An abbey is a monastery or religious community of the highest class, governed by an abbot, assisted generally by a prior, sub-prior, and other subordinate functionaries; or, in the case of a female community, superintended by an abbess. An abbey invariably included a church. A priory differed from an abbey only in being scarcely so extensive an establishment, and was governed by a prior. In the English conventual cathedral establishments, as Canterbury, Norwich, Ely, etc, the archbishops or bishops held the abbot's place, the immediate governor of the monastery being called a prior.
Some priories sprang originally from the more important abbeys, and remained under the jurisdiction of the abbots; but subsequently any real distinction between abbeys and priories was lost. The greater abbeys formed most complete and extensive establishments, including not only the church and other buildings devoted to the monastic life and its daily requirements, such as the refectory or eating-room, the dormitories or sleeping-rooms, the room for social intercourse, the school for novices, the scribes' cells, library, and so on; but also workshops, storehouses, mills, cattle and poultry sheds, dwellings for artisans, labourers, and other servants, infirmary, guest-house, etc. Among the most famous abbeys on the continent of Europe were those of Cluny, Clairvaux, and Citeaux in France; St Galle in Switzerland, and Pulda in Germany; the most noteworthy English abbeys were those of Westminster, St Mary's of York, Fountains, Kirkstall, Tintern, Rievaulx, Netley; and of Scotland, Melrose, Paisley, and Arbroath. Research Abbey
The Academy of Art and Letters is a group of American citizens qualified by notable achievements in art, literature, or music. The members are selected from the membership of its parent body, the National Institute of Arts and Letters. The academy's aim is the furtherance of literature and the fine arts in the USA and has its headquarters in New York. It gives awards in art, literature, and music, jointly with the National Institute of Arts and Letters. The academy maintains a library of 15,000 volumes; a museum for book and manuscript exhibitions and storage of a permanent manuscript collection; an art gallery; and a permanent exhibition of the work of American painters Childe Hassam and Eugene Speicher. The academy awards the Howells Medal for the Novel (every five years); the Award of Merit Medal; and a prize of 1000 dollars annually. It holds exhibitions of works of art, manuscripts, books, and music scores. Paintings by American artists are purchased from the Childe Hassam Fund and Speicher Fund for distribution to museums. Research Academy of Art and Letters
The Actor's Studio is an acting school in New York that taught an Americanised version of Stanislavsky's Method and was very influential in 1950s and 60s American drama. It was founded in 1947-1948 either by Lee Strasberg or by Elia Kazan and Cheryl Crawford, depending on which source one consults. Strasberg served as artistic director of the school until his death in 1982. Many notable American actors of the 1950s and 1960s were graduates, including Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, James Dean, Montgomery Clift and Eva Marie-Saint. Research Actor's Studio
The first elected representative legislature in America was that which met at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. The colonies of Southern New England started with primary assemblies, from which representative assemblies were soon developed. In New York the first true legislature was assembled in 1683. In general the colonial legislatures were modelled on the British Parliament, the procedure of which they followed closely. To king, lords and commons corresponded the governor, the council appointed by him, and the representatives of the people, variously called house of burgesses, house of delegates, assembly, or house of representatives. These last were elected by voters having a property qualification, two members or more for each county in the Middle and Southern States, one or two from each town in New England.
