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Sandys, Sir Edwin

(Encyclopedia)Sandys, Sir Edwin, 1561–1629, English statesman, leading promoter of the colony in Virginia; son of Archbishop Edwin Sandys. He studied law and was first returned to Parliament in 1586. His Europae ...

Rives, William Cabell

(Encyclopedia)Rives, William Cabell rēvz [key], 1793–1868, American politician and diplomat, b. Nelson co. (then part of Amherst co.), Va. A lawyer, he sat in the Virginia legislature (1817–21, 1822–23), was...

Nicephorus, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Nicephorus, Saint nīsĕfˈərəs [key], 758?–829?, patriarch of Constantinople (806–15), Byzantine historian and theologian. St. Nicephorus attended the Second Council of Nicaea as lay representa...

Stair, John Dalrymple, 2d earl of

(Encyclopedia)Stair, John Dalrymple, 2d earl of, 1673–1747, Scottish general and diplomat; son of the 1st earl of Stair. He began a military career in the Netherlands, but on his father's death returned home and ...

Breadalbane, John Campbell, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Breadalbane, John Campbell, 1st earl of brədôlˈbĭn, brĕd– [key], 1635?–1717, Scottish nobleman. He took part in the royalist rising of 1654 and helped George Monck to further the restoration ...

Bland-Allison Act

(Encyclopedia)Bland-Allison Act, 1878, passed by the U.S. Congress to provide for freer coinage of silver. The original bill offered by Representative Richard P. Bland incorporated the demands of the Western radica...

Morgan, George

(Encyclopedia)Morgan, George, 1743–1810, American merchant, Indian agent, and land speculator, b. Philadelphia. In 1765 he went as his firm's representative to engage in the fur trade in Illinois, but the venture...

Ashdown, Paddy

(Encyclopedia)Ashdown, Paddy (Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon), 1941–2018, British political leader and diplomat, b. New Delhi, British India, where his father was an army officer. ...

Aspin, Les

(Encyclopedia)Aspin, Les (Leslie Aspin, Jr.), 1938–95, U.S. politician and government official, b. Milwaukee, Wis. Running as a Democrat opposed to the Vietnam War, he won election as a U.S. Representative from W...

assaying

(Encyclopedia)assaying əsāˈyĭng, ăsˈāyĭng [key], in metallurgy, process of determining the specific metallic content of an ore, alloy, or other substance, especially one containing precious metals. It consi...