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Kit-Cat Club

(Encyclopedia)Kit-Cat Club, London political and literary club, active c.1700–1720. The membership of some four dozen included leading Whig politicians and London's best young writers. Among them were Charles Sey...

Phalaris

(Encyclopedia)Phalaris fălˈərĭs [key], c.570–c.554 b.c., tyrant of Agrigentum, Sicily, notorious for his cruelties. He burned his victims alive in a brazen bull (making his first experiment upon Perillus, its...

Wilson, Pete

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Pete (Peter Barton Wilson), 1933–, American politician, b. Lake Forest, Ill. A lawyer and moderate Republican, he began his career in local politics. He was a campaign aide in Richard Nixon'...

Sabine Crossroads

(Encyclopedia)Sabine Crossroads săbˌēnˈ [key], locality, De Soto parish, NW La., near Mansfield. There in the Civil War, Union forces under Nathaniel P. Banks, advancing on Shreveport, were defeated and driven ...

Yorba Linda

(Encyclopedia)Yorba Linda yôrˈbə lĭnˈdə [key], city (1990 pop. 52,422), Orange co., S Calif., in a region of citrus fruit; inc. 1967. The city grew tremendously in the late 20th cent. along with the southern ...

Ronne, Finn

(Encyclopedia)Ronne, Finn, 1899–1980, Norwegian-American Antarctic explorer. Ronne graduated from college in Norway in 1922 and immigrated to the United States. His first of nine Antarctic expeditions was with Ad...

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...

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...