UNVEILING MEMORIAL TABLET. 395 Earl Percy said "that was not an occasion for many words. They all knew Dr Bruce well; there was no one more familiar to the people of Newcastle, no one who entered more thoroughly into the life of the city than he. It might strike them, perhaps, that what they were now doing was a comparatively small token of their regard and esteem for Dr Bruce's memory. But it was a very wise custom, he thought, that they should note the dwellings of the remarkable men who had departed, and in many ways Dr Bruce was one of the most remarkable men that Newcastle had ever produced. They had recorded on the tablet that he was distinguished as an antiquary, as an historian, and as a philanthropist. As an antiquary and an historian his vast knowledge, his patient research, his great accuracy, placed him in a pre-eminent position, and made him an unrivalled authority amongst archæologians, especially with regard to the periods which he had more particularly studied. And as a philanthropist his heart and soul were bound up in seeking the welfare of the poor and suffering. He was not contented, as perhaps too many of them were, with joining movements, attending public meetings, and placing his name upon a list of institutions, but devoted a large portion of his time to the personal care of the poor. No claims upon him were allowed to interfere with his weekly visit to the Infirmary. These were all this tablet recorded of their dear old friend Dr Bruce, and it was fitting that they should confine themselves to these characteristics in a memorial, intended for the inspection of every passer-by. But it might be allowed to him to add that he had the privilege of Dr Bruce's friendship for a great number of years. He was not only his friend, but the friend of the whole of his family. He did him more acts of kindness than he could well mention or even recall. He was prompted to say one word more. Dr Bruce had many merits which were not recorded on the tablet. In one word, he might say that he always struck him as the pattern of the courteous Christian gentleman in the highest and widest sense of the phrase. And it was a striking feature in his character that, strong as his convictions were, he entertained the widest and most liberal toleration for the opinion of others. It was this quality, combined with his great stores of knowledge and the readiness which he always evinced to put them at the service of any inquirer, however ignorant or however young, which made him a charming companion and a faithful friend, whom none of those who knew him would ever forget and whom they should always mourn." In the year 1881 the house in Percy Street ceased to be used for a school, and the property passed into the hands of Councillor W. J. Sanderson, who had been a pupil in the school. The old buildings were taken down, and so the last vestige disappeared of a house which for more than seventy years had been the chief educational institution in the city. The owner of the premises, in erecting new buildings on the old site, determined to commemorate appropriately and permanently the associations which con UNVEILING STATUE ON BRUCE BUILDINGS. 397 nected the historian of the Roman Wall with the place. The new buildings were called Bruce Buildings, and a canopied niche was formed in the front wall, in which was placed a characteristic figure of the late Dr Bruce designed by Mr Ralph Hedley. Below the statue was the following inscription : JOHN COLLINGWOOD BRUCE, LL.D., D.C.L., F.S.A. FOUNDED BY JOHN BRUCE IN 1806, AND CONDUCTED The ceremony of unveiling this statue was performed by his son Mr Justice Bruce on the 11th of July 1896, in the presence of a large gathering of people, including the Mayor, the Sheriff, Sir Geo. Barclay Bruce, Miss Anne Bruce, Mr John Philipson, and many former pupils of Dr Bruce. The Mayor, Mr Riley Lord, afterwards Sir Riley Lord, in his speech said that the men who were at the Percy Street Academy had made the history of Newcastle during the last thirty years at least. Mr Justice Bruce having unveiled the statue, made a short speech, in the course of which he said he hoped that the citizens of Newcastle would long cherish the memory of one who had devoted the best energies of a long life to promote the welfare of his native city. On the motion of the Sheriff, a cordial vote of thanks was given to Councillor Sanderson for having placed the statue there. Councillor Sanderson, in reply, said that it had given him the very greatest pleasure to be able to mark the site where the good old school stood, and to perpetuate the memory of one whom he dearly loved, |