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Cornell, Alonzo B.

(Encyclopedia)Cornell, Alonzo B. kôrnĕlˈ [key], 1832–1904, American businessman and politician, b. Ithaca, N.Y. Cornell was a director (1868–69) and vice president (1870–76) of the Western Union Telegraph ...

Geoffrey of Monmouth

(Encyclopedia)Geoffrey of Monmouth mŏnˈməth [key], c.1100–1154, English author. He was probably born at Monmouth and was of either Breton or Welsh descent. In 1152 he was named bishop of St. Asaph in Wales. Hi...

Hunt, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Hunt, Henry, 1773–1835, English radical politician. A powerful orator, popular with the laboring classes, Hunt was quarrelsome and stubborn but a sincere proponent of electoral and other reforms. He...

Folger, Charles James

(Encyclopedia)Folger, Charles James fōlˈjər [key], 1818–84, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (1881–84), b. Nantucket, Mass. A lawyer of Geneva, N.Y., he held judicial posts and was (1861–69) a state senator....

Nogi, Maresuke

(Encyclopedia)Nogi, Maresuke märāˈso͞okā nōˈgē [key], 1849–1912, Japanese general. Made a lieutenant general in 1895, he became governor-general of Taiwan. He was the hero of the capture of Port Arthur in...

Lady of the Lake

(Encyclopedia)Lady of the Lake, in Arthurian legend, a misty, supernatural figure endowed with magic powers, who gave the sword Excalibur to King Arthur. She inhabited a castle in an underwater kingdom. According t...

Perley, Sir George Halsey

(Encyclopedia)Perley, Sir George Halsey, 1857–1938, Canadian statesman, b. Lebanon, N.H. As a child, he moved with his parents to Ottawa. In 1904 he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Conservative,...

Salisbury, Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3d marquess of

(Encyclopedia)Salisbury, Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3d marquess of sôlzˈbərē [key], 1830–1903, British statesman. He entered Parliament in 1853 as a Conservative and devoted himself for 50 years to ...

West, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)West, Benjamin, 1738–1820, American historical painter who worked in England. He was born in Springfield, Pa., in a house that is now a memorial museum at Swarthmore College. After some instruction ...

Rosicrucians

(Encyclopedia)Rosicrucians rōzĭkro͞oˈshənz [key], members of an esoteric society or group of societies, who claim that their order has been in existence since the days of ancient Egypt and has over the course ...