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Trevor, William

(Encyclopedia)Trevor, William, 1928–2016, Anglo-Irish fiction writer, b. William Trevor Cox, grad. Trinity College, Dublin (1950). He resided in England from 1960. Trevor's novels are usually set in England or Ir...

Rivers, Richard Woodville, 1st Earl

(Encyclopedia)Rivers, Richard Woodville, 1st Earl, d. 1469, English nobleman. He was knighted (1426) by Henry VI and acquired wealth and power by marrying (c.1436) Jacquetta of Luxemburg, widow of John of Lancaster...

Peter III, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Peter III, 1728–62, czar of Russia (1762), son of Charles Frederick, dispossessed duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and of Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great. He succeeded to the throne on the death...

Walton, Sir William Turner

(Encyclopedia)Walton, Sir William Turner, 1902–83, English composer, b. Oldham. Walton studied at Oxford. One of his earliest works was a piano quartet (1918–19). In 1923, Façade, satirical poems by Edith Sitw...

veil

(Encyclopedia)veil, a feature of female costume from antiquity, especially in the East, where it was worn primarily to conceal the features. In modern times it is worn to enhance the face. The Egyptian woman of ran...

sonnet

(Encyclopedia)sonnet, poem of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter, restricted to a definite rhyme scheme. There are two prominent types: the Italian, or Petrarchan, sonnet, composed of an octave and a sestet (rh...

Campion, Saint Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Campion, Saint Edmund kămˈpēən [key], c.1540–1581, English Jesuit martyr, educated at St. Paul's School and St. John's College, Oxford. As a fellow at Oxford he earned the admiration of his coll...

Philip V, king of Spain

(Encyclopedia)Philip V, 1683–1746, king of Spain (1700–1746), first Bourbon on the Spanish throne. A grandson of Louis XIV of France, he was titular duke of Anjou before Charles II of Spain designated him as hi...

Sitwell

(Encyclopedia)Sitwell, English literary family, one of the most celebrated literary families of the 20th cent. Its members included Dame Edith Sitwell, 1887–1964, English poet and critic, Sir Osbert Sitwell, 1892...

Penal Laws

(Encyclopedia)Penal Laws, in English and Irish history, term generally applied to the body of discriminatory and oppressive legislation directed chiefly against Roman Catholics but also against Protestant nonconfor...