Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Sprat, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Sprat, Thomas, 1635–1713, English author, bishop of Rochester and dean of Westminster. His poem on the death of Oliver Cromwell was published in Dryden's Miscellany (1659). Sprat is best remembered ...

Garrison, William Lloyd

(Encyclopedia)Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805–79, American abolitionist, b. Newburyport, Mass. He supplemented his limited schooling with newspaper work and in 1829 went to Baltimore to aid Benjamin Lundy in publis...

Asser, Tobias Michael Carel

(Encyclopedia)Asser, Tobias Michael Carel tōbēˈäs mēˈkhāl käˈrəl äsˈər [key], 1838–1913, Dutch jurist. He was a delegate to many international conferences, including the Hague Conference of 1899, and...

Hardwicke, Philip Yorke, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Hardwicke, Philip Yorke, 1st earl of, 1690–1764, English jurist. As lord chancellor (1737–56) he did much to systematize the laws of equity and established the principle that equity must follow it...

Smith, Bessie

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Bessie, 1894–1937, American singer, b. Chattanooga, Tenn. About 1910 Smith became the protégée of Gertrude (Ma) Rainey, one of the earliest b...

Thurber, James

(Encyclopedia)Thurber, James, 1894–1961, American humorist, b. Columbus, Ohio, studied at Ohio State Univ. After working on various newspapers he served on the staff of the New Yorker from 1927 to 1933 and was la...

impressment

(Encyclopedia)impressment, forcible enrollment of recruits for military duty. Before the establishment of conscription, many countries supplemented their militia and mercenary troops by impressment. In England, imp...

Walton-le-Dale

(Encyclopedia)Walton-le-Dale, city (1985 est. pop. 29,100), Lancashire, N England. There are engineering works and textile and paper industries. An 11th-century church was rebuilt in 1748. Oliver Cromwell's headqua...

Abu Hanifa

(Encyclopedia)Abu Hanifa äbo͞oˈ hänēˈfä [key], 699–767, Muslim jurist. He founded the Hanafite system of Islamic jurisprudence, which gives the judge considerable discretion when the Qur'an and the Sunna (...

Massachusetts

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Massachusetts măsəcho͞oˈsĭts [key], most populous of the New England states of the NE United States. It is bordered by New York (W), Vermont and New Hampshire (N), the Atlantic Ocean (E, S...