The American Revolution broke up the upper houses or councils, and the new constitutions substituted what in Virginia (1776) and then in the other States was called a senate. Pennsylvania and Georgia had at first legislatures of but one house. The legislatures of the Southern States were generally given the power to choose the governor. The Constitution of 1787 gave the State Legislatures the right to choose US Senators. All the amendments to the Federal Constitution have been ratified by them. During the later half of the 19th century it was generally felt that State Legislatures had been declining in excellence during the last two generations, state constitutions having imposed more and more restrictions upon their action. Research American Legislature
Anarchists are a revolutionary sect or body setting forth as the social ideal the extreme form of individual freedom, and holding that all government is injurious and immoral, that the destruction of every social form now existing must be the first step to the creation of a new world (Anarchy). Their recognition as an independent sect may be dated from the secession of Bakunin and his followers from the Social Democrats at the congress of the Hague in 1872, since which they have maintained an active propaganda. Their principal journals have been La Revolte published in Paris, the Freiheit published in New York, Liberty published in Boston, and the Anarchist published in London. The Anarchist congress held at London in 1881 decided that all means were justifiable as against the organized forces of modern society. Research Anarchists
Anti-rentism was a movement among the leaseholders of certain counties in New York State, USA during 1839 to 1847 to resist the feudal dues appertaining to the Dutch manorial and patronship rights still remaining, though virtually abolished in 1775. In 1839 the heirs of one of the largest landowners in Albany county tried to evict those tenants who had not paid the feudal rents. The tenants resisted, the movement spread, ant-rent associations were formed and disturbances occurred. Repressive measures were adopted, and the resistance was put down. In 1846 feudal tenures of all kinds were abolished, and agricultural leases were limited to a maximum period of twelve years. Research Anti-rentism
The Astor Library was a public library founded in New York City by John Jacob Astor, and opened in 1853 following a bequest of $400,000 left by John Jacob Astor, followed by bequests of $200,000 and $450,0000 by his son and grandson. Research Astor Library
A bell is a hollow, somewhat cup-shaped, sounding instrument of metal. The metal from which bells are usually made (by founding) is an alloy, called bell-metal, commonly composed of eighty parts of copper and twenty of tin. The proportion of tin varies, however, from one-third to one-fifth of the weight of the copper, according to the sound required, the size of the bell, and the impulse to be given. The clearness and richness of the tone depend upon the metal used, the perfection of its casting, and also upon its shape; it having been shown by a number of experiments that the well-known shape with a thick lip is the best adapted to give a perfect sound. The depth of the tone of a bell increases in proportion to its size.
A bell is divided into the body or barrel, the ear or cannon, and the clapper or tongue. The lip or sound-bow is that part where the bell is struck by the clapper. It is uncertain whether the jangling instruments used by the Egyptians and Israelites can be correctly described as bells; but it is certain that bells of a considerable size were in early use in China and Japan, and that the Greeks and Romans used them for various purposes. They are said to have been first introduced into Christian churches about 400 AD by Paulinus, bishop of Nola, in Campania (whence campana and nola as old names of bells); although their adoption on a wide scale does not become apparent until after the year 550, when they were introduced into France.
Benedict Biscop, abbot of Wearmouth, seems to have imported bells from Italy to England in 680, but their use in Ireland and Scotland is probably of earlier date. The oldest of those existing in Great Britain and Ireland, such as the 'bell of St. Patrick's will' and St Ninian's bell, are quadrangular and made of thin iron plates hammered and riveted together.
Until the thirteenth century bells were of comparatively small size, but after the casting of the Jacqueline of Paris (6.5 tons) in 1400 their weight rapidly increased. Among the more famous bells are the bell of Cologne, 11. tons, 1448; of Dantzic, 6 tons, 1453; of Halberstadt, 7.5, 1457; of Rouen, 16, 1501; of Breslau, 11, 1507; of Lucerne, 71, 1636; of Oxford,7.5 1680; of Paris, 12.8, 1680; of Bruges, 10.5, 1680; of Vienna, 17.75, 1711; of Moscow (the monarch of all bells), 193, 1736; three other bells at Moscow ranging from 16 to 31 tons, and a fourth of 80 tons cast in 1819; the bell of Lincoln (Great Tom), 5.5, 1834; of YorkMinster (Great Peter), 10.75, 1845; of Montreal, 134, 1847; of Westminster (Big Ben), 15.5, 1856, (St Stephen), 13.5, 1858; the Great Bell of St. Paul's, 17.5, 1882. Others are the bells of Ghent (5 tons), Gorlitz (10.75 tons), St Peter's, Rome (8 tons), Antwerp (7.25 tons), Olmutz (18 tons), Sacred Heart, Paris (27 tons), Novgorod (31 tons), Pekin (53.5 tons).
Besides their use in churches bells are employed for various purposes, formerly the most common use being to summon attendants or domestics in private houses, hotels, etc. Bells for this purpose were of small size and may be held in the hand and rung, but most commonly were rung by means of wires stretched from the various apartments to the place where the bells were hung. Bells rung by electricity became common in hotels and other establishments around 1905.
The Billeting Act was a British Act of Parliament passed in 1765 directing Colonial (American) legislatures to make special contributions toward the support of an army. The Act was resisted in New York and in South Carolina. Research Billeting Act
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
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Abbreviations
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