Septennial Act 1716 It did not require parliament to last for a full term, but merely set a maximum length on its life. Most parliaments in the remainder of the eighteenth century did indeed last for six or seven years, with only two lasting for a shorter time. In the nineteenth century, the average length of a term of the Parliament of the United Kingdom was four years. One of the demands of the mid-nineteenth century Chartists—the only one that had not been achieved by the twentieth century—was for annually-elected parliaments. The Septennial Act was amended on 18 August 1911 by of the
How It Is crawls through endless mud, recalling his life separated into three distinct periods. The title is Beckett's literal translation of the French phrase, "comment c'est" (how it is), a pun on the French verb "commencer" or 'to begin'. The text is divided into three parts: "before Pim" - the solitary narrator journeys in the mud-dark until he encounters another creature like himself thereby forming a "couple". His journey is abundant with recollections from his life above, including reminiscences of a woman and of his parents. "with Pim" - the narrator is motionless in the mud-dark until he is abandoned by Pim.