The act of Settlement was an act passed by the English parliament in 1700, by which the succession to the throne of the three kingdoms, in the event of King William and Queen Anne dying without issue, was settled on the PrincessSophia, Electress of Hanover, and the heirs of her body being Protestants. The PrincessSophia was the youngest daughter of Elizabeth, queen of Bohemia, daughter of James I. By this act George I, son of the PrincessSophia, succeeded to the crown on the death of Queen Anne.
Another act of Settlement was, that by which, under Oliver Cromwell's government, a new allotment was made of almost all landed property in Ireland, in 1652. Research Act of Settlement
The Antinomians were a Christian religious sect founded in Germany by John Agricola. Antinomians believed that the law was of no use or obligation under the dispensation of the Gospel, and that good works availed nothing toward salvation. Antinomianism arrived in the USA with Anne Hutchinson, an English Antinomian who arrived in 1634 and supported the preachings of John Cotton and John Wheelwright. She was tried in 1637, and banished along with John Wheelwright and others. A number of her followers were fined or otherwise punished and the rule of the Puritanhierarchy was firmly established at the expense of freedom of thought and speech. Research Antinomians
The bandbox plot was an attempt to assassinate the lord-treasurer during the reign of Queen Anne. A bandbox containing three charged and cocked pistols was sent to the lord-treasurer, a thread tied to their triggers in such a way that when the box lid was lifted the pistols would discharge and shoot the person opening the box. Apparently deanSwift was present when the box was delivered, and seeing the thread cut it, thereby disarming the device. Research Bandbox Plot
A club, a select number of persons in the habit of meeting for the promotion of some common object, as social intercourse, literature, politics, etc. It is a peculiarly English institution, which can scarcely be said to have taken root in any other country except America. The coffee-houses of the 17th and 18th centuries are the best representatives of what is meant by a modern club, while the clubs of that time were commonly nothing but a kind of restaurants or taverns whero people resorted to take their meals. But while anybody was free to enter a coffeehouse, it wao absolutely necessary that a person should have been formally received as a member of a club, according to its regulations, before he was at liberty to enter it.
Among the earliest of the London clubs was the Kit-cat Club, formed in the reign of Queen Anne, among whoso forty members were dukes, earls, and the leading authors of tho day. Another club formed about the same time was the Beefsteak Club. Originally these two cluba had no pronounced political views, but in the end they began to occupy themselves with politics, the Kit-cat Club being Whig, and the Beefsteak Club Tory. Perhaps the most celebrated club of the 18th century was that which was first called The Club par excellence, and numbered among its members Dr. Johnson, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, Oliver Goldsmith, Edward Gibbon, and others.
Clubs are often provided with reading-room and library, and formerly a smoking-room, billiard-room, coffee-room, dining-room, drawing-room, etc, and also may have a certain number of bed-rooms. Besides being convenient for social intercourse, members may obtain their meals in them, served in the best style and at moderate cost. New members are admitted by ballot, and pay a certain entrance fee as well as an annual subscription. Research Club
Dieu et mon droit (God and my right) is the motto of the English royal family. The motto was the parole of Richard I at the Battle of Gisors in 1198, meaning that he was no vassal of France, but owed his royalty to God alone. The motto was revived by Edward III when he claimed the crown of France. Except during the reigns of Elizabeth I and Anne, who used the motto Semper eadem, and of William III, who personally used Je maintiendray, it has ever since been the royal motto of England. Research Dieu et mon droit
The Free Church of Scotland is a Presbyterian church organized as a separate body from the Established Church in May, 1843. The Queen Anne Act of 1712, which restored patronage in Scotland, was for long the chronic cause of schism and discontent in the Scottish church, unwelcome clergymen often being appointed to church livings.
In 1834 the General Assembly passed a veto act, which declared that no minister should be intruded into a parishchurch against the will of the people, and that a majority of male heads of families, full members of the church, should be able to bar an obnoxious presentee. This act before long created litigation, and the ecclesiastical and civil powers came into conflict. The struggle was brought to an issue by the judgment of the House of Lords in 1842, affirming a decree of the Court of Session, which required the presbytery of Auchterarder to induct the presentee to Auchterarderparish without regard to the dissent of the parishioners. In May, 1843, the members of the General Assembly had been elected and were convened at Edinburgh, when the Reverend Dr. David Welsh, who had been moderator of the last Assembly, instead of constituting the meeting in the ordinary manner, rose and read a protest, pointing out that the civil courts had undue powers of interference with the Established Church, and concluding by asserting the right of the protesters, in the circumstances, to withdraw to a separate place of meeting for the purpose of taking steps on behalf of themselves and their adherents for separating in an orderly way from the Establishment, but still maintaining the Confession of Faith and Standards of the Church of Scotland as heretofore understood.
