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Paganini, Niccolò

(Encyclopedia)Paganini, Niccolò nēkōlōˈ pägänēˈnē [key], 1782–1840, Italian violinist, whose virtuosity became a legend. He extended the compass of the violin by his use of harmonics, perfected the use ...

Watkins, Vernon

(Encyclopedia)Watkins, Vernon, 1906–67, British poet, b. Maesteg, Wales, educated at Cambridge. Like his close friend Dylan Thomas, Watkins was profoundly influenced by his Welsh background. His poetry combines s...

Llywelyn ap Iorwerth

(Encyclopedia)Llywelyn or Llewelyn ap Iorwerth , lo͞oĕlˈĭn [key] (Llywelyn the Great), 1173–1240, Welsh prince; grandson of Owain Gwynedd. He first proved his capacity by wresting (1194) N Wales from his unc...

Rostand, Edmond

(Encyclopedia)Rostand, Edmond ĕdmôNˈ rôstäNˈ [key], 1868–1918, French poet and dramatist. In 1890 appeared his first volume of verse, Les Musardises. His first plays were light, fanciful, and charmingly poe...

Seymour, Jane

(Encyclopedia)Seymour, Jane, 1509?–1537, third queen consort of Henry VIII of England. She served as a lady in waiting to both of Henry's first two queens, Katharine of Aragón and Anne Boleyn. Henry became inter...

Beauharnais, Eugène de

(Encyclopedia)Beauharnais, Eugène de də bōärnāˈ [key], 1781–1824, French general; son of Alexandre and Josephine de Beauharnais (Empress Josephine). He served ably in the campaigns of his stepfather, Napol...

Denbighshire

(Encyclopedia)Denbighshire dĕnˈbēshĭr [key], Welsh Sir Ddinbych, county, 326 sq mi (844 sq km), N Wales. In 1974, the old county of Denbighshire was divided between the nonmetropolitan counties of Clwyd and Gwy...

Trevithick, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Trevithick, Richard trĕvˈĭthĭk [key], 1771–1833, British engineer and inventor, b. Cornwall. He is known as the father of locomotive power because of his invention (1800) of the high-pressure st...

Chaillé-Long, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Chaillé-Long, Charles shäyāˈ-lông [key], 1842–1917, American soldier, African explorer, and writer, b. Princess Anne, Md. After serving in the Civil War, he was commissioned (1869) in the Egypt...

Rainier III

(Encyclopedia)Rainier III rĕnyāˈ [key], 1923–2005, prince of Monaco (1949–2005), a member of the Grimaldi family, which has ruled the tiny principality since 1297. Fiercely anti-Nazi, Ranier served with dist...