72 SET 
mountains. This vale, which, from being watered by the 
Ribble, has acquired the name of Ribblesdale, is not surpass¬ 
ed by any in England for richness of verdure. Like most of 
the other towns and villages in this district. Settle is mostly 
built of stone, brick being only used for the chimneys. The 
buildings are irregularly laid out, but there is a spacious 
market-place. The parish church is on the opposite side of 
the river at Giggleswick, in which parish the town is situated. 
The cotton mills here and in the vicinity employ a great. 
many hands, especially in winter. Market on Tuesday, and 
also on every other Monday, for fat and lean cattle. Here 
are also various fairs, which are generally well attended, and 
are noted for large supplies of cattle. Population 1153; 
houses 274; 58 miles west-by-north of York, and 232 
north-west by-north of London. Lat. 54. 4. N. long. 2. 
15. W. 
SE'TTLE, s. [Goth, sit/s; Sax. pel fecol.] A seat; 
a bench; something to sit on.—From the bottom to the 
lower settle shall be two cubits. Ezek. 
The man, their hearty welcome first exprest, 
A common settle drew for either guest, 
Inviting each his weary limbs to rest. Dry den. 
To SE'TTLE, v. a. [from the Sax. verb paehthan, 
pihclian, to compose, to reconcile; j ahee, peace.] To 
place in any certain state after a time of fluctuation or dis¬ 
turbance. 
In hope to find 
Better abode, and my afflicted powers 
To settle here. Milton. 
To fix in any way of life. 
The father thought the time drew on 
Of settling in the world his only son. Dryden. 
To fix in any place. 
Yet as I swiftly sail’d the other day, 
The settled rock seem’d from his seat removed. P. Fletcher. 
Settled in his face I see 
Sad resolution. Milton. 
To establish; to confirm. 
Justice submitted to what Abra pleas’d: 
Her will alone could settle or revoke. 
’ And law was fix’d by what she latest spoke. Prior. 
To determine; to affirm; to free from ambiguity.—This 
exactness will be troublesome, and therefore men will think 
they may be excused from settling the complex ideas of 
mixed modes so precisely in their minds. Locke. —To make 
certain or unchangeable.—This, by a settled habit in things, 
whereof we have f requent experience, is performed so quick, 
that we take that, for the perception of our sensation which is 
an idea formed by our judgment. Locke. —To fix; not to 
suffer to continue doubtful in opinion, or wavering in con¬ 
duct.—A pamphlet that talks of slavery, France and the 
pretender; they desire no more : it will settle the wavering 
and confirm the doubtful. Swift. —To make close or com¬ 
pact.— Cover ant-hills up, that the rain may settle the turf 
before the Spring. Mortimer. —To fix unalienably by legal 
sanctions.—I have given him the parsonage of the parish, 
and, because I know his value, have settled upon him a 
good annuity for life. Addison —To fix inseparably.— 
Exalt your passion by directing and settling it upon an ob¬ 
ject, the due contemplation of whose loveliness may cure 
perfectly all hurts received from mortal beauty. Boyle. — 
To affect so as that the dregs or impurities sink to the 
bottom. 
So do the winds and thunders cleanse the air; 
So working seas settle and purge the wine. Davies. 
To compose; to put in a state of calmness.—When thou 
art settling thyself to thy devotions, imagine thou hearest 
thy Saviour calling to thee, as he did to Martha, Why art 
thou so careful ? Duppa. 
To SE'TTLE, v. n. To subside; to sink to the bottom 
and repose there.—That country became a gained ground by 
SET 
the mud brought down by the Nilus, which settled by 
degrees into a firm land. Brown. —To lose motion or 
fermentation ; to deposite faeces at the bottom. 
Your fury then boil’d upward to a foam; 
But since this message came, you sink and settle , 
As if cold water had been pour’d upon you. Dry den. 
A government, upon such occasions, is always thick 
before it settles. Addison. —To fix one’s self; to establish 
a residence—The Spinetae, descended from the Pelasgi, 
settled at the mouth of the river Po. Arhuthnot. —To chuse 
a method of life; to establish a domestic state. 
As people marry now, and settle , 
Fierce love abates his Usual mettle; 
Worldly desires, and household cares. 
Disturb the godhead’s soft affairs. Prior. 
To become fixed so as not to change.—The wind came 
about and settled in the West, so as we could make no way. 
Bacon. To quit an irregular and desultory for a methodical 
life.—To take any lasting state.—According to laws esta¬ 
blished by the divine wisdom, it was wrought by degrees 
from one form into another, till it settled at length into an 
habitable earth. Burnet. —Chyle, before it circulates with 
the blood, is whitish: by the force of circulation it runs 
through all the intermediate colours, till it settles in an in¬ 
tense red. Arbuthnot. —To rest; to repose.—When time 
hath worn out their natural vanity, and taught them discre¬ 
tion, their fondness settles on its proper object. Spectator. 
Warm’d in the brain the brazen weapon lies. 
And shades eternal settle o’er his eyes. Pope. 
To grow calm. 
’Till the fury of his highness settle , 
Come not before him. Shakspeare. 
To make a jointure for a wife.—He sighs with most suc¬ 
cess that settles well. Garth. —To contract.—One part 
being moist, and the other dry, occasions its settling more 
in one place than another, which causes cracks and settlings 
in the wall. Mortimer. 
SE'TTLEDNESS, s. The state of being settled ; con¬ 
firmed state.—We have attained to a scttledness of disposi¬ 
tion. Bp. Hall. 
SETTLEMENT, s. The act of settling; the state of 
being settled. The act of giving possession by legal sanc¬ 
tion. 
My flocks, my fields, my woods, my pastures take. 
With settlement as good as law can make. Dryden: 
A jointure granted to a wife. 
Strephon sigh’d so loud and strong, 
He blew a settlement along ; 
And bravely drove his rivals down 
With coach and six, and house in town. Swift. 
Subsidence; dregs.—Fuller’s earth left a thick settlement. 
Mortimer. —Act of quitting a roving for a domestic and 
methodical life.—Every man living has a design in his head 
upon wealth, power, or settlement in the world. It Estrange. 
—A colony; a place where a colony is established.— 
Such were the clamours of his enemies, and the ingrati¬ 
tude of the court of Spain, that after discovering the con¬ 
tinent, and making a settlement in the islands of America, 
he [Columbus] was treated like a criminal, and carried over 
to Europe in irons. Guthrie. 
SETTLEMENT, Act of, in British History, a name 
given to the statute 12 and 13 W. III. cap. 2., by which the 
crown was limited to his present majesty’s illustrious house; 
and some new provisions were added, at the same fortunate 
era, for better securing our religion, laws and liberties; 
which the statute declares to be the birth-right of the people 
of England, according to the ancient doctrine of the com¬ 
mon law. 
SE'TTLER, s. One who fixes in a place where a colony 
is established. 
SETTLE WOOD, 
