Queen Anne (born 10th May 1655, died 1st August 1714) was the second daughter of James II. and Anne Hyde, daughter of Edward Hyde, first Earl of Clarendon. She succeeded her cousin, William III., on the throne of England in 1702. Queen Anne was the last of the Stuart line to occupy the throne of England. The first coat-of-arms used by Queen Anne was the same as that generally used by her predecessor, but without the arms of Nassau, that is to say, first and fourth grand quarters, France and England quarterly; second grand quarter, Scotland; and third grand quarter, Ireland. In 1702 a notice was published in the _London Gazette_ to the effect that "wheresoever there shall be occasion to embroider, depict, grave, carve, or paint Her Majesty's Royal Arms with a motto, this Motto following, _viz_. SEMPER EADEM, is to be used" (23rd December). It will be remembered that this motto had been previously used by Queen Elizabeth. The Legislative Union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland took place on Thursday, 6th March 1706, when the royal assent was given to the Act. A change in the Royal coat-of-arms took place in consequence of this Act, and for the remainder of the reign of Queen Anne (1706-1714) the first and fourth grand quarters contained the coats of England and Scotland impaled, in the manner used to denote husband and wife; the second grand quarter, France; and the third grand quarter, Ireland. Besides the coat-of-arms, the crowned initials and name of Queen Anne were frequently stamped upon her books, and some of her book-stamps appear to have been designed by foreigners. Queen Anne's books came to the British Museum with the rest of the old Royal Library of England in 1757. [Illustration] ASTLE, THOMAS _Arms._--Az., a cinquefoil erm., a bordure engrailed of the second. _Astle._ _Crest._--On a chapeau, a plume of five feathers in a case arg. banded gu., and environed with a ducal coronet or. [Collection of miscellaneous MSS. Stowe, 516.] Thomas Astle (born 22nd December 1735, died 1st December 1803) was a book collector and antiquary, and a native of Yoxall in Staffordshire. In 1783 he was appointed Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London, where his literary tastes stood him in good stead, and he edited and indexed the treasures which were under his care with energy and success; he was also a Trustee of the British Museum.