the meeting of several persons, in the same place, upon the same design.

the beau monde, an appointed meeting of fashionable persons of both sexes, for the sake of play, dancing, gallantry, conversation, &c.

the military art, the second beating of a drum before a march; at which the soldiers strike their tents, roll them up, and stand to arms.

Assemblies of the clergy are called convocations, synods, councils. The annual meeting of the church of Scotland is called a General Assembly: In this assembly his Majesty is represented by his Commissioner, who dissolves one meeting, and calls another, in the name of the King, while the Moderator does the same in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Assemblies of the Roman people were called comitia. Under the Gothic governments, the supreme legislative power was lodged in an assembly of the states of the kingdom, held annually for the like purposes as our parliament. Some feeble remains of this usage still subsist in the annual assemblies of the states of Languedoc, Bretagne, and a few other provinces of France; but there are no more than shadows of the ancient assemblies. It is only in Great Britain, Sweden, and Poland, that such assemblies retain their ancient powers and privileges.