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Bracton, Henry de

(Encyclopedia)Bracton, Henry de, d. 1268, English writer on law. He was the author of De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae [on the laws and customs of England], a broad, philosophic treatise that is often called t...

Quiller-Couch, Sir Arthur Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Quiller-Couch, Sir Arthur Thomas kwĭlˈər-ko͞ochˌ [key], pseud. Q, 1863–1944, English author. Among the novels of his native Cornwall are Dead Man's Rock (1887) and Hetty Wesley (1903), which ar...

Cotton, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Cotton, Charles, 1630–87, English author. He is chiefly remembered for his contribution to his friend Izaak Walton's Compleat Angler (5th ed. 1676). His pleasant, unaffected verse includes “An Ode...

Fuller, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Fuller, Thomas, 1608–61, English clergyman and author. He was an able preacher and a noted wit. He adhered to the royalist cause during the civil war and the Commonwealth and served briefly as a roy...

Lee, Sir Sidney

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Sir Sidney, 1859–1926, English editor and author. He was editor (1891–1901) of the Dictionary of National Biography but is best known for his Life of William Shakespeare (1898, rev. ed. 1925)...

Pearl, The

(Encyclopedia)Pearl, The, one of four Middle English alliterative poems, all contained in a manuscript of c.1400, composed in the West Midland dialect, almost certainly by the same anonymous author, who flourished ...

Mandeville, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Mandeville, Sir John, 14th-century English author of The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. Originally written in Norman French, the work became enormously popular and was translated into English, Latin,...

Jones, Henry Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Jones, Henry Arthur, 1851–1929, English playwright. His reputation was first established with the melodrama The Silver King (with Henry Herman; 1882). Strongly influenced by the great Norwegian play...

Athanasian Creed

(Encyclopedia)Athanasian Creed ăthənāˈzhən [key], exact, elaborate Roman Catholic statement on the Trinity and the Incarnation. It is no longer believed to have been written by Athanasius, but rather by an unk...

Norton, Caroline Elizabeth Sarah (Sheridan)

(Encyclopedia)Norton, Caroline Elizabeth Sarah (Sheridan), 1808–77, English author; granddaughter of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. She gained more renown for her eventful life than for her writings. Her husband Geor...