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Meissen

(Encyclopedia)Meissen mīsˈən [key], city (1994 pop. 33,075), Saxony, E central Germany, on the Elbe River. A porcelain manufacturing center since 1710, Meissen is famous for its delicate figurines (often called ...

prefect

(Encyclopedia)prefect or praefect both: prēˈfĕkt [key], in ancient Rome, various military and civil officers. Under the empire some prefects were very important. The Praetorian prefects (first appointed 2 b.c.) ...

Devrient, Ludwig

(Encyclopedia)Devrient, Ludwig lo͝otˈvĭkh dəvrēăNˈ [key], 1784–1832, German actor. He abandoned a commercial career in 1804 to join a traveling theatrical company. In Berlin he was a favorite in comedy and...

Stamitz, Johann

(Encyclopedia)Stamitz, Johann yōˈhän shtäˈmĭts [key], 1717–57, Bohemian-German composer. Stamitz came to Mannheim (1741) and became (1745) concertmaster of the Mannheim orchestra. He made it the best in Eur...

Siebold

(Encyclopedia)Siebold tāˈōdōr ĕrnst [key], 1804–85, also a physician, was one of the foremost biologists of his time. He specialized in the comparative anatomy of invertebrates and wrote the first volume (18...

George V, king of Hanover

(Encyclopedia)George V, 1819–78, last king of Hanover (1851–66), son and successor of Ernest Augustus. He was blind after 1833. Fearing Hanover's absorption by Prussia, he sided with Austria in the Austro-Pruss...

Eliott, George Augustus, 1st Baron Heathfield of Gibraltar

(Encyclopedia)Eliott, George Augustus, 1st Baron Heathfield of Gibraltar, 1717–90, British general. Appointed (1775) governor of Gibraltar, he was forced to defend it against a combined Spanish and French siege t...

Wettin

(Encyclopedia)Wettin vĕtˈĭn [key], German dynasty, which ruled in Saxony, Thuringia, Poland, Great Britain, Belgium, and Bulgaria. It takes its name from a castle on the Saale near Halle. The family gained promi...

Highgate

(Encyclopedia)Highgate, residential area within Camden, Islington, and Haringey boroughs, London, England. The house where Francis Bacon died is in Highgate, and Herbert Spencer, George Eliot, and Karl Marx are bur...

Biron, Ernst Johann von

(Encyclopedia)Biron or Biren, Ernst Johann von ĕrnst yōhänˈ fən bēˈrôn, bēˈrən [key], 1690–1772, duke of Courland (1737–43, 1763–69), favorite of Czarina Anna of Russia. A Baltic nobleman, he rose ...