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Greville, Charles Cavendish Fulke

(Encyclopedia)Greville, Charles Cavendish Fulke grĕvˈĭl [key], 1794–1865, English diarist. As clerk of the Council in Ordinary (1821–59), he was closely associated with Wellington, Palmerston, and other poli...

Golden Dawn, Hermetic Order of the

(Encyclopedia)Golden Dawn, Hermetic Order of the, occult-oriented fraternal organization established by the Freemasons in England (1888), led by S. L. MacGregor Mathers (1854–1917). The order's rituals were deriv...

mugwumps

(Encyclopedia)mugwumps mŭgˈwŭmpsˌ [key], slang term in U.S. political history for the Republicans who in 1884 deserted their party nominee, James G. Blaine, to vote for the Democratic nominee, Grover Cleveland....

Neopaganism

(Encyclopedia)Neopaganism, polytheistic religious movement, practiced in small groups by partisans of pre-Christian religious traditions such as Egyptian, Greek, Norse, and Celtic. Neopagans fall into two broad cat...

Oil City

(Encyclopedia)Oil City, city (1990 pop. 11,949), Venango co., NW Pa., on the Allegheny River; inc. 1871. The city was founded after Edwin L. Drake struck (1859) oil nearby in Titusville. It was a refining and shipp...

Marie de France

(Encyclopedia)Marie de France də fräNs [key], fl. 1155–90, poet. Born in France, she spent her adult life in England in aristocratic circles and wrote in Anglo-Norman. She is best known for some dozen lais; sev...

Post, Emily Price

(Encyclopedia)Post, Emily Price, 1872–1960, American authority on etiquette, b. Baltimore. Born into a wealthy family, Post began her literary career as a novelist. Her best-known book, however, is Etiquette (192...

Boyd, Ernest

(Encyclopedia)Boyd, Ernest, 1887–1946, American critic and author, b. Dubin, Ireland. In the British consular service, he resigned in 1920 and settled in New York City, where he became an important literary figur...

Beverley, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Beverley, Robert bĕvˈərlē [key], 1673–1722, Virginia colonial historian, author of The History and Present State of Virginia (1705). A substantial planter and colonial official, he wrote his boo...

Ralston, James Layton

(Encyclopedia)Ralston, James Layton rôlˈstən [key], 1881–1948, Canadian cabinet minister, b. Nova Scotia. In the first Mackenzie King administration, he was minister of national defense (1926–30); in the sec...