Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Mackenzie, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Mackenzie, Henry, 1745–1831, English author, b. Scotland. He had an active political and legal life, serving as comptroller of taxes for Scotland from 1804 until his death. His first and most famous...

Medwall, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Medwall, Henry, fl. 1486, first known English vernacular dramatist. He was chaplain to Cardinal Morton. His Fulgens and Lucrece (1497), whose heroine must choose between two suitors, is the earliest k...

John Henry

(Encyclopedia)John Henry, legendary African American famous for his strength, celebrated in ballads and tales. In the most popular version of the story, John Henry tries to outwork a steam drill with only his hamme...

King, Henry

(Encyclopedia)King, Henry, 1592–1669, English poet. He became bishop of Chichester in 1642. Elegies constitute nearly half his work, his most notable being “The Exequy,” written on the death of his young wife...

Knox, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Knox, Henry, 1750–1806, American Revolutionary officer, b. Boston. He volunteered for service and went, in 1775, to Ticonderoga to retrieve the captured cannon and mortar there for use in the siege ...

Murger, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Murger, Henry äNrēˈ mürzhĕrˈ [key], 1822–61, French poet and novelist. His Scènes de la vie de Bohème (1845–49; tr., 1905, 1930), like many of his works, is a romantic and sentimental acco...

Henry, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Henry, Joseph, 1797–1878, American physicist, b. Albany, N.Y., educated at Albany Academy. He taught (1826–32) mathematics and natural philosophy at Albany Academy and was professor of natural phi...

Henry, O.

(Encyclopedia)Henry, O.: see O. Henry.

Henry, Cape

(Encyclopedia)Henry, Cape, SE Va., promontary at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, E of Norfolk. Cape Henry Memorial marks the approximate spot where the Jamestown settlers landed in 1607. In 1939 the site was includ...

Browse by Subject