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Mount Vernon, estate, United States

(Encyclopedia)Mount Vernon, NE Va., overlooking the Potomac River near Alexandria, S of Washington, D.C.; home of George Washington from 1747 until his death in 1799. The land was patented in 1674, and the house wa...

Webster, John

(Encyclopedia)Webster, John, 1580?–1634, English dramatist, b. London. Although little is known of his life, there is evidence that he worked for Philip Henslowe, collaborating with such playwrights as Dekker and...

book of hours

(Encyclopedia)book of hours, form of prayer book developed in the 14th cent. from the prayers of clerics appended to the main service. The subjects of the miniature illustrations (see miniature painting) were frequ...

port, wine

(Encyclopedia)port [from Oporto], fortified wine made in Portugal from grapes grown in the Douro valley; Portuguese law allows only this wine to be called port. Various grapes are blended by the growers, and brandy...

Fagan, Garth

(Encyclopedia)Fagan, Garth, 1940–, Jamaican-American dancer and choreographer. He studied with Ivy Baxter and left Jamaica to dance with her company. Settling (1960) in Detroit, he attended Wayne State Univ. (gra...

Tirso de Molina

(Encyclopedia)Tirso de Molina gäbrēĕlˈ tĕlˈyĕth [key], 1584?–1648, outstanding dramatist of the Spanish Golden Age, b. Madrid. His fame rests on El burlador de Sevilla (1630; tr. The Love Rogue, 1924), the...

Sen, Amartya Kumar

(Encyclopedia)Sen, Amartya Kumar, 1933–, Indian economist, b. Bengal, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1959. He has taught at Jadavpur Univ., Kolkata (1956â...

Angoumois

(Encyclopedia)Angoumois äNgo͞omwäˈ [key], region and former province, W France, now coextensive with most of Charente dept. Angoulême is the historic capital and chief city. In the region is the Charente valle...

bittersweet

(Encyclopedia)bittersweet, name for two unrelated plants, belonging to different families, both fall-fruiting woody vines sometimes cultivated for their decorative scarlet berries. One, called also woody nightshade...

Ford, Betty

(Encyclopedia)Ford, Betty, 1918–2011, American first lady (1974–77), wife of President Gerald Ford, b. Chicago as Elizabeth Anne Bloomer. A candid, outspoken, and popular first lady, she became an effective soc...