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Naples, kingdom of

(Encyclopedia)Naples, kingdom of, former state, occupying the Italian peninsula south of the former Papal States. It comprised roughly the present regions of Campania, Abruzzi, Molise, Basilicata, Apulia, and Calab...

Shaw, George Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Shaw, George Bernard, 1856–1950, Irish playwright and critic. He revolutionized the Victorian stage, then dominated by artificial melodramas, by presenting vigorous dramas of ideas. The lengthy pref...

Bishop, Sir Henry Rowley

(Encyclopedia)Bishop, Sir Henry Rowley, 1786–1855, English operatic conductor, composer or arranger of 120 dramatic works. He is known today for a setting of Shakespeare's “Lo, here the gentle lark” and the m...

Welles, Orson

(Encyclopedia)Welles, Orson, 1915–85, American actor, director, and producer, b. Kenosha, Wis. From childhood he evinced a precocious talent and lofty sense of self-assurance in theatrical matters. He began actin...

Handel, George Frideric

(Encyclopedia)Handel, George Frideric hănˈdəl [key], 1685–1759, English composer, b. Halle, Germany. Handel was one of the greatest masters of baroque music, most widely celebrated for his majestic oratorio Me...

Channing, William Ellery

(Encyclopedia)Channing, William Ellery, 1780–1842, American Unitarian minister and author, b. Newport, R.I. At 23 he was ordained minister of the Federal St. Congregational Church in Boston, where he served until...

Anza, Juan Bautista de

(Encyclopedia)Anza, Juan Bautista de hwän boutēsˈtä dā änˈsä [key], 1735–88, Spanish explorer and official in the Southwest and the far West, reputed founder of San Francisco, b. Mexico. Accompanied by Fa...

Mills, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Mills, Robert, 1781–1855, American architect of the classic revival period, b. Charleston, S.C. From 1800 to 1820 he worked as an architect in Washington, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, being associat...

Michigan, University of

(Encyclopedia)Michigan, University of, main campus at Ann Arbor; state supported; coeducational; chartered 1817 at Detroit as the Catholepistemiad, or Univ., of Michigania, rechartered 1821 (as Univ. of Mich.) and ...

Murry, John Middleton

(Encyclopedia)Murry, John Middleton, 1889–1957, English critic and editor. In 1919 he became editor of the Athenaeum and in 1923 founded his own review, the Adelphi, with which he was associated until 1948. He wa...