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Quarles, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Quarles, Francis, 1592–1644, English poet. His best-known work is Emblems (1635), a book of moral and religious verse. Though not an ardent royalist, he wrote pamphlets during the Commonwealth uphol...

Poulenc, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Poulenc, Francis fräNsēsˈ po͞olăNkˈ [key], 1899–1963, French composer and pianist. He was one of Les Six, a group of French composers who subscribed to the aesthetic ideals of Erik Satie, whos...

Ponge, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Ponge, Francis fräNsēsˈ pôNzh [key], 1899–1988, French essayist and poet. A controversial figure, he was opposed to emotional and symbolic poetic methods. His method was to observe things meticu...

Vigo, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Vigo, Francis vēˈgō, vīˈgō [key], 1747–1836, American frontier trader and merchant, supporter of the American Revolution. He was born at Mondovi, Italy, and originally named Giuseppe Maria Fra...

Ellesmere, Thomas Egerton, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Ellesmere, Thomas Egerton, Baron, 1540?–1617, jurist and statesman. A distinguished early career at law brought him appointment (1581) as solicitor general, and he became a favorite and adviser of Q...

McGovern, George Stanley

(Encyclopedia)McGovern, George Stanley məgŭvˈərn [key], 1922–2012, U.S. senator from South Dakota (1963–81), b. Avon, S.Dak. He was a decorated B-24 bomber pilot during World War II. He later obtained degre...

Edgeworth, Francis Ysidro

(Encyclopedia)Edgeworth, Francis Ysidro əsēˈdrōˌ [key], 1845–1926, British economist, grad. Trinity College, Dublin. He was professor of political economy at Oxford and first editor (1891–1926) of the Econ...

Drake, Sir Francis

(Encyclopedia)Drake, Sir Francis, 1540?–1596, English navigator and admiral, first Englishman to circumnavigate the world (1577–80). In 1585, Drake commanded a fleet that sacked Vigo in Spain and burned São ...

Drake, Francis Marion

(Encyclopedia)Drake, Francis Marion, 1830–1903, Union army officer in the Civil War, railroad president, and governor of Iowa (1896–98), b. Rushville, Ill. He helped defend St. Joseph, Mo., against Confederate ...

Darwin, Sir Francis

(Encyclopedia)Darwin, Sir Francis, 1848–1925, English botanist, assistant to his father, Charles Robert Darwin. He lectured in botany at Cambridge and was foreign secretary of the Royal Society and president of t...