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 ADVANCEMENT, a term technically used in English law for a sum of money or other benefit, given by a father during his lifetime to his child, which must be brought into account by the child on a distribution of the father’s estate upon an intestacy on pain of his being excluded from participating in such distribution. The principle is of ancient origin; as regards goods and chattels it was part of the ancient customs of London and the province of York, and as regards land descending in coparcenary it has always been part of the common law of England under the name of  (q.v.). The general rule was established by the Statutes of Distribution. The conditions under which cases of advancement arise are as follows: There must be a complete intestacy; the intestate estate must be that of the father; and the advancement must have been made in the lifetime of the father. Land which belongs or would belong to a child as heir at law or customary heir need not be brought in to the common fund, even though such land was given during the father’s life. The widow can gain no advantage from any advancement. No child can be forced to account for his or her advancement, but in default thereof he will be excluded from a share in the intestate’s estate. As to what is an advancement there has been much conflict of judicial opinion. According to one view, nothing is an advancement unless it be given “on marriage or to establish the child in life.” The other and probably the correct view is that any considerable sum of money paid to a child at that child’s request is an advancement; thus payment of a son’s debts of honour has been held to be an advancement. On the other hand, trivial gifts and presents to a child are undoubtedly not advancements.

ADVANTAGE, that which gives gain or helps forward in any way. The Fr. avant (before) shows the origin and meaning of this word, the d having subsequently crept in and corrupted the spelling. It is often contracted to “vantage.” In some games (e.g. lawn tennis) the term “vantage” is used technically in scoring (“deuce” and “vantage”; “vantage sets”). A position which gives a better chance of success than its surroundings is called a “vantage ground.” In an unfavourable sense the word “advantage” is used to express a mean use made of some favourable condition (e.g. to take advantage of another man’s misfortunes).

ADVENT (Lat. Adventus, sc. Redemptoris, “the coming of the Saviour”), a holy season of the Christian church, the period of preparation for the celebration of the nativity or Christmas. In the Eastern church it lasts from St Martin’s Day (11th of November), and in other churches from the Sunday nearest to St Andrew’s Day (30th of November) till Christmas. It is uncertain at what date the season began to be observed. A canon of a council at Saragossa in 380, forbidding the faithful to be absent from church during the three weeks from the 17th of December to the Epiphany, is thought to be an early reference to Advent. The first authoritative mention of it is in the Synod of Lerida (524), and since the 6th century it has been recognized as the beginning of the ecclesiastical year. With the view of directing the thoughts of Christians to the first coming of Christ as Saviour, and to his second coming as Judge, special lessons are prescribed for the four Sundays in Advent. From the 6th century the season was kept as a period of fasting as strict as that of Lent; but in the Anglican and Lutheran churches the rule is now relaxed. In the Roman Catholic church Advent is still kept as a season of penitence. Dancing and festivities are forbidden, fasting enjoined and purple vestments are worn in the church services.

In many countries Advent was long marked by diverse popular observances, some of which even still survive. Thus in England, especially the northern counties, there was a custom (now extinct) for poor women to carry round the “Advent images,” two dolls dressed one to represent Christ and the other the Virgin Mary. A halfpenny was expected from every one to whom these were exhibited, and bad luck was thought to menace the household not visited by the doll-bearers before Christmas Eve at the latest.

In Normandy the farmers still employ children under twelve to run through the fields and orchards armed with torches, setting fire to bundles of straw, and thus it is believed driving out such vermin as are likely to damage the crops. In Italy among other Advent celebrations is the entry into Rome in the last days of Advent of the Calabrian pifferari or bagpipe players, who play before the shrines of the Holy Mother. The Italian tradition is that the shepherds played on these pipes when they came to the manger at Bethlehem to do homage to the Saviour.

ADVENTISTS, SECOND, members of religious bodies whose distinctive feature is a belief in the imminent physical return of Jesus Christ. The first to bear the name were the followers of William Miller, and adherents have always been more numerous in America than in Europe. There is a body of Seventh Day Adventists who observe the old Sabbath (Saturday) rather than the Christian Sunday. They counsel abstemious habits, but set no time for the coming of Christ, and so are spared the perpetual disappointments that overtake the ordinary adventist. They have some 400 ministers and 60,000 members.

ADVENTITIOUS (from Lat. adventicius, coming from abroad), a quality from outside, in no sense part of the substance or circumstance: a man’s clothes, or condition of life, his wealth or his poverty, are called by Carlyle “adventitious wrappages,” as being extrinsic, superadded and not a natural part of him. In botany the word means that which is not normal to the plant, which appears irregularly and accidentally, e.g. buds or roots out of place, or strange spots and streaks not native to the flower.

ADVENTURE (from Lat. res adventura, a thing about to happen), chance, and especially chance of danger; so a hazardous enterprise or remarkable incident. Thus an “adventurer,” from meaning one who takes part in some speculative course of action, came to mean one who lived by his wits and a person of no character. The word is also used in certain restricted legal connexions. Joint adventure, for instance, may be distinguished from (q.v.). A bill of adventure in maritime law (now apparently obsolete) is a writing signed by the shipmaster declaring that goods shipped in his name really belong to another, to whom he is responsible. The bill of gross adventure in French maritime law is an instrument making a loan on maritime security.

ADVERTISEMENT, or (Fr. avertissement, warning, or notice), the process of obtaining and particularly of purchasing publicity. The business of advertising is of very recent origin if it be regarded as a serious adjunct to other phases of commercial activity. In some rudimentary form the seller’s appeal to the buyer must, however, have accompanied the earliest development of trade. Under conditions of primitive barter, communities were so small that every producer was in immediate personal contact with every consumer. As the primeval man’s wolfish antipathy to the stranger of another pack gradually diminished, and as intercourse spread the infection of larger desires, the trapper could no longer satisfy his more complicated wants by the mere exchange of his pelts for his lowland neighbour’s corn and oil. A began to accept from B the commodity which he could in turn deliver to C, while C in exchange for B’s product gave to A what D had produced and bartered to C. The mere statement of such a transaction sufficiently presents its clumsiness, and the use of primitive forms of coin soon simplified the original process of bare barter. It is reasonable to suppose that as soon as the introduction of currency marked the abandonment of direct relations between purchaser and consumer an informal system of advertisement in turn rose to meet the need of publicity. At first the offer of the producer must have been brought to the trader’s attention, and the trader’s offer to the notice of the consumer, by casual personal contact, supplemented by local rumour. The gradual growth of markets and their development into periodical fairs, to which merchants from distant places resorted, afforded, until printing was invented, the only means of extended advertisement. In England, during the 3rd century, Stourbridge Fair attracted traders from abroad as well as from all parts of England, and it may be conjectured that the crying of wares before the booths on the banks of the Stour