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Rensselaer

(Encyclopedia)Rensselaer rĕnsəlērˈ, rĕnˈsələr [key], city (1990 pop. 8,255), Rensselaer co., E N.Y., on the east bank of the Hudson River opposite Albany; settled 1630 by Dutch, inc. 1897. Chemicals, textil...

Shipton, Mother

(Encyclopedia)Shipton, Mother, legendary English prophetess. She was first mentioned in an anonymous pamphlet, published in 1641, which described her as having prophesied various events of the reign of Henry VIII a...

Henry VI, Holy Roman emperor and German king

(Encyclopedia)Henry VI, 1165–97, Holy Roman emperor (1191–97) and German king (1190–97), son and successor of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I (Frederick Barbarossa). He was crowned German king at Aachen in 116...

McClellan, George Brinton

(Encyclopedia)McClellan, George Brinton, 1826–85, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Philadelphia. After graduating (1846) from West Point, he served with distinction in the Mexican War and later worked ...

letters

(Encyclopedia)letters, in literature, written messages, ranging from those addressed to the public and those sent from lover to lover, to business letters and thank-you notes. The common quality they share is a liv...

Dana, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Dana, Francis, 1743–1811, American diplomat, b. Charlestown, Mass. Son of a prominent lawyer, he was himself a lawyer. He went as a colonial agent to England, then served as a delegate to the Massac...

Chevalier, Michel

(Encyclopedia)Chevalier, Michel shəvälyāˈ [key], 1806–79, French economist. An ardent Saint-Simonian as a youth, he later favored a form of welfare capitalism. He advocated industrial development as the key ...

Ames, Nathaniel

(Encyclopedia)Ames, Nathaniel, 1708–64, American almanac maker, b. Bridgewater, Mass. His Astronomical Diary and Almanack, begun in 1725 and issued annually after c.1732 from Dedham, Mass., was highly popular and...

Hilton, Walter

(Encyclopedia)Hilton, Walter, d. 1396, English religious writer, an Austin canon of Thurgarton, Nottinghamshire. His spiritual treatise The Scale of Perfection (ed. by Evelyn Underhill, 1923) is a general manual fo...

Holst, Gustav

(Encyclopedia)Holst, Gustav hŏlst [key], 1874–1934, English composer, studied at the Royal College of Music. Grieg, Richard Strauss, and Ralph Vaughan Williams influenced his early work, but most of his music is...