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Bacon, Francis, English painter

(Encyclopedia)Bacon, Francis, 1910–92, English painter, b. Dublin. A self-taught artist, Bacon rejected abstraction in painting to explore a repertoire of strange, fractured, and often bizarre figurative images, ...

Williams, John, English missionary

(Encyclopedia)Williams, John, 1796–1839, English missionary, called the Apostle of Polynesia. Under the London Missionary Society he went (1817) to the Society Islands. He discovered Rarotonga in 1823 and founded...

Taylor, John, English writer

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, John, 1578?–1653, English writer. He was a boatman on the Thames and hence is often called the Water Poet. A traveler throughout England and the Continent, he recorded his observations in bo...

Byrd, William, English composer

(Encyclopedia)Byrd, William, 1543–1623, English composer, organist at Lincoln Cathedral and, jointly with Tallis, at the Chapel Royal. Although Roman Catholic, he composed anthems and services for the English Chu...

White, John, English colonizer

(Encyclopedia)White, John, 1575–1648, English colonizer. An Anglican priest of moderate Puritan belief, White wished to establish a colony for Puritans. He helped form (1628) the New England Company, which later ...

Echegaray, José

(Encyclopedia)Echegaray, José hōsāˈ āchāgärīˈ [key], 1832–1916, Spanish dramatist, mathematician, physicist, economist, and politician. He taught science, practiced engineering, and devoted his later lif...

Dutch and Flemish literature

(Encyclopedia)Dutch and Flemish literature, literary works written in the standard language of the Low Countries since the Middle Ages. It is conventional to use the term Dutch when referring to the language spoken...

Cowper, William

(Encyclopedia)Cowper, William ko͞oˈpər, kouˈ– [key], 1731–1800, English poet. Physically and emotionally unfit for the professional life, he was admitted to the bar but never practiced. After a battle with ...

Kean, Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Kean, Edmund, 1787?–1833, English actor. Kean's acting expressed the ideal of the romantic temperament. A small man with a wild spirit and a gruff voice, he was lauded for his facial mobility; accor...

Hope, Anthony

(Encyclopedia)Hope, Anthony, pseud. of Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, 1863–1933, English novelist. A lawyer, he wrote novels in his spare time. The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), a romantic novel of impersonation set in an...