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Oglesby, Richard James

(Encyclopedia)Oglesby, Richard James ōˈgəlzbē [key], 1824–99, Union general in the American Civil War and Illinois political leader, b. Oldham co., Ky. He moved to Decatur, Ill., where he became a lawyer. Ogl...

Morton, John, English prelate and statesman

(Encyclopedia)Morton, John, 1420?–1500, English prelate and statesman, archbishop of Canterbury (1486–1500). He studied law at Oxford and practiced in the London ecclesiastical courts. A supporter of the Lancas...

James, Thomas, English navigator and explorer

(Encyclopedia)James, Thomas, 1593?–1635?, English navigator and explorer (1631) of James Bay. Financed by Bristol merchants, he sailed in command of the Henrietta Maria in the spring of 1631 to find the Northwest...

Cumberland, Richard, 1631–1718, English philosopher

(Encyclopedia)Cumberland, Richard, 1631–1718, English philosopher. He was bishop of Peterborough from 1691. In his De legibus naturae [on natural laws] (1672) he first propounded the doctrine of utilitarianism an...

Cumberland, Richard, 1732–1811, English dramatist

(Encyclopedia)Cumberland, Richard, 1732–1811, English dramatist; great-grandson of the 17th-century philosopher Richard Cumberland. His family connections earned him a clerical position with the British board of ...

Smith, John, English colonist in America

(Encyclopedia)Smith, John, c.1580–1631, English colonist in America, b. Willoughby, Lincolnshire, England. A merchant's apprentice until his father's death in 1596, he thereafter lived an adventurous life, travel...

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...

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