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Monmouth, town, Wales

(Encyclopedia)Monmouth, Welsh Trefynwy, town (1981 pop. 7,379), Monmouthshire, SE Wales, at the junction of the Monnow and Wye rivers. The town is a popular tourist and agricultural center with flourishing cattle a...

Parker, Sir Hyde

(Encyclopedia)Parker, Sir Hyde, 1739–1807, British admiral. In the American Revolution he broke (1776) the defenses of the Hudson River at New York City—an exploit for which he was knighted in 1779. He later he...

Bernard of Cluny

(Encyclopedia)Bernard of Cluny môrlāˈ [key], fl. 1150, French Cluniac monk, of English parentage. He wrote De contemptu mundi [on contempt for the world], a poem in 3,000 hexameters. On it Horatio Parker based h...

Pillars of Hercules

(Encyclopedia)Pillars of Hercules, ancient mythological name for promontories flanking the east entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. They are usually identified with Gibraltar in Europe and with Mt. Acha at Ceuta i...

Derbent

(Encyclopedia)Derbent dyĭrbyĕntˈ [key], city, SE European Russia, in Dagestan, on the Caspian Sea. It st...

Kohat

(Encyclopedia)Kohat kōˈhät [key], town (1981 pop. 55,832), N Pakistan, on the Kohat Toi River. The town, enclosed by a wall with 14 gates, is noted for its cotton fabrics and lungis. Kohat contains a 19th-centur...

Hamilton, Sir William, British diplomat and archaeologist

(Encyclopedia)Hamilton, Sir William, 1730–1803, British diplomat and archaeologist, ambassador to Naples (1764–1800). He was the husband of Emma, Lady Hamilton, mistress of Admiral Horatio Nelson. His fine coll...

Volterra

(Encyclopedia)Volterra, town (1991 pop. 12,879), Tuscany, central Italy. A powerful Etruscan town, it later (12th–13th cent.) was a free commune and passed to Florence in the 14th cent. Of note are well-preserved...

lock, canal

(Encyclopedia)lock, canal, stretch of water enclosed by gates, one at each end, built into a canal or river for the purpose of raising or lowering a vessel from one water level to another. A lock may also be built ...

Hale, Sarah Josepha (Buell)

(Encyclopedia)Hale, Sarah Josepha (Buell), 1788–1879, American author, editor, and feminist, b. near Newport, N.H. In 1828 she became editor of the Ladies' Magazine, Boston, and in 1837 of Godey's Lady's Book, Ph...