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Settle, Elkanah

(Encyclopedia)Settle, Elkanah, 1648–1724, English dramatist and poet. Thanks to the patronage of the earl of Rochester, Settle's heroic dramas for a time rivaled those of Dryden. His most successful play, the ela...

Huntingtower

(Encyclopedia)Huntingtower or Ruthven Castle rĭvˈən [key], Perth and Kinross, E central Scotland, near Perth. James VI (later James I of England) was held in the castle by the earl of Gowrie in the “raid of Ru...

Nottingham, Daniel Finch

(Encyclopedia)Nottingham, Daniel Finch, 2d earl of, 1647–1730, English politician, son of Heneage Finch, the 1st earl. A staunch supporter of the Church of England, he disapproved of James II's pro–Roman Cathol...

Russell, Lord William

(Encyclopedia)Russell, Lord William, 1639–83, English statesman; younger son of the 1st duke of Bedford. He entered Parliament in 1660. Contempt for the dissolute court and fear of Roman Catholicism and of France...

Robert III, king of Scotland

(Encyclopedia)Robert III, 1340?–1406, king of Scotland (1390–1406), eldest son and successor of Robert II. Known before his accession as John, earl of Carrick, he ruled for his father until 1389, when, having b...

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...

Somerset, Edmund Beaufort, 2d duke of

(Encyclopedia)Somerset, Edmund Beaufort, 2d duke of, d. 1455, English statesman and general. He fought in France in the Hundred Years War, receiving his first command in 1431, recapturing Harfleur in 1440, and reli...

Autry, Gene

(Encyclopedia)Autry, Gene (Orvon Grover Autry), 1907–98, American entertainer and businessman, b. Tioga Springs, Tex. Probably the most successful of the movies' singing cowboys, Autry began singing o...

Oswald, Lee Harvey

(Encyclopedia)Oswald, Lee Harvey, 1939–63, presumed assassin of John F. Kennedy, b. New Orleans. Oswald spent most of his boyhood in Fort Worth, Tex. Later, he attended a Dallas high school, and enlisted (1956) i...

Jacob, Max

(Encyclopedia)Jacob, Max zhäkôbˈ [key], 1876–1944, French writer and painter, b. Brittany. His dream-inspired verse, plays, novels, and paintings bridged and gave impetus to the symbolist and surrealist schoo...