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Dawes, William

(Encyclopedia)Dawes, William, 1745–99, figure in the American Revolution, b. Boston, Mass. On the night of Apr. 18, 1775, Dawes rode from Boston, via Brighton Bridge, to Lexington, warning the countryside of the ...

Kirke, Sir David

(Encyclopedia)Kirke, Sir David kûrk [key], 1597–1655?, English merchant adventurer, b. France. In 1627 he and his brothers Lewis and Thomas sailed on a fleet outfitted by their father, Gervase Kirke, and Sir Wil...

Oglethorpe, James Edward

(Encyclopedia)Oglethorpe, James Edward ōˈgəlthôrp [key], 1696–1785, English general and philanthropist, founder of the American colony of Georgia. He had some military experience before being elected (1722) t...

Egan, Pierce

(Encyclopedia)Egan, Pierce, 1772–1849, English sports writer. He was the author of Life in London, a lively account of the sporting gallants of the Regency. With its rough humor and colloquial style, it was popul...

Darley, George

(Encyclopedia)Darley, George, 1795–1846, English author and mathematician, b. Ireland. Included among his works are the pastoral drama Sylvia (1827), the poem Nepenthe (1835), a precursor of 20th-century symbolis...

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 ...

Herbert, A. P.

(Encyclopedia)Herbert, A. P. (Sir Alan Patrick Herbert), 1890–1971, English author and member of Parliament. He was a regular contributor to the comic magazine Punch from 1910 until his death. Herbert served in P...

Nayler, James

(Encyclopedia)Nayler, James, 1617?–1660, English Quaker leader. He served in the parliamentary army during the English civil war. In 1651 he became a Quaker and a disciple of George Fox, but gradually gathered a ...

Orrmulum

(Encyclopedia)Orrmulum or Ormulum both: ôrmˈyo͞oləm [key], Middle English collection of homilies on the Gospels, in verse, comprising about 10,000 lines in all. The collection was written c.1200 by Orrm (or Orr...

More, Sir Thomas

(Encyclopedia)More, Sir Thomas (Saint Thomas More), 1478–1535, English statesman and author of Utopia, celebrated as a martyr in the Roman Catholic Church. He received a Latin education in the household of Cardin...