hampstead. In Jonson's New World, the Factor asks: "And they have [in the Moon] their N. W. too, and physical waters, I hope, to visit all time of year?"–To which the Herald replies: "Your Tunbridge or the Spaw itself are mere puddle to them."

NICHOLAS (SAINT) SHAMBLES
(Map K4)
A ch. in Lond. on the North side of Newgate St., near the Sh. The tradition of the Sh. was long preserved in Butcher Hall Lane, now K. Edward St., leading from Newgate St. to Little Britain. The ch. was pulled down at the Reformation, and the parish included in Christ Ch. In Wager's The Longer B. 1, Moros says, "In S. Nicolas sh. there is enough [meat]." In Wise Men i. 1, Proberio says of Antonio's works: "We'll put them in print and set them up to be sold at the Hospital porch near St. Nicolas Sh." In Deloney's Reading vi., when the clothiers' wives came up to Lond. they viewed "at St. N. ch., the flesh sh." In Long Meg viii., Meg, being asked by a nobleman in the Strand where she was going, replies: "To S. N. sh. to buy calves' heads."

NOBODY
The sign of John Trundle's bookshop in Barbican, Lond. Nobody was "Printed for John Trundle and are to be sold at his shop in Barbican at the sign of No-body." The sign represented a man all head, legs, and arms, with no body. There is a reference to this sign, or to some similar picture, in Temp. iii. 2, 136, where Trinculo says of Ariel's tune: "This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of Nobody." Taylor, in Works i. 123, says, "In Barbican kind Nobody is hanged."

NONSUCH HOUSE
(Map Q7)
A wooden house, 4 stories high, brought over from Holland and set up over the 7th and 8th arches of old Lond. Bdge., in the reign of Elizabeth. Only wooden pegs were used in its construction. Lupton, in London Carbonadoed (1632), says of Lond. Bdge.: "His houses may well be called Nonsuch, for there is none like them."

NORTON FOLGATE
(Map Q2)
A street in Lond, connecting Bishopsgate Street Without and High Street, Shoreditch. The Priory of St. Mary Spittle was founded on the E. side of the street near the corner of White Lion Street, in 1197, by William Brewen. In W. Rowley's New Wonder iv., Brewen says, "Near N. F. have I bought Ground to erect this house which I will call St. Mary's Hospital." An entry in Bodleian MS., Aubrey 8, 45, runs: "Mr. Beeston who knows most of him fr. Mr. Lacy he lived in Shoreditch at Hoglane within 6 doors f- N.-f." The reference is supposed to be to Shakespeare. See under HOG LANE.