(Encyclopedia) Wilde, Oscar (Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde), 1854–1900, Irish author and wit, b. Dublin. He is most famous for his sophisticated, brilliantly witty plays, which were the first…
(Encyclopedia) Washington, Booker Taliaferro, 1856–1915, American educator, b. Franklin co., Va. Washington was born into slavery; his mother was a mulatto slave on a plantation, his father a white…
(Encyclopedia) Ancren RiwleAncren Riwleängˈkrĕn rēˈ&oomacr;lə [key] or Ancrene WisseAncrene Wisseängˈkrĕnə wĭsˈə [key] [Mid. Eng.,=anchoresses' rule], English tract written c.1200 by an anonymous…
(Encyclopedia) Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849–1909, American novelist and short-story writer, b. South Berwick, Maine. Her studies of small-town New England life are perceptive, sympathetic, and gently…
(Encyclopedia) Stubbs, George, 1724–1806, English painter known for his studies of horses. Self-taught, Stubbs was interested in comparative anatomy and published his Anatomy of the Horse (1766),…
(Encyclopedia) Sandys, George, 1578–1644, English poet and traveler, b. Yorkshire, son of Archbishop Edwin Sandys. He was educated at Oxford and in 1610 began an extended tour of Europe and the…
(Encyclopedia) perennial, any plant that under natural conditions lives for several to many growing seasons, as contrasted to an annual or a biennial. Botanically, the term perennial applies to both…
(Encyclopedia) Livingston, family of American statesmen, diplomats, and jurists.
Edward Livingston,Edward Livingston, 1764–1836, b. Livingston Manor, was the son of Robert R. Livingston (1718–75)…
(Encyclopedia) Gower, JohnGower, Johngouˈər, gôr [key], 1330?–1408, English poet. He was the best-known contemporary and friend of Chaucer, who addressed him as “Moral Gower,” at the end of Troilus…
