Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Wood, John

(Encyclopedia)Wood, John, 1704–1754, English architect, called Wood of Bath. When he went (1727) to Bath from Yorkshire to begin his career as a road surveyor, the city was at its height as a center of fashion. W...

Fitzpatrick, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Fitzpatrick, Thomas, c.1799–1854, American trapper, fur trader, and guide, one of the greatest of the mountain men, b. Co. Cavan, Ireland. He emigrated early to the United States, and by 1823 he was...

Day, John, English dramatist

(Encyclopedia)Day, John, 1574?–1640?, English dramatist. Educated at Cambridge, he was one of Philip Henslowe's group of playwrights, collaborating with Thomas Dekker, Henry Chettle, and others. The allegorical m...

Deloney, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Deloney, Thomas dəlōˈnē [key], c.1543–c.1600, English ballad writer, fiction writer, and pamphleteer. He was a silk weaver. Deloney's chief works are three prose narratives—Jack of Newbury, Th...

Scott, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Scott, Thomas, 1747–1821, English clergyman and biblical scholar. Ordained a priest in 1773, he served in several curacies. In Olney he succeeded (1781) John Newton, through whose influence his view...

Dekker, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Dekker, Thomas, c,1570–1632, English dramatist and pamphleteer. Little is known of his life except that he frequently suffered from poverty and served several prison terms for debt. He began his lit...

Franklin, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Franklin, Sir John, 1786–1847, British explorer in N Canada whose disappearance caused a widespread search of the Arctic. Entering the navy in 1801, he fought in the battle of Trafalgar. On his firs...

Carew, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Carew, Thomas, 1595?–1639?, English author, one of the Cavalier poets. Educated at Merton College, Oxford, he had a short diplomatic career on the Continent, then returned to England and became a fa...

Shadwell, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Shadwell, Thomas, 1642?–1692, English dramatist and poet. His plays, written in the tradition of Jonson's comedy of humours, are distinguished for their realistic pictures of London life and for the...

Sumter, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Sumter, Thomas, 1734–1832, American Revolutionary officer, b. near Charlottesville, Va. He served with Edward Braddock (1755) and John Forbes (1758) in their expeditions against Fort Duquesne in the...

Browse by Subject