, built for
the exhibition of pictures by those well-known painters T.M. Richardson
and H.T. Parker, and for a short period the home of the Pen and Palette
Club, which, both here and in its new home at Higham Place, has
entertained many people distinguished in letters, art, and travel who
have visited the town of late years; and No. 9, Pleasant Row, the
birthplace of Lord Armstrong, which has only recently been destroyed to
make way for the N.E.R. Company's new ferro-concrete Goods Station in
New Bridge Street.

The list of important buildings in Newcastle, exclusive of the churches,
is a long one; one of the most prominent is the Library of the Literary
and Philosophical Society, familiarly known as the "Lit. and Phil.,"
which stands at the lower end of Westgate Road, a little way back from
the roadway. It is built on the site of the town house of the Earls of
Westmoreland; and its fine Lecture Theatre was a gift to the Society
from Lord Armstrong. It is the centre of the intellectual life of the
city as a whole, apart from the work of the justly famed Armstrong
College, a teaching institute of University rank. This was formerly
known as the Durham College of Science, and, with the Durham College of
Medicine, forms part of the University of Durham.

Other seats of learning in the town are the Rutherford College, in Bath
Lane, and the Royal Grammar School, which dates from the reign of Henry
VIII. It was reconstituted by Queen Elizabeth, and has had many changes
of abode. At one time it occupied the buildings of the Convent of St.
Mary, which covered the space where Stephenson's monument now stands.
While the Grammar School was located there, the boys Cuthbert
Collingwood, William Scott, and John Scott, who afterwards became so
famous, attended it; and other distinguished scholars were John Horsley,
author of _Britannia Romana_, and John Brand and Henry Bourne, the
historians of Newcastle. The school is now situated in Eskdale Terrace
and its splendid playing fields stretch across to the North Road.

One of the most interesting buildings in Newcastle is the Hancock Museum
of Natural History, at Barras Bridge. It contains a matchless collection
of birds, and some unique specimens of extinct species; also the
original drawings of Bewick's _British Birds_, and other works of his.
The famous Newcastle naturalist, John Hancock, presented his wonderful
collection, prepared by himself, to the museum. Here, too, is a complete