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Cobbett, William

(Encyclopedia)Cobbett, William kŏbˈĭt [key], 1763?–1835, British journalist and reformer. The son of a farm laborer, he ran away from home at 14 and later joined the British army. He resigned in order to expos...

May, Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Farnborough

(Encyclopedia)May, Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Farnborough, 1815–86, English constitutional jurist and historian. A period of long service to Parliament, including his tenure (1871–86) as clerk of the House of Co...

novel

(Encyclopedia)novel, in modern literary usage, a sustained work of prose fiction a volume or more in length. It is distinguished from the short story and the fictional sketch, which are necessarily brief. Although ...

Book of the Dead

(Encyclopedia)Book of the Dead, term used to describe Egyptian funerary literature. The texts consist of charms, spells, and formulas for use by the deceased in the afterworld and contain many of the basic ideas of...

Ælfric

(Encyclopedia)Ælfric ălˈfrĭk [key], c.955–1020, English writer and Benedictine monk. He was the greatest English scholar during the revival of learning fostered by the Benedictine monasteries in the second ha...

Manley, Mary de la Rivière

(Encyclopedia)Manley, Mary de la Rivière, 1663–1724, English author, one of the first women to earn a living by writing. Notorious because of her marriage to her cousin, who was already married and who later des...

Blind, Karl

(Encyclopedia)Blind, Karl blĭnt [key], 1826–1907, German revolutionary and German-English writer. Arrested for his part in the German uprisings of 1848–49, he was later freed and from 1852 lived in England. Th...

Pali canon

(Encyclopedia)Pali canon päˈlē [key], sacred literature of Buddhism. The texts in the Pali canon are the earliest Buddhist sources, and for Theravada Buddhists, who claim to conserve the original teachings of th...

Sidney, Sir Philip

(Encyclopedia)Sidney or Sydney, Sir Philip, 1554–86, English author and courtier. He was one of the leading members of Queen Elizabeth's court and a model of Renaissance chivalry. He served in several diplomatic ...

Moody, William Vaughn

(Encyclopedia)Moody, William Vaughn, 1869–1910, American poet and dramatist, b. Spencer, Ind., grad. Harvard, 1893. After writing several verse dramas, Moody achieved wide success with the prose play The Great Di...