DOGGETT (or DOGGET), THOMAS (d. 1721), English actor, was born in Dublin, and made his first appearance in London in 1691 as Nincompoop in D'Urfey's _Love for Money_. In this part, and as Solon in the same author's _Marriage-hater matched_, he gained the favour of the public. He followed Betterton to Lincoln's Inn Fields, creating the part of Ben, especially written for him, in Congreve's _Love for Love_, with which the theatre opened (1695); and next year played Young Hobb in his own _The Country Wake_. He was associated with Cibber and others in the management of the Haymarket and Drury Lane, and he continued to play comedy parts at the former until his retirement in 1713. Doggett is highly spoken of by his contemporaries, both as an actor and as a man, and is frequently referred to in _The Tatler_ and _Spectator_. It was he who in 1715 founded the prize of "Doggett's Coat and Badge" in honour of the house of Hanover, "in commemoration of his Majesty King George's happy Accession to the Brittish Throne." The prize was a red coat with a large silver badge on the arm, bearing the white horse of Hanover, and the race had to be rowed annually on the 1st of August on the Thames, by six young watermen who were not to have exceeded the time of their apprenticeship by twelve months. Although the first contest took place in 1715, the names of the winners have only been preserved since 1791. The race is still rowed each year, but under modified conditions.
See _Thomas Doggett, Deceased_ (London, 1908).
DOGMA (Gr. [Greek: dogma], from [Greek: dokein], to seem; literally "that which seems, sc. good or true or useful" to any one), a term which has passed through many senses both general and technical, and is now chiefly used in theology. In Greek constitutional history the decision of--"that which seemed good to"--an assembly was called a [Greek: dogma] (i.e. decree), and throughout its history the word has generally implied a decision, or body of decisions or opinions, officially adopted and regarded by those who make it as possessing authority. As a technical term in theology, it has various shades of meaning according to the degree of authority which is postulated and the nature of the evidence on which it is based. Thus it has been used broadly of all theological doctrines, and also in a narrower sense of fundamental beliefs only, confession of which is insisted upon as a term of church communion. By sceptics the word "dogma" is generally used contemptuously, for an opinion grounded not upon evidence but upon assertion; and this attitude is so far justified from the purely empirical standpoint that theological dogmas deal with subjects which, by their very nature, are not susceptible of demonstration by the methods of physical science. Again, popularly, an unproved _ex cathedra_ statement of any kind is called "dogmatic," with perhaps an insinuation that it is being obstinately adhered to without, or beyond, or in defiance of, obtainable evidence. But again to "dogmatize" may mean simply to assert, instead of hesitating or suspending judgment.