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Brown, Charles Brockden

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Charles Brockden, 1771–1810, American novelist and editor, b. Philadelphia, considered the first professional American novelist. After the publication of Alcuin: A Dialogue (1798), he wrote s...

Gielgud, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Gielgud, Sir John (Arthur John Gielgud) gĭlˈgo͝od [key], 1904–2000, English actor, director, and producer. A grandnephew of Ellen Terry, Gielgud made his debut at the Old Vic in 1921. His intelli...

Gilbert, Sir William Schwenck

(Encyclopedia)Gilbert, Sir William Schwenck, 1836–1911, English playwright and poet. He won fame as the librettist of numerous popular operettas, written in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan. Wh...

Parsifal

(Encyclopedia)Parsifal pärˈsĭfäl [key], figure of Arthurian legend also known as Sir Percivale, who is in turn a later form of a hero of Celtic myth. The name originally occurs as Pryderi, an alternative name o...

spiritism

(Encyclopedia)spiritism or spiritualism, belief that the human personality continues to exist after death and can communicate with the living through the agency of a medium or psychic. The advocates of spiritism ar...

Wellesley, Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess

(Encyclopedia)Wellesley, Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess, 1760–1842, British colonial administrator; brother of Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of Wellington. He became earl of Mornington on his father's death ...

Sheridan, Philip Henry

(Encyclopedia)Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831–88, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Albany, N.Y. Although not a brilliant general, Sheridan's flair for leadership and his ready fighting ability made him th...

Hawke, Bob

(Encyclopedia)Hawke, Bob (Robert James Lee Hawke), 1929–2019, Australian statesman. A Rhodes scholar at Oxford, he gained a reputation as a skillful labor mediator during his tenure at the Australian Council of T...

Hopewell

(Encyclopedia)Hopewell. <1> City (2020 pop. 1,922), Mercer co., central N.J.; inc. 1891. The area was settled in the early 1700s. One early resident, mill ...

Anderson, Sparky

(Encyclopedia)Anderson, Sparky (George Lee Anderson), 1934–2010, American baseball manager, b. Bridgewater, S.Dak. A one-season (1959) infielder for the National League's Philadelphia Phillies, he became the mana...