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Courbet, Gustave

(Encyclopedia)Courbet, Gustave güstävˈ ko͞orbāˈ [key], 1819–77, French painter, b. Ornans. He moved to Paris in 1839 and studied there, learning chiefly by copying masterpieces in the Louvre. An avowed real...

Hayes, Rutherford Birchard

(Encyclopedia)Hayes, Rutherford Birchard, 1822–93, 19th President of the United States (1877–81), b. Delaware, Ohio, grad. Kenyon College, 1843, and Harvard law school, 1845. He became a moderately successful l...

Orwell, George

(Encyclopedia)Orwell, George, pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair, 1903–50, British novelist and essayist, b. Bengal, India. He is best remembered for his scathingly satirical and frighteningly political novels, Animal F...

Ponce de León, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Ponce de León, Juan pŏns də lēˈŏn, Span. hwän pōnˈthā dā lāōnˈ [key], c.1460–1521, Spanish explorer, first Westerner to reach Florida. He served against the Moors of Granada, and in 14...

war, laws of

(Encyclopedia)war, laws of, in international law, rules and principles regulating an armed conflict between nations. These laws are designed to minimize the destruction of life and property, to proscribe cruel trea...

costume

(Encyclopedia)costume, distinctive forms of clothing, including official or ceremonial attire such as ecclesiastical vestments, coronation robes, academic gowns, armor, and theatrical dress. The use of ornament pre...

Darnley, Henry Stuart, Lord

(Encyclopedia)Darnley, Henry Stuart or Stewart, Lord, 1545–67, second husband of Mary Queen of Scots and father of James I of England (James VI of Scotland). His mother was Margaret Douglas, the daughter of Archi...

Hastings, Warren

(Encyclopedia)Hastings, Warren, 1732–1818, first governor-general of British India. Employed (1750) as a clerk by the East India Company, he soon became manager of a trading post in Bengal. When Calcutta (now Kol...

Johnston, Joseph Eggleston

(Encyclopedia)Johnston, Joseph Eggleston, 1807–91, Confederate general, b. Prince Edward co., Va., grad. West Point, 1829. He served against the Seminole in Florida and with distinction under Winfield Scott in th...

Naipaul, V. S.

(Encyclopedia)Naipaul, V. S. (Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul) nīpôlˈ [key], 1932–2018, English writer, b. Chaguanas, Trinidad; grad. University College, Oxford, 1953. Naipul, whose family descended from Ind...