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Baldwin, Matthias William

(Encyclopedia)Baldwin, Matthias William, 1795–1866, American industrialist and philanthropist, b. Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth), N.J. After earlier business successes, Baldwin became interested in steam-engine pr...

Bacon, Francis, English philosopher and statesman

(Encyclopedia)Bacon, Francis, 1561–1626, English philosopher, essayist, and statesman, b. London, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and at Gray's Inn. He was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, lord keeper to Qu...

Clark, Abraham

(Encyclopedia)Clark, Abraham, 1726–94, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth), N.J. After holding several local offices, Clark bec...

Harington, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Harington, Sir John, 1560?–1612, English author. He spent most of his career at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, where he became known for his indelicate humor. His Rabelaisian Metamorphosis of Ajax ...

Googe, Barnabe

(Encyclopedia)Googe, Barnabe go͝oj, go͞oj [key], 1540–94, English poet and translator. In 1574 he was sent to Ireland as the representative of Sir William Cecil, Queen Elizabeth I's secretary of state. From 158...

Aspen Music Festival

(Encyclopedia)Aspen Music Festival, classical music festival held annuallly each summer in Aspen, Colo. Chicagoans Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke established the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies (now the Aspen ...

Kill Van Kull

(Encyclopedia)Kill Van Kull kĭl văn kŭl [key], channel, 4 mi (6.4 km) long and .5 mi (.8 km) wide, connecting Upper New York Bay with Newark Bay, between Bayonne, N.J., and Staten Island, N.Y. It is the main rou...

Buzzards Bay

(Encyclopedia)Buzzards Bay, inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, 30 mi (48 km) long, from 5 to 10 mi (8–16 m) wide, SE Mass., connected with Cape Cod Bay by the Cape Cod Ca...

Ross, Betsy

(Encyclopedia)Ross, Betsy, 1752–1836, American seamstress, b. Philadelphia. Her full name was Elizabeth Griscom Ross Ashburn Claypoole. She is known to have made flags during the American Revolution, although the...

Francis, French prince, duke of Alençon and Anjou

(Encyclopedia)Francis, 1554–84, French prince, duke of Alençon and Anjou; youngest son of King Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. Although ill-shapen, pockmarked, and endowed with a curiously formed no...