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Randolph, Thomas, English poet and dramatist

(Encyclopedia)Randolph, Thomas, 1605–35, English poet and dramatist. After graduating from Cambridge in 1632, he went to London where he became a disciple of Ben Jonson. His best-known poems are “A Gratulatory ...

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...

Oldham, John, English poet and satirist

(Encyclopedia)Oldham, John, 1653–83, English poet and satirist. His best-known works are the ironical Satires against the Jesuits (1681) and A Satire against Virtue (1679). He was much admired by Dryden, who wrot...

Butler, Samuel, 1835–1902, English author

(Encyclopedia)Butler, Samuel, 1835–1902, English author. He was the son and grandson of eminent clergymen. In 1859, refusing to be ordained, he went to New Zealand, where he established a sheep farm and in a few ...

Devon

(Encyclopedia)Devon dĕvˈən [key], county, 2,591 sq mi (6,711 sq km), SW England. The county town is ...

transistor

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Simple transistor circuit transistor, three-terminal, solid-state electronic device used for amplification and switching. It is the solid-state analog to the triode electron tube; the transist...

Artois

(Encyclopedia)Artois ärtwäˈ [key], region and former province, in Pas-de-Calais dept., N France, near the English Channel, between Picardy and Flanders. Arras is the chief city. Largely agricultural, it contains...

Fossett, Steve

(Encyclopedia)Fossett, Steve (James Stephen Fossett), 1944–2007, American investment banker and adventurer, b. California. After becoming a multimillionaire as a stockbroker and investment consultant, he began a ...

Paraná, river, Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina

(Encyclopedia)Paraná, river, c.2,000 mi (3,200 km) long, formed by the junction of the Paranaíba and the Rio Grande, SE Brazil. It has the second largest drainage system in South America. It flows generally south...

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...