After reading this document the moderator and other members of Assembly, together with those adhering to them, withdrew to another place of meeting (the Tanfield Hall, Canonmills), and constituted themselves the Free Church of Scotland. They elected Dr. Chalmers as their moderator, and proceeded with the business before them. Although thus denuded of the temporal benefits of an establishment, they declared themselves to be the true national church of the Reformation, and did not object to the endowment and establishment of religion by the state. In later years, however, a decided majority of the Free Churchclergy gave up the doctrine of the lawfulness of the establishment of the church by the state, and became converts to the 'voluntary principle'. The deed of demission, or resignation of livings, was signed by 474 ministers and professors. A sustentation fund was instituted for the maintenance of the ministers, to be supplied by the voluntary offerings of the people. In the first year after the disruption the sum of 366,719 pounds sterling was contributed for the erection of churches, between 700 and 800 of which had to be provided for congregations which left the Establishment with their ministers. Colleges for the theological training of the ministry were subsequently erected in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, Schools were added to the churches in town and country, and normal schools for the training of teachers were instituted. In 1900 the Free Church joined the United Presbyterian Church (established in 1847 on the voluntary principle), to form the United Free Church of Scotland. A small minority of Free Church ministers and members refused to accept the union and claimed to be the true Free Church of Scotland, a claim which the law decided in their favour, the church property passing in accordance with the decision. The inability of the (new) Free Church to make full use of the churches - and other property thus assigned led to legislative interference
to a commission for allocation of property in 1905. Research Free Church of Scotland
Gaming, or gambling is the practice of indulging in games involving some element of chance or hazard with a view to pecuniary gain.
In many countries such games, and the collateral practices of betting on events, taking shares in lotteries, etc, are legally prohibited or restricted as frequently associated with fraud and as themselves demoralizing. At other times governments, tempted by the prospect of gain, have openly encouraged gambling by licensing gaming- houses, or instituting lotteries under their own authority. In France public gaming-tables were suppressed from the 1st of January, 1838, but lotteries were still sometimes carried on.
Previous to the formation of the German Empire gambling was encouraged in both of the ways referred to in several of the principalities of Germany. Baden-Baden, in the Grand-duchy of Baden, and Homburg, in Hesse-Homburg, were the two most famous resorts in Europe of the frequenters of gaming-tables. After the formation of the empire gaming was suppressed in these places on the 31st of December, 1872, and after that time the Italian principality of Monaco became the last public resort of this species of gambling, quickly developing into a world famous gaming center even after a relaxation of gaming rules in other European countries during the 20th century.
In Great Britain gaming has been the subject of numerous enactments. Henry VIII made proclamation against certain games, including dice, cards, and bowls, and prohibited the keeping of any common house for unlawful games under penalties of 40 shillings per day for keeping the house, and 6s. 8d per time for playing in it.
By an act of Charles II in 1663 any person fraudulently winning money by gaming was to forfeit treble the amount, and any person losing more than 100 pounds at cards, etc, on credit at one sitting was not bound to pay, and the winner forfeited treble the amount.
Under Anne all notes, bills, bonds, etc, given for money won by gaming were decreed void, and any person paying a loss of more than 10 pounds might recover it within three months as a common debt; or if the loser did not sue, any other person might do so. In the reign of William IV such notes were declared void between the parties, but not in the hands of purchasers or endorsers.
By acts of George II keepers of public-houses were punishable for permitting gaming, and the games of faro, hazard, roulette, and all other games with dice, except backgammon, are prohibited under penalties. This law, with amendments is still in force in 2009 with cribbage, dominoes and other games of pure skill allowed to be played in public-houses for moderate stakes.
An act of 1845, while repealing some of the previous acts and exempting games of mere skill, including billiards and dominoes, inflicted the penalty of 100 pounds (afterwards increased to a maximum of 500 pounds) on any person keeping a gaming-house, with the alternative of six months' imprisonment. Cards and other games could of course be played in private houses, but not in gaming-houses, or in such a way as to constitute a nuisance. Persons playing or gaming in public places could be punished as rogues and vagabonds. Penalties were inflicted for keeping billiard
or bagatelle tables without a license. Lotteries and raffles were illegal (but art union lotteries were excepted). Persons fraudulently winning money by gaming were deemed guilty of obtaining it by false pretences. No suit-at-law could be brought against a loser for money won at play or to recover money so lost, or to recover a deposit from a stakeholder; but this did not apply to prizes at any lawful sport. Later acts provide that betting-houses should be considered gaming-houses. Any person found in a gaming-house who gave a false name or address was liable to a fine of fifty pounds. Research Gaming
Punch and Judy is a puppet show in which the chief protagonist, Punch (punchinello) strangles his child, beats his wife, Judy, to death and assaults a policeman among other gruesome acts. The show was first popular in England during the reign of Queen Anne, and is still a favourite among children at the seaside. Research Punch and Judy
In terms of furniture, Queen Anne refers to a style of furniture popularised around the early 18th century of which there are a few distinctive features: the use of walnut; the use of the cabriole leg, which is a leg shaped in the form of a double curve with the upper part being convex and the lower part concave, and the leg ending in either a claw-and-ball or a paw foot and the use of marquetry, inlay, veneering, and lacquer work and carvings of scallop shells, scrolls, Oriental figures, animals, and plants to decorate furniture of the time. Chairs of the Queen Anne period often had a curved back (a splat back) so as to fit the small of the back. Research Queen Anne
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Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Act of Settlement
