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Schuyler, Philip John

(Encyclopedia)Schuyler, Philip John skīˈlər [key], 1733–1804, American Revolutionary general, b. Albany, N.Y. He was a member of one of the wealthiest colonial New York families. After serving in the French an...

Plummer, Christopher

(Encyclopedia) Plummer, Christopher (Arthur Christopher Orme), 1929-2021, Canadian-American actor, b. Toronto, Canada. Raised by his mother, Plummer first aspire...

Purcell, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Purcell, Henry pûrˈsəl [key], c.1659–1695, English composer and organist. Often considered England's finest native composer, Purcell combined a great gift for lyrical melody with harmonic inventi...

Verlaine, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Verlaine, Paul pōl vĕrlĕnˈ [key], 1844–96, French poet. He gained some notice with the Parnassian poetry of Poèmes saturniens (1866) and Fêtes galantes (1869) and became a figure in the bohemi...

Henry VII, king of England

(Encyclopedia)Henry VII, 1457–1509, king of England (1485–1509) and founder of the Tudor dynasty. Henry was an astute political leader. He established the Tudor tradition of strong rule tempered by a sense ...

New York Bay

(Encyclopedia)New York Bay, arm of the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Hudson River, SE N.Y. and NE N.J., enclosed by the shores of NE New Jersey, E Staten Island, S Manhattan, and W Long Island (Brooklyn) and o...

Knossos

(Encyclopedia)Knossos or Cnossus both: nŏsˈəs [key], ancient city of Crete, on the north coast, near modern Iráklion. The site was occupied long before 3000 b.c., and it was the center of an important Bronze Ag...

Winchester, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Winchester wĭnˈchĭstər [key], city and district (1991 pop. 34,127), county seat of Hampshire, S central England. Winchester was called Caer Gwent by the Britons, Venta Belgarum by the Romans, and ...

Weizmann, Chaim

(Encyclopedia)Weizmann, Chaim khīmˈ vītsˈmän [key], 1874–1952, scientist and Zionist leader, first president (1948–52) of Israel, b. Russia, grad. Univ. of Freiburg, 1899. He lectured in chemistry at the U...

Breton literature

(Encyclopedia)Breton literature brĕtˈən [key], in the Celtic language of Brittany. Although there are numerous allusions in other literatures of the 12th to 14th cent. to the “matter of Brittany,” which incl...