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Pembroke, William Herbert, 3d earl of

(Encyclopedia)Pembroke, William Herbert, 3d earl of, 1580–1630, English courtier and patron of letters. Son of Mary Herbert, countess of Pembroke, and nephew of Sir Philip Sidney, he was tutored by the poet Samue...

Furness, Horace Howard

(Encyclopedia)Furness, Horace Howard fûrˈnĭs [key], 1833–1912, American Shakespearean scholar, b. Philadelphia; son of William Henry Furness. He was the editor of the New Variorum edition of Shakespeare (plays...

Morley, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Morley, Thomas, c.1557–1603, English composer; pupil of William Byrd. He was gentleman of the Chapel Royal to Queen Elizabeth I and organist of St. Paul's Cathedral. He set to music some of Shakespe...

Holinshed, Raphael

(Encyclopedia)Holinshed, Raphael hŏlˈĭnz-hĕdˌ, hŏlˈĭn-shĕdˌ [key], d. c.1580, English chronicler. He was a translator who also assisted Reginald Wolfe in the preparation of a universal history, which was ...

Betterton, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Betterton, Thomas bĕtˈərtən [key], 1635?–1710, English actor and manager. He joined Sir William D'Avenant's company at Lincoln's Inn Fields theater in 1661 and became the leading actor of the Re...

Arrabal, Fernando

(Encyclopedia)Arrabal, Fernando fārnänˈdō äräbälˈ [key], 1932–, French playwright, b. Melilla, Morocco. He studied law in Madrid before moving to Paris in 1954. His plays, which reflect his abhorrence of ...

Middleton, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Middleton, Thomas, 1580–1627, English dramatist, b. London, grad. Queen's College, Oxford, 1598. His early plays were chiefly written in collaboration with Dekker, Drayton, and others. Between 1604 ...

Boece, Hector

(Encyclopedia)Boece or Boethius, Hector bōēsˈ, bois, bōēˈthēəs [key], 1465?–1536?, Scottish historian. He studied at the Univ. of Paris, where he knew Erasmus, and in 1498 he went to Aberdeen as the first...

Southampton, Henry Wriothesley, 3d earl of

(Encyclopedia)Southampton, Henry Wriothesley, 3d earl of rŏtˈslē [key], 1573–1624, English nobleman and patron of letters. He succeeded to his title in 1581, was educated at Cambridge, and gained favor at the ...

Clarke, Charles Cowden

(Encyclopedia)Clarke, Charles Cowden, 1787–1877, English lecturer and author. He was a close friend of Keats, who was a pupil of Clarke's father. Clarke's lectures on Shakespeare were published as Shakespeare Cha...