The name given to four fortresses in Northern Italy, Peschiera, Mantua, Legnago and Verona.

Quadrilateral, Bulgarian.

The four fortresses of Varna, Silistria, Rustchuk and Schumla are known by this name.

Quadrilateral Treaty.

A treaty signed in 1840, by Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, by which the signatories bound themselves to protect the Porte against aggression.

Quadruple Alliance, 1718.

An alliance between England, France, Austria and Holland, formed to prevent Spain recovering her former possessions in Italy. It became the Quadruple Alliance through the adhesion of Austria to the Triple Alliance of 1717. Its operations were completely successful, and Spain gave way in 1719.

Quadruple Alliance, 1834.

An alliance of Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal, effected by Palmerston as a counterpoise to the Holy Alliance of Russia, Prussia and Austria.

Quakers.

The name commonly given to the Society of Friends, a sect founded in 1648 by George Fox, a Leicestershire shoemaker. The sect was organized into a Society in 1866.

Quarantaine le Roy.

An ordinance issued in the early part of the reign of Louis IX, designed to put a stop to private warfare. It provided that in the event of a crime being committed, a period of forty days should elapse before vengeance was exacted, and that at any time during that period the relatives of the murdered man might call upon the Bailli to execute the justice of the King.

Quarterage.

A special tax levied in the reign of Queen Anne upon all Catholics who established a business in Ireland.

Quebec Act.

An Act passed in 1775 by Lord North’s Government, authorizing the Crown to throw open posts of honour to the Catholics in Canada, and restoring the French system of law in the French Canadian provinces. It also confirmed the Roman Catholic Clergy in their benefices.

Queen Anne’s Bounty.

The revenue derived from annates and tithes on Church property, which had been transferred from the Church to the Crown by Henry VIII. In 1704, Queen Anne, with the consent of Parliament, retransferred these revenues to commissioners, to be employed in supplementing the incomes of benefices of less than £200 per annum. The amount annually distributed is about £36,000.

Queen Dick.

A nickname of Richard Cromwell, having reference to the weakness of his character.

Queen of the Adriatic.

The city of Venice is so called.

Queen of the Antilles.

A name given to the island of Cuba.

Queen of Tears.

The sobriquet of Mary of Modena, wife of James II of England.

Queen Sarah.

Sarah Duchess of Marlborough (1660-1744) was so called on account of the ascendency she exercised over Queen Anne.

Queen’s Gold.

The right of the Queen Consort of England to every tenth mark paid to the King on the granting or renewal of leases or charters. Charles I bought the right from his wife for £10,000, and it has never since been enforced. It was also called the aurum reginÆ, and is probably the Gersamma ReginÆ of Domesday Book.

Queensberry Plot.

A plot on the part of Lord Lovat, in 1703, to ruin Lord Athole, the Keeper of the Privy Seal in Scotland, with whom he had a feud. The plan was to implicate him in a pretended Jacobite rising in the Highlands. Lord Queensberry, the Commissioner, who also had a grudge against Athole, was drawn into the plot by the production of a letter from the ex-Queen, purporting to be addressed to Athole, as a proof that he was in correspondence with the exiled Stuarts. Athole had no great difficulty in clearing himself of suspicion, and Queensberry was forced to resign. This is known also as the Scots Plot.

Queensland, Separation of.

The erection of the northern portion of New South Wales into a separate colony under the title of Queensland was effected by an Act passed in 1859.

Quia Emptores, Statute of.

A Statute passed in 1290, with the object of preventing the formation of new manors. By this Statute land granted by a feudal lord ceased to belong to him, and owed feudal dues to the superior lord of the estate. Its result was to increase largely the number of gentlemen holding direct from the Crown.

Quietists.

A sect which arose in France about 1780, under the leadership of Mme. Guyon, who advocated a contemplative rather than an active religious life. FÉnÉlon was to a considerable extent influenced by these tenets.

Quixote of the North.

A nickname of Charles XII of Sweden (1697-1718).

Quo Warranto.

Commissions of Quo Warranto were issued by Edward I to enquire as to how estates and judicial rights had passed from the Crown into the hands of individuals and corporations, and to settle definitely which were the Royal Manors.