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Thomson, James , 1834–82, Scottish poet and essayist

(Encyclopedia)Thomson, James, 1834–82, Scottish poet and essayist. He is remembered for his darkly pessimistic poem The City of Dreadful Night. He was raised in an orphan asylum and became (1851) an army teacher ...

Raglan, Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Raglan, Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron, 1788–1855, British general. He entered the army in 1804 and was made (1814) a lieutenant colonel for his services on the duke of Wellington's staff i...

Stamp Act

(Encyclopedia)Stamp Act, 1765, revenue law passed by the British Parliament during the ministry of George Grenville. The first direct tax to be levied on the American colonies, it required that all newspapers, pamp...

Ormonde, James Butler, 12th earl and 1st duke of

(Encyclopedia)Ormonde, James Butler, 12th earl and 1st duke of ôrˈmənd [key], 1610–88, Irish statesman, most powerful royalist influence in Ireland during the English civil war. A ward of the crown after the d...

Montrose, James Graham, 5th earl and 1st marquess of

(Encyclopedia)Montrose, James Graham, 5th earl and 1st marquess of mŏntrōzˈ [key], 1612–50, Scottish nobleman and soldier. He succeeded to the earldom in 1626 and, feeling slighted by Charles I, joined the Cov...

Pierce, Franklin

(Encyclopedia)Pierce, Franklin, 1804–69, 14th President of the United States (1853–57), b. Hillsboro, N.H., grad. Bowdoin College, 1824. Admitted to the bar in 1827, he entered politics as a Jacksonian Democrat...

Marcy, William Learned

(Encyclopedia)Marcy, William Learned, 1786–1857, American politician, b. Southbridge, Mass. He settled in Troy, N.Y., where he practiced law and, after serving in the War of 1812, held local offices. A Democrat a...

public land

(Encyclopedia)public land, in U.S. history, land owned by the federal government but not reserved for any special purpose, e.g., for a park or a military reservation. Public land is also called land in the public d...

Margaret Tudor

(Encyclopedia)Margaret Tudor, 1489–1541, queen consort of James IV of Scotland; daughter of Henry VII of England and sister of Henry VIII. Her marriage (1503) to James was accompanied by a treaty of “perpetual ...

Alfonso III, king of Aragón and count of Barcelona

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso III, 1265–91, king of Aragón and count of Barcelona (1285–91), son and successor of Peter III. He was forced to grant wide privileges to the cortes of the Aragonese nobles. At first he su...