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Churchill, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Churchill, Charles chûrˈchĭl [key], 1731–64, English poet and satirist. Upon his family's insistence he took religious orders in 1756, but life as a London dandy suited him more, and he resigned ...

Clay, Cassius Marcellus

(Encyclopedia)Clay, Cassius Marcellus, 1810–1903, American politician and diplomat, b. Madison co., Ky. Although he came from a slaveholding family, Clay early came to abhor the institution of slavery. In 1845 he...

Ritschl, Albrecht

(Encyclopedia)Ritschl, Albrecht älˈbrĕkht rĭchˈəl [key], 1822–89, German Protestant theologian. He taught theology at Bonn (1851–64) and at Göttingen (from 1864). The Ritschlian theology, a reaction agai...

bookplate

(Encyclopedia)bookplate, label pasted in a book to indicate ownership, also called ex libris [Lat.,=from the books of]. The bookplate is usually of paper on which heraldic or other designs are engraved or printed. ...

Jonson, Ben

(Encyclopedia)Jonson, Ben, 1572–1637, English dramatist and poet, b. Westminster, London. The high-spirited buoyancy of Jonson's plays and the brilliance of his language have earned him a reputation as one of the...

Stieglitz, Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Stieglitz, Alfred stēgˈlĭts [key], 1864–1946, American photographer, editor, and art exhibitor, b. Hoboken, N.J. The first art photographer in the United States, Stieglitz more than any other Ame...

lyric

(Encyclopedia)lyric, in ancient Greece, a poem accompanied by a musical instrument, usually a lyre. Although the word is still often used to refer to the songlike quality in poetry, it is more generally used to ref...

Constant, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Constant, Benjamin (Henri Benjamin Constant de Rebecque) äNrēˈ bäNzhämăNˈ kôNstäNˈ də rəbĕkˈ [key], 1767–1830, French-Swiss political writer and novelist, b. Lausanne. His affair (1794...

Powell, John Wesley

(Encyclopedia)Powell, John Wesley, 1834–1902, American geologist and ethnologist, b. Mt. Morris (now part of New York City). The family moved to Illinois, where Powell joined the Natural History Society, making c...

Richardson, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Richardson, Samuel, 1689–1761, English novelist, b. Derbyshire. When he was 50 and a prosperous printer, Richardson was asked to compose a guide to letter writing. The idea of introducing a central ...