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Stuart, James Francis Edward

(Encyclopedia)Stuart or Stewart, James Francis Edward, 1688–1766, claimant to the British throne, son of James II and Mary of Modena; called the Old Pretender. His birth, falsely rumored by Whigs at the time to b...

Galahad, Sir

(Encyclopedia)Galahad, Sir gălˈəhădˌ [key], hero of Arthurian legend. He was the son of Launcelot and Elaine, the daughter of King Pelles. Because he was the noblest and purest of the knights of Christendom, h...

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...

Gascoigne, George

(Encyclopedia)Gascoigne, George găskoinˈ [key], c.1539–1577, English author, a pioneer in various fields of English literature. A reckless, dissipated youth, he left Cambridge without a degree to study law, but...

Read, George

(Encyclopedia)Read, George, 1733–98, American jurist, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. near Northeast, Cecil co., Md. He was admitted to the bar in 1753 and later (1763–74) was attorney general of ...

Gawain, Sir

(Encyclopedia)Gawain, Sir gäˈwān, –wĭn [key], one of the most popular heroes of Arthurian legend; nephew of King Arthur. He was regarded, particularly in the early romances, as the model of chivalry—pure, b...

Dent, Edward Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Dent, Edward Joseph, 1876–1957, English musicologist. He studied and taught at Cambridge. Dent wrote biographies of Alessandro Scarlatti (1905), Busoni (1933), and Handel (1934), and many critical w...

Rorty, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Rorty, Richard, 1931–2007, American philosopher. b. New York City. After studying at the Univ. of Chicago (B.A. 1949, M.A. 1952) and Yale (Ph.D. 1956), Rorty taught philosophy at Wellesley College (...

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