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Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de

(Encyclopedia)Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de pyĕr ōgüstăNˈ karôNˈ də bōmärshāˈ [key], 1732–99, French dramatist. Originally a watchmaker, he rose to wealth and position among the nobility. His...

Schongauer, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Schongauer, Martin märˈtēn shōnˈgou-ər [key], 1430–91, German engraver and painter, son of a goldsmith of Colmar, Alsace. Schongauer's only certain painting is Madonna of the Rose Arbor (1473;...

Scott, Thomas Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Scott, Thomas Alexander, 1823–81, American railroad president, b. Fort Loudon, Pa. He was employed by the Pennsylvania RR as a station agent in 1850 and rose to become general superintendent (1858) ...

Vigée-Lebrun, Élisabeth

(Encyclopedia)Vigée-Lebrun, Élisabeth ālēzäbĕtˈ vēzhāˈ-ləbröNˈ [key], 1755–1842, French portrait painter; pupil of her father, the painter Louis Vigée. She was influenced by Greuze. Summoned to Vers...

Viriatus

(Encyclopedia)Viriatus vērēäˈtəs [key], d. 139 b.c., leader of the Lusitani (see Lusitania). One of the survivors of the massacre of the Lusitani by the Roman praetor Servius Sulpicius Galba, Viriatus rose as ...

Chiluba, Frederick Jacob Titus

(Encyclopedia)Chiluba, Frederick Jacob Titus, 1943–2011, Zambian labor and political leader. After several low-level jobs, he joined a union and rose in the labor movement to become (1974) chairman of the Zambia ...

Chola

(Encyclopedia)Chola chōˈlə [key], S Indian dynasty, whose kingdom was in what is now Tamil Nadu. Its chief capitals were at Kanchi (Kanchipuram) and Thanjavur (Tanjore). The Chola kingdom was one of the three of...

Ewell, Richard Stoddert

(Encyclopedia)Ewell, Richard Stoddert, 1817–72, Confederate general, b. Georgetown, D.C., grad. West Point, 1840. Ewell rose rapidly in the Confederate army, becoming a major general by Oct., 1861. In 1862 he fou...

Ferry, Jules

(Encyclopedia)Ferry, Jules zhül fĕrēˈ [key], 1832–93, French statesman. A member of the government of national defense established after the defeat of Emperor Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–7...

Orrery, Charles Boyle, 4th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Orrery, Charles Boyle, 4th earl of ŏrˈərē [key], 1676–1731, English nobleman; grandson of the 1st earl of Orrery. He succeeded his brother as earl in 1703. A supporter of Sir William Temple in